My Latest DIY Device

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Been building this for a while....mostly in my mind.  Today it got finally assembled and put to use.  I have have to do it again though to improve on some shortcomings.

I'm getting a max (due to mechanical shortcomings) of about 26 newtons. 

I have the longazz magnesium wrench and when I tried stretching screens manually (by myself of course), I felt like a one-armed paper hanger - trying to hold the wrench under my armpit and getting the socket (always set for the wrong direction) on the nut to tighten down so I can let go of the wrench.  That and I was always afraid I was going to loose the wrench and have it whack me in the head before I could tighten the bolts.  And for the icing on the cake, I always had a dickens of a time getting them flat when I was done.  So, enough was enough and necessity led to doing something about it.

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And the rest -

[tpitman]

Nicely done, Wayne. Trying to tension rollers manually without some kind of "furniture" to hold things in place is always a challenge.

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Thanks Tom.  I made a little mechanical adjustment today (hacked off some steel, lol) and can get it up to 28 newtons and possibly even a little higher.  But I'm thinking that compared to what I've had on my static frames (14 - 16), anything in the 25 neighborhood is going to be just fine. 

[mooseman]

hey Wayne,
here is something we use, can easily get to 45+ on 155 mesh with this contraption.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x296/copdaddy/XDSCF1509.jpg

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x296/copdaddy/DSCF1508.jpg
mooseman

[screenxpress]

I see the frame hold downs, but that's about all I see.

Aren't you still having to horse (adjust) each bar one at a time and tighten the end bolts as you go?  Can you do it all by yourself?

My goal was to get something similar to the Shur Loc Accelerator that I could fabricate.  With it I can simply apply a little more pressure on each bar and slide a pin in a new lock point.  When I'm done on the 3 sides I can let it just sit (bolts still all loose) to relax.  Then come back and tighten a bit more just by adding more pressure on each crescent wrench (moving around one at a time) and position a pin to a new lock point.  When I'm happy with the tension, all I have to do is tighten all the bolts down, remove the lock pins and crescent wrenches and I'm done. 

The only reason the pressure isn't up to 45 is because I used 3/4 inch box steel to weld the adjustment uprights to and the crescent wrench handle bottoms out on the bar before I get up to high tensions.  But do I really need to?  I'm thinking 25-28 range is fine.  What more do you get at 45? 

Actually if I put the locking strips in when the slide is in the 1 notch position, I could probably get higher tensions.  I'm going to try that and let you know.  Lol, I looked at the directions today from Stretch Devices and I had the slides straight up when I inserted the locking strips.  I probably lost at least 10% of the turn adjustment in the rotation out by having the mesh out too far to begin with.

Mike, I cannot thank you enough for the pics and instructions on the locking strips a while back.  I hate corner softening and floppy corners.  Your methods provide nice firm corners with no "softening" effort at all.  Kudos.

[mooseman]

Hey Wayne,
actually we do work alone, never have any help so yes we get to 45 with just my two hands.
Not sure what the differences are but we work one roller at a time.
Think about it with the screen loaded in the gizfunny the way the pictures show the torque you apply with the wrench actually tends to push the whole assembly down against the table so you actually have leverage working with you as you push down on the wrench to advance the roller. One hand on the 1 1/4 wrench holdding it there while your other hand one hands the torque wrench to tighten the frame bolt.

I go through the same actions R. Jennings shows in his video, 

Screen Printing's Best Screen 3

   except he only uses 4 pieces of old squeegee blades as rests for the screen, i built an extra hand table. Jennings tends to greately over simplify things which (I think) actually adds to some folks frustrations but that is another story for another day but suffice it to say that screen he tightened in the video is no where near 40 + Nm, I'am just saying!!!!!

At any rate you have to admit that there is a world of difference between  Roger's method and a very very expensive commercial stretching table and it has been said many times it is amazing how we all do the same things in 1000 different ways to get to the same results.
It is what screen printing is all about but at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you use a  Freddy Flintstone stoneage press or a state of the art automatic if the shirts is good when the customer gets it that is all that counts. All that other stuff is just the BS inbewteen and i certainally have my share to contribute

mooseman

[Sbrem]

I used the Jennings method at first, worked well. Then I picked up a used Shurloc table, much like what you built here, and it's definitely better... nice job.

Steve

Edit: I mean, definitely better than no device, not your build...

[Northland]

I built one of these tables too..... I think the biggest advantage is being able to put some tension on new mesh for a couple hours and come back later to bump up the tension after the mesh relaxes a little. Then you can tighten all the bolts when you're happy with the tension.

Mine is pretty much the same.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/northlandsp/sets/72157622901623557/show/

[screenxpress]

I built one of these tables too..... I think the biggest advantage is being able to put some tension on new mesh for a couple hours and come back later to bump up the tension after the mesh relaxes a little. Then you can tighten all the bolts when you're happy with the tension.

Mine is pretty much the same.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/northlandsp/sets/72157622901623557/show/

Yea, I was pretty pissed at you last night.  Well, really at myself.  After going to the trouble of conjuring up the pieces and some mental measurements and then fabricating it after seeing the Shur Loc Accelerator, I went looking again for the Shur Loc page last night and ran across an open web link to yours sitting on Preston's site from 2009.  Man, I was jealous.  You made it simpler and.....and included the measurements and materials.  Loved it.  However, since mine works now, I'll keep using it, but I captured all the screen shots of yours and if I ever make another, you can bet it will be a clone of yours.  Lol.

[RICK STEFANICK]

wayne, nice work. i think its safe to say that you have too much time on your hands. i dont have time to build a shelf.

[screenxpress]

Thanks Rick,

Glad you're staying too busy to build that shelf, lol.  As Martha says, "That's a good thing".  I did tell my wife over the last weekend that if I had people knocking down my door with jobs, I would have gladly bought the one from Shur Loc.

I make it no secret that I still have a pretty decent paying day job and having been out of printing for about 2 years due to a death in the family, I'm getting things set up now that I didn't have earlier before I start promoting and looking for work.  Luckily I've got all paid-off equipment, low overhead (zero) and not in a "must" position to print any jobs yet.  Life is good, lol.   

[Northland]

The Shur-Loc unit is much nicer than mine.... it has a nice swivel table.
Their price is probably "fair"...  when you add up the number of hours it takes to fabricate a home-made.
Plus, their's has resale value.

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I thought about the swivel but for my size mzx frames decided wasn't needed. I had a question on yours  I put the right hand tower to the back, the left to the front, and the small bar right in the very front. I noticed your left and right towers are near front in same position. Any negatives with that?   I thought by mixing them it might keep things more level. Any thoughts?  As far as resale. I don't plan on leaving Newman's, lol.  I do like yours. Simple and easier to fab.