Transitioning from Manual to Auto

[Cole]

Hey all,

I just purchased a 2014 Sabre 6/8 with only 81,000 indexes. I'm pretty stoked on it! It's being crated this week and will ship out to me by the end of the month. This is going to be my first experience printing on an auto and I am wondering if there are any tips or tricks on making a smooth transition from manual printing to automatic.

Here are some things that I am already aware of:

1. I know that I will need at least 200amps of power in order to run my 13ft Quartz dryer, Sabre, Flash Dryer, compressor, chiller etc.

2. I know that I'll need to have the air hooked up already in order for the tech to come and set up the press.

3. I know that I'll need to get a bunch of 23x31 frames and burn my images down much lower than I would on the 20x24 frames that I use on my manual.

So as you can see, I don't know much lol There are still a lot of things that I probably need to be prepared for that I am unaware of.

Here are some details for the type of printing that I intend to do:

-100% water base and discharge
-Mostly wet on wet. (I print everything wet on wet on my manual. Not sure if it will be as straight forward on an auto)

Like I said, I'm pretty much in the dark about this stuff, so please let me know if there are any issues that I should expect to run into!

Thanks!

[Nation03]

Nice, congrats!

I'd say you have a leg up since you already do wet on wet printing. Workhorse presses are pretty easy to get adjusted to, everything is fairly straight forward. Granted, I'm using an older press with toggle switches, but I'm sure the Sabre interface makes life a lot easier.

Mistakes can build up quickly if you have a pinhole or something, so just make sure you have any reg marks or pin holes blocked off before you begin or you'll have a bunch of shirts ruined before you catch the mistake.

Take your time with everything when starting out, you'll eventually learn the ins and outs of the press and it will start to become second nature and setups/printing will start to go a lot faster as you get comfortable.

If you don't already have a large dryer for Waterbase ink, you'll definitely need one since you'll be printing a lot faster. Last thing you want is to be waiting for space on the dryer belt.

[blue moon]

in my eyes, most important think would be to talk to somebody who is running one and have them explain all the settings they use. You'll probably need help first few months.
Get the info and use that as a starting guide otherwise you'll be all over the place trying to nail down the correct speeds, angles and so on. . .

Absolutely make sure the install is 100%!!! Make sure everything is level and the dial indicator readings are good.

pierre

[Cole]

in my eyes, most important think would be to talk to somebody who is running one and have them explain all the settings they use. You'll probably need help first few months.
Get the info and use that as a starting guide otherwise you'll be all over the place trying to nail down the correct speeds, angles and so on. . .

Absolutely make sure the install is 100%!!! Make sure everything is level and the dial indicator readings are good.

pierre

Great advice. I've already spoke with a few Sabre owners and they've given me a little insight about what to expect. I'll have to reach out again once I have the press installed to see what a good starting point would be for my speeds and angles. As far as set up goes, Workhorse recommended a great tech from San Francisco named John Strehle. He's supposedly one of the best! So hopefully he can set me up for success with his install.

Nice, congrats!

I'd say you have a leg up since you already do wet on wet printing. Workhorse presses are pretty easy to get adjusted to, everything is fairly straight forward. Granted, I'm using an older press with toggle switches, but I'm sure the Sabre interface makes life a lot easier.

Mistakes can build up quickly if you have a pinhole or something, so just make sure you have any reg marks or pin holes blocked off before you begin or you'll have a bunch of shirts ruined before you catch the mistake.

Take your time with everything when starting out, you'll eventually learn the ins and outs of the press and it will start to become second nature and setups/printing will start to go a lot faster as you get comfortable.

If you don't already have a large dryer for Waterbase ink, you'll definitely need one since you'll be printing a lot faster. Last thing you want is to be waiting for space on the dryer belt.

My current dryer has an 8ft chamber. I have a small fan pointing into it as well as a powered exhaust fan coming from the top opening. It cures water base and discharge great when I run it slow, but I can definitely see some bottlenecking happening when I get the auto. I'm considering purchasing a belt extension for the in-feed so that I can lay down more shirts, but that may just be a band-aid for the time being. I've seen other shops running water base on autos with dryers smaller than mine, so I'm just going to see how it goes and take it from there. I could always add a little fixer to the ink in order to speed up the curing time a little. Again, another band-aid. A gas dryer is the obvious solution, but man, those things are $$$. 

[brandon]

True, gas dryers are a good chunk of change up front, but nothing compared to the electric bill saved over just a couple of years. At least in Louisiana. Back when I was in Seattle the electric company was practically paying us due to all the hydro. Maybe that has changed I'm not sure.

[im_mcguire]

in my eyes, most important think would be to talk to somebody who is running one and have them explain all the settings they use. You'll probably need help first few months.
Get the info and use that as a starting guide otherwise you'll be all over the place trying to nail down the correct speeds, angles and so on. . .

Absolutely make sure the install is 100%!!! Make sure everything is level and the dial indicator readings are good.

pierre

Great advice. I've already spoke with a few Sabre owners and they've given me a little insight about what to expect. I'll have to reach out again once I have the press installed to see what a good starting point would be for my speeds and angles. As far as set up goes, Workhorse recommended a great tech from San Francisco named John Strehle. He's supposedly one of the best! So hopefully he can set me up for success with his install.

Nice, congrats!

I'd say you have a leg up since you already do wet on wet printing. Workhorse presses are pretty easy to get adjusted to, everything is fairly straight forward. Granted, I'm using an older press with toggle switches, but I'm sure the Sabre interface makes life a lot easier.

Mistakes can build up quickly if you have a pinhole or something, so just make sure you have any reg marks or pin holes blocked off before you begin or you'll have a bunch of shirts ruined before you catch the mistake.

Take your time with everything when starting out, you'll eventually learn the ins and outs of the press and it will start to become second nature and setups/printing will start to go a lot faster as you get comfortable.

If you don't already have a large dryer for Waterbase ink, you'll definitely need one since you'll be printing a lot faster. Last thing you want is to be waiting for space on the dryer belt.

My current dryer has an 8ft chamber. I have a small fan pointing into it as well as a powered exhaust fan coming from the top opening. It cures water base and discharge great when I run it slow, but I can definitely see some bottlenecking happening when I get the auto. I'm considering purchasing a belt extension for the in-feed so that I can lay down more shirts, but that may just be a band-aid for the time being. I've seen other shops running water base on autos with dryers smaller than mine, so I'm just going to see how it goes and take it from there. I could always add a little fixer to the ink in order to speed up the curing time a little. Again, another band-aid. A gas dryer is the obvious solution, but man, those things are $$$.

I know John Strele.  He came and worked on my old American Press a couple of times.  The guy really knows his stuff.  You will be in good hands with him.  Actually Ill be calling him soon, we are moving our press into another part of the shop.  He'll be able to get that going for you no problem.  But just know, he is not a printer.  He will get it to a perfect level, but dont expect him to know the ins and outs of how to make your ink flow better.  But if you need to know anything as to how the press operates John will get you squared away.

[merchmonster]

john was just in my shop today. you're in good hands.

running wb/discharge through your 4013 is going to suck. you will probably have to run it through twice most times. we have the same dryer. just my 2c.

[Maxie]

Might be worthwhile running the shirts through the oven twice.
While you are printing fast just to get the water out and then when you are setting up or doing something else have someone run them through again to cure.
We do this now when we are running Plastisol and water base through one oven. (2 carousels).

[kingscreen]

We have a Sabre owners group on Facebook.  Come join.

[Cole]

john was just in my shop today. you're in good hands.

running wb/discharge through your 4013 is going to suck. you will probably have to run it through twice most times. we have the same dryer. just my 2c.

Thanks for the input! I trust your opinion since you have the same dryer as me. Like I said, it works fine for now since I'm running the belt at 10% speed, but I can definitely see if becoming an issue. Might just have to bite the bullet and get a gas dryer. Maybe I'll put an add up for this 4013 and see if I get any bites.

[Cole]

We have a Sabre owners group on Facebook.  Come join.

Sounds like a good group to be a part of! If you could link me to the group page, that would be awesome. I just did a search on Facebook, but I don't see any owner's group coming up. Thanks!

[kingscreen]

Search Sabre Users Group - Screen Printing Press

[Cole]

True, gas dryers are a good chunk of change up front, but nothing compared to the electric bill saved over just a couple of years. At least in Louisiana. Back when I was in Seattle the electric company was practically paying us due to all the hydro. Maybe that has changed I'm not sure.

That's a good way to look at it.
I just looked into used gas dryers yesterday and I can finance some as low as $300 a month. Currently my electric bill is $250 a month, so if I can knock down that bill to $50 by switching to gas, the dryer would be paying for itself. I'm in the process of moving into a bigger shop that only has 100amps of power, so this gas dryer would also solve my issue of not having enough amperage. My quartz dryer takes up 60+ amps on its own