DIY Triloc Clone

[3Deep]

dude that is some really nice work, very professional looking job

[paradoxsc]

Another Update: Added lighting to alignment jig

First I measured the inside of the frame with it on the jig. I made marks for the bolt holes to be drilled. I cut 4 pieces of 1" square aluminum tube (mine was 19.5" x 19") but that is the max print area I can squeeze out of my old gauntlet. My film size is only 13" x 19" so it works fine for me. If you are doing this for another press, plan accordingly.

I drilled and tapped the holes and installed the bar to for my lighting box. I installed a series of non UV mini led panels in a square grid. This kind of led is what sign companies use in side of big lighted road signs. It's what I had available. I tied it all together with wirenuts and drilled a hole at the bottom of the frame for the wiring to escape. It needs to have a 12v powersupply to run so I wired one up for it.

Test the lights before moving forward!!!

Then I cut my plastic sheets down to size. I used 1 white piece of plastic and 2 clear pieces on top of it. I didn't want to deal with countersinking the bolts in the frame/plastic so what I did was just drilled holes in the first sheet of plastic that were larger than the bolt heads that attached the frame to the jig. I taped the plastic down with the same 3M tape that M&R uses for the pallet bracket. It is available at lowes in 1" rolls. The trick with this stuff is the primer (3M 94 primer), its why the tape never fails. Easy.

The plastic I used is called lexan and its some of the strongest stuff out there. I'm sure plexi or acrylic would work fine but lexan was easily accessible to me. I also made a film grid as a master registration guide and taped it waterproof side out on the clear plastic.

PS: I first tried to sandwich the film between the plastic and it came out fuzzy due to the refraction of the light. It works fine right on the outside. Just tape it down good.

[paradoxsc]

more pics...

[paradoxsc]

and more..

[paradoxsc]

It is really bright! I was worried that it might expose screens even though it is supposed to be non UV light, but I tested by leaving a blank screen on for 20 minutes and then taping an image on and exposing it. Washed out with ease and no sign of early exposure.

[Atownsend]

This is awesome!!!

Aluminum is a really beautiful metal to work with. That thing is really really sweet. Congrats. Keep this going.

I would consider using thinner lines for the reg marks. We use .5 pt on ours and it seems to work well. I think Alan uses a series of dashes rather than a solid mark. And I have also heard of some using a negative, but I have not tested those. 0.5pt gets us close enough I think. Try each and let me know what works best haha.

[paradoxsc]

This is awesome!!!

Aluminum is a really beautiful metal to work with. That thing is really really sweet. Congrats. Keep this going.

I would consider using thinner lines for the reg marks. We use .5 pt on ours and it seems to work well. I think Alan uses a series of dashes rather than a solid mark. And I have also heard of some using a negative, but I have not tested those. 0.5pt gets us close enough I think. Try each and let me know what works best haha.

Thanks! I'll try that. I also need to move the center marks in so they are actually in the lighting.

I can never find Alan's old thread about his reg unit but people talk about it all the time. I wish he would chime in here with tips.

Next step is attaching the pallet bracket to the pallet jig. I'm planing to tap the .25" jig and countersink the bracket from the inside and attach from underneath. Any recommendations here? I also have the M&R tape, I ordered it just in case but I am worried about play with tape and don't think I would be comfortable knowing it can ever so slightly flex or shift. Do they use it on the real tri??

Also have to notch out the frame holders so the jig can raise up. That'll be fun. 

[paradoxsc]

As per your request. I made a new film template with .5 reg marks and even added some dashes and dots to try 

[Doug S]

I agree with Atownsend.  When we used film, the thinner the reg mark you can get by with the better.  With Alan's setup, the inverted reg table in combination with the triloc is better because you aren't risking the film shifting while lifting the screen.  The only major problem I had was that the epson 7900 we had would print the reg marks off between colors occasionally but I could never figure out how to avoid that.  There was a thread on that somewhere here also.  You have a nice setup going.

[paradoxsc]

The only major problem I had was that the epson 7900 we had would print the reg marks off between colors occasionally but I could never figure out how to avoid that.  There was a thread on that somewhere here also.  You have a nice setup going.

I heard with roll feed printers this is a common problem due to the roll pulling back. I used to use an epson 4800 for films with 17" rolls and noticed this a lot. I read somewhere that you can pull some slack off the roll before printing and that helps. 

I switched to epson 1430's that sheet-feed with super B film (13" x 19") and this pretty much went away. I cant recall every having films that were off from print to print with the 1430 as long as the job was printed on the same printer. They are tiny/slow and the max sheet size is only 13"wide, but for my shop they work fine. I suggest getting 2 so you can output multiple jobs at once.

Edit: oops, looks like you went CTS! Sorry didn't catch that.

[Atownsend]

I had the film stretch issue last week. Drove me nuts more I got it figured out. It was a new roll of fixxons film. Screens got to press and they would not line up. Checked films, films did not line up. Checked art... no visible issues there. Reprinted films. Films still dont line up.... WTF.

Found out at that accurip has a file that you can print that has measurements which you can use to adjust the feed. Printed the file. Measurements were off from what they were supposed to be. I still couldn't believe that was happening so i printed the films for a 3rd time. Films line up?? whhhaaa? I chalked it up to having a new roll of film that was a little stretchy at the start. I printed the rest of that roll without an issue and have not had an issue since.

Maybe I should reprint that file for feed adjustment. But I keep telling myself if it aint broke dont fix it.

[ffokazak]

When we used to gang films, the ones that were horizontal vs ones that were vertical had issues.

Always print them the same orientation, to limit this issue.

[Inkworks]

That and if your shop is chilly overnight a cold printer's film won't always line up with a warmed-up printers film. I run a 1 color film or two first to get the printer warmed up if I have tight tolerance jobs to print. It's always good to prefeed as much film off the roll as you'll need if you have a new, heavy roll on there.

[paradoxsc]

UPDATE!!! Putting this thread back on track!

THE UNIT IS COMPLETE!!!! & It works!

I wired in a switch for the FPU jig. Common to common(white) hot to switch(black) & ground from wall to switch(green) ground from power supply to box(green)

[paradoxsc]

Update: Added pallet bracket to pallet jig

First I re-drilled & tapped the existing holes on the pallet jig for a 5/16-18 thread bolt. Then I made my marks on the pallet bracket and drilled the holes, I countersunk with a 1/2' countersink bit. I had to oval one or two of the holes because I messed up drilling, still works fine though.