Platens

[Socalfmf]

Also like John said having the collar off the board is essential for having high tension screens so the squeegee does not go over the seam maybe causing a screen to break.... and like Tom said it gives you more control over all printing variables.

sam

[Frog]

So, how do you guys adjust for the difference in print location between a youth medium and an adult XXL (not an unreasonable range). Do you just start out eyeballing a greater over hang for the big shirts, and move the smaller ones in incrementally, once again by eye?

Seems to me that this is where a marked, dropped or recessed neck thingie would be quite useful.

[Evo]

So, how do you guys adjust for the difference in print location between a youth medium and an adult XXL (not an unreasonable range).

I think that is a completely unreasonable range for one board. I'd throw on youth boards for youth, adult for adult, etc.

I even considered buying a "XXL+" board at one point, (like 18" wide or more) just to make printing big sizes that much quicker.

[Frog]

So, how do you guys adjust for the difference in print location between a youth medium and an adult XXL (not an unreasonable range).

I think that is a completely unreasonable range for one board. I'd throw on youth boards for youth, adult for adult, etc.

I even considered buying a "XXL+" board at one point, (like 18" wide or more) just to make printing big sizes that much quicker.

Okay, let me re-phrase.


So, how do you guys adjust for the difference in print location between an adult small and an adult XXL (not an unreasonable range). Do you just start out eyeballing a greater over hang for the big shirts, and move the smaller ones in incrementally, once again by eye?

Seems to me that this is where a marked, dropped or recessed neck thingie would be quite useful.

I do know that some don't adjust positions depending on shirt size, but that's almost enough for another thread.

And, the "not unreasonable range" was from personal observation and experience running event shirts.
It was not deemed reasonable to change out twelve or fourteen boards for a few dozen youth shirts in a run of 500 or so, when the normal boards accommodated youth medium and larger.

[mk162]

a 16" board will handle those sizes easily.  I do it all the time.  My max print size is 13" wide, so why would I get platens wider than 16?  I have 4" wide, 12" wide and 16" wide boards.  Covers everything I need it to.

If it's left chest size, I move them over by eye.  Full front I just pull them off further.

[jsheridan]

So, how do you guys adjust for the difference in print location between an adult small and an adult XXL (not an unreasonable range). Do you just start out eyeballing a greater over hang for the big shirts, and move the smaller ones in incrementally, once again by eye?

3" down from the collar is 3" down no matter the size of shirt. The only thing I change is horizontal position to locate a left chest on varied sizes.

By never moving from my position of collar off, it's a removed variable from the process. If forces myself and any screen maker in the future to review the order and know the placement. I also place text on all my films for the color and height. this way it's a triple backup system and if it's put in the wrong place on the screen, I know who made the mistake and how to address it.

[ZooCity]

So, how do you guys adjust for the difference in print location between an adult small and an adult XXL (not an unreasonable range). Do you just start out eyeballing a greater over hang for the big shirts, and move the smaller ones in incrementally, once again by eye?

3" down from the collar is 3" down no matter the size of shirt. The only thing I change is horizontal position to locate a left chest on varied sizes.

By never moving from my position of collar off, it's a removed variable from the process. If forces myself and any screen maker in the future to review the order and know the placement. I also place text on all my films for the color and height. this way it's a triple backup system and if it's put in the wrong place on the screen, I know who made the mistake and how to address it.

I'm surprised none of your clients have taken issue with this and also that you find that acceptable for a print run across many sizes.  Having a fixed location from the collar may work for some art across all sizes in a run but certainly not all.  We tend to adjust the image up/down every 2 sizes but again this wholly depends on the art. 

I'm with Frog, as I posted earlier, I think this is where a recessed neck board with incremental markings could shine.  You could still have your location variable locked in this way in pre-press as well as in platen position as the height change occurs by pulling the collar to the proper mark.

We try not to change out boards but often need to break out the 12"ers when the job involves flashing or off contact is critical.  We also print children's wear fairly often so it's something we've adjusted to. I think a proper set of platen racks would really help ease any pain of change over.  We have full sets of:

4x22
8x22
10x22 (only 4 of these)
12x22
16x22
16x22 zip hoodie or placket boards (only 4 again)

Oh and that one 6" board I hacked down with the circ saw.

[Fluid]

So, how do you guys adjust for the difference in print location between a youth medium and an adult XXL (not an unreasonable range). Do you just start out eyeballing a greater over hang for the big shirts, and move the smaller ones in incrementally, once again by eye?

Seems to me that this is where a marked, dropped or recessed neck thingie would be quite useful.

When letting the shirt hang off what we did was align the bottom of the collar to the edge of the platen.  Works perfectly and doesn't slow down production speed one bit.  If you need to adjust for shirt size / print location, our auto had a nice ruler which came with the press and could easily adjust all 12 palettes in about 2-5 min without changing the actual hang of the shirt.

[screenxpress]

Well I have to say I'm surprised. 

I expected a vote to be heavy one way or the other.  But the vote is almost exactly even. 

Since I'm going to make them like I did the "shorties".  Out of MDF with Formica tops and bottoms, I think I'll try making rectangles and if I find I can't get used to them loading, I'll just make a new set.  The voting ends tomorrow.  Thanks all.

[jsheridan]

I'm surprised none of your clients have taken issue with this and also that you find that acceptable for a print run across many sizes.

suprised that a client who asked for their print location to start 4" down from the collar would want anything other than 4" down.. I can hear the phone call now.. uhh I asked for the print to be X inches down.. but this small is x inches down and this xxl is X inches down.. what's up??

My question is why are you making more work for yourself by moving the shirt around your pretty line and marking covered platens?? Mine have paper on them.. that's it

I have over 6 million prints under my belt from my contract printing days and I never moved a small down an inch or an xxl up an inch. It doesn't make sense to a contract guy printing 4500 shirts a day. Just put it on the board here, that's all you have to do.

[Fluid]

My question is why are you making more work for yourself by moving the shirt around your pretty line and marking covered platens?? Mine have paper on them.. that's it

I have over 6 million prints under my belt from my contract printing days and I never moved a small down an inch or an xxl up an inch. It doesn't make sense to a contract guy printing 4500 shirts a day. Just put it on the board here, that's all you have to do.

95/
Same here.  Never a issue and have done it this way since 95/96. no clue as to how many prints, way too many though 

[prozyan]

My art proofs have the measurement from the collar included on it, so I don't adjust between sizes either, unless specifically requested.

[Action1]

Many years ago - perhaps some of you recall that we offered a choice of shapes from Shape A through Shape E. All of the different pallet shapes have pros and cons. We do still offer these shape options by request however we have standardized to rectangular in our solid aluminum and rubber inventory. In our Less expensive pallets - we have standardized those to a Shape D ( load side shoulder alignment )

One thing I haven't seen referenced that we have heard through the years - when loading shirts on an automatic - it helps many variables and increased production  when you have the pallet sizes that are correct for the shirt sizes. The main reason is that the load is accurate and quick. That is - when the pallet fills out the shirt - it's much easier to see if the shirt is aligned properly.

Around 1995 - we offered an expandable pallet. This pallet had side wings that incrementally adjusted out to assist in alignment. I thought is was a good idea - but we had very few inquiries about it and dropped it from the product line. A few years later we offered the option of attaching a part to the underside of the pallet that would stick out past front edge and provide a neck alignment guide.

We have discussed here the two most popular shapes for t-shirt loading - but there are certainly many, many more. We have researched and developed shapes that work with almost every square inch of almost every wearable that can be printed. When the shaping and substrate is size matched - it is easiest to load productively and with repeatability.

[inkman996]

After enough years of loading shirts it becomes quite easy to align no matter the shirt size to platen size ratio. Like someone already said pull the shirt all the way on grab the shoulder seams and pull back equally till you get where you want it. Very fast and easy, rectangle is the way to go in my opinion.

[Shawn (EIP)]

Hey Action I sent you a message on those Workhorse brackets, they look way more stable than the originals.