Who has the best bang for the buck in autos?

[David005]

Trying to add pics, from iPhone :-/


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[royster13]

Graphic Disorder, your post reminded me of a call I got a few weeks ago....A young kid with 2 employees worked his balls off all year and had nothing to show for his effort.....After talking with him for a few minutes, I discovered that he was using 2 manual presses because he could not scrape enough money together for an auto press....

[GraphicDisorder]

Graphic Disorder, your post reminded me of a call I got a few weeks ago....A young kid with 2 employees worked his balls off all year and had nothing to show for his effort.....After talking with him for a few minutes, I discovered that he was using 2 manual presses because he could not scrape enough money together for an auto press....

Sad to hear.  I know several like that. 

I always took hiring as a last resort.  It's worked for us so far.  I hired a Auto first, which some said was a dumb move.  It has allowed us to work faster and not have to print every day and its far cheaper than most employees.  We also design and embroider and other things.  So its been good for us.  Adding the auto allowed us to print faster, so we could focus on increasing the embroidery business, which I did.  I added a 4 head last month, we exploded with work this month in embroidery.  In fact I paid myself back for the 4 head already in just over a month.  How about that for return on investment.  Just had our best 30days on the books ever and we still have 10 days left in the month so we could shatter that.  This all happened this way because of the auto.  So I guess my advice to others is if a 2 person shop who just started taking screen printing seriously in 2008 can do it, ANYONE can do it if you have the drive.  I wouldn't cheap out for the cheapest press if you can avoid it at all.  However my advice would be over and above all.  GET ONE, but get the biggest baddest mofo you can afford, remember you will want bigger. 

Of course we have now hired and he starts Jan 2nd.  I can say this much Shelly and I took this business as far as 2 people could have in my opinion.  So it was time for help.  I look forward to seeing what we can do with more time.  I think we have just touched the tip of the iceberg. 

[blue moon]

Graphic Disorder, your post reminded me of a call I got a few weeks ago....A young kid with 2 employees worked his balls off all year and had nothing to show for his effort.....After talking with him for a few minutes, I discovered that he was using 2 manual presses because he could not scrape enough money together for an auto press....

Sad to hear.  I know several like that. 

I always took hiring as a last resort.  It's worked for us so far.  I hired a Auto first, which some said was a dumb move.  It has allowed us to work faster and not have to print every day and its far cheaper than most employees.  We also design and embroider and other things.  So its been good for us.  Adding the auto allowed us to print faster, so we could focus on increasing the embroidery business, which I did.  I added a 4 head last month, we exploded with work this month in embroidery.  In fact I paid myself back for the 4 head already in just over a month.  How about that for return on investment.  Just had our best 30days on the books ever and we still have 10 days left in the month so we could shatter that.  This all happened this way because of the auto.  So I guess my advice to others is if a 2 person shop who just started taking screen printing seriously in 2008 can do it, ANYONE can do it if you have the drive.  I wouldn't cheap out for the cheapest press if you can avoid it at all.  However my advice would be over and above all.  GET ONE, but get the biggest baddest mofo you can afford, remember you will want bigger. 

Of course we have now hired and he starts Jan 2nd.  I can say this much Shelly and I took this business as far as 2 people could have in my opinion.  So it was time for help.  I look forward to seeing what we can do with more time.  I think we have just touched the tip of the iceberg.

similar experience here, very similar. It's a lot of hard work, but very doable. This is not a business model that suits everybody, but it is a good option for some ppl. It does provide quicker results, but damn it is hard and testing in the beginning.

pierre

[GraphicDisorder]

Graphic Disorder, your post reminded me of a call I got a few weeks ago....A young kid with 2 employees worked his balls off all year and had nothing to show for his effort.....After talking with him for a few minutes, I discovered that he was using 2 manual presses because he could not scrape enough money together for an auto press....

Sad to hear.  I know several like that. 

I always took hiring as a last resort.  It's worked for us so far.  I hired a Auto first, which some said was a dumb move.  It has allowed us to work faster and not have to print every day and its far cheaper than most employees.  We also design and embroider and other things.  So its been good for us.  Adding the auto allowed us to print faster, so we could focus on increasing the embroidery business, which I did.  I added a 4 head last month, we exploded with work this month in embroidery.  In fact I paid myself back for the 4 head already in just over a month.  How about that for return on investment.  Just had our best 30days on the books ever and we still have 10 days left in the month so we could shatter that.  This all happened this way because of the auto.  So I guess my advice to others is if a 2 person shop who just started taking screen printing seriously in 2008 can do it, ANYONE can do it if you have the drive.  I wouldn't cheap out for the cheapest press if you can avoid it at all.  However my advice would be over and above all.  GET ONE, but get the biggest baddest mofo you can afford, remember you will want bigger. 

Of course we have now hired and he starts Jan 2nd.  I can say this much Shelly and I took this business as far as 2 people could have in my opinion.  So it was time for help.  I look forward to seeing what we can do with more time.  I think we have just touched the tip of the iceberg.

similar experience here, very similar. It's a lot of hard work, but very doable. This is not a business model that suits everybody, but it is a good option for some ppl. It does provide quicker results, but damn it is hard and testing in the beginning.

pierre

The hardest part for us was what to buy and to be even more specific, info about whats out there.  ALL of them could be better at this.  I suppose they all want you in front of a press so you can see it/feel it/use it, and that works as well.  But a guy like me I want to see a lot of info, a lot of videos, a lot of feedback before id ever consider a press.

Buying it, or how to pay for it, was pretty easy, one decent job a month can pay for a press.  Rest is gravy.  I am a small timer and if I can do it everyone can.  I am not even a printer, I am a designer who prints.  LOL, so for a printer, this should be easy!

Once we pulled the trigger though, learning it was pretty damn easy.  M&R helped a lot with this though, but we were printing shirts on our own day one and had never used a auto before in our life. 

[Prosperi-Tees]

I agree there should be better ways to be able to "test drive" presses, for the most part you buy just off of info or if there is someone close to you with the model you are looking at and you are able to go see it and run it. I think thats what puts the RPM and others at a disadvantage.

[Frog]

I would venture a guess that through the manufacturers or distributors, you could get the name and address of a helpful and willing shop somewhere that is running an example of just about any current press in which you were interested.

[GraphicDisorder]

I would venture a guess that through the manufacturers or distributors, you could get the name and address of a helpful and willing shop somewhere that is running an example of just about any current press in which you were interested.

Ill let anyone (well almost) that's interested in M&R come not only see ours, but use it.  Print some screens, we can even shoot them here if someone wanted.

Pay it forward.

[David005]

I'll second that


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[Donnie]

I used to wade waist deep into this discussion but not any more. People are pretty passionate about what they invest in and rightfully so. Some of them get their panties in a wad pretty tight when you suggest there might be something just as good out there for less money. The only thing I can pitch in is this... I goddamn guarantee you that every brand mentioned in this thread will print a tee shirt and print it well. The only thing you have to figure out is how much you want to lay down.

[Prosperi-Tees]

We have talked tri-loc, mhm, newman pin. What about Vastex and their reg system? It seems cheap enough for the auto sized frames at about $1200. Anyone use one for their auto? I know Alan tore it apart and made his own.

[David005]

I want a machine that will last and hold reg even if employees are tough with machines , I want a machine that will run at full , compressor barely kickin on, and my guys can switch over to the next 5 color within an hour ready to run and let's not forget to have  a machine that operator is proud to work on and not aggri vate crazy that he'll stop caring About that perticular job


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I am here:

[GraphicDisorder]

We have talked tri-loc, mhm, newman pin. What about Vastex and their reg system? It seems cheap enough for the auto sized frames at about $1200. Anyone use one for their auto? I know Alan tore it apart and made his own.

Its decent, but its no tri-loc.  I have both btw. 

[bimmridder]

Not trying to sway the path of this thread, but since pre registration came up....I feel if you invest in a press, manual or auto, you NEED to have a system. QUIT WASTING TIME ON SET UPS. We can do an eight color in under 15 minutes. Screen, ink, squeegee and flood. Busty times we average 10 set ups per press per day. High screens, short runs. I'm happy where we are on set ups, but not satisfied.

[Homer]

Dave -what could make your set ups faster? It seems the slowest part for us is taking the platen off the press, putting on the one with the stops, and switching back. I am working on a solution for that today. I think ditching the carrier sheets is a huge step forward, I wish we could have the films come out of the printer in reg so I could have zero time registering the film on my glass.