How many Roller Frames to get started?

[Rockers]

We are going to purchase our first automatic press very soon and I was wondering how many Roller Frames I should get with it? Having already around 40 frames I thought about getting another 40 and a Roller Master. Am I`m not aiming high enough here.?Wish my budget would allow for more.

[Evo]

Absolute bare minimum? I would say your press's max number of colors times the typical number of setups you might do in a typical day, plus 1 extra set. So if you normally do say 4 multi-color setups a day on an 8 color press, that would be 40 screens. (4 full 8 color jobs and just 1 set coated for the next morning)

This is assuming a quick turn-around in the cleaning, reclaim and screen room.


I would invest in twice the bare minimum if I was you. Don't be afraid of used Newman M3 frames by the way. They are exceedingly durable and even ones in only fair cosmetic condition will hold tension perfectly.

And yeah - I don't think there is a single owner of a Roller Master table that ever regretted the purchase.

[jsheridan]

A nice number is 75 screens per press. This gives you a 2 day burn window with some extras for pre-produciton samples, re-burns and the ever present rush job.

[Rockers]

Absolute bare minimum? I would say your press's max number of colors times the typical number of setups you might do in a typical day, plus 1 extra set. So if you normally do say 4 multi-color setups a day on an 8 color press, that would be 40 screens. (4 full 8 color jobs and just 1 set coated for the next morning)

This is assuming a quick turn-around in the cleaning, reclaim and screen room.


I would invest in twice the bare minimum if I was you. Don't be afraid of used Newman M3 frames by the way. They are exceedingly durable and even ones in only fair cosmetic condition will hold tension perfectly.

And yeah - I don't think there is a single owner of a Roller Master table that ever regretted the purchase.

I was looking at used M3 but they are almost gone the same day they become available. And the seller has to be willing to ship to Japan.

[ScreenFoo]

Kinda depends on what the average color count of the jobs you will be doing, as well, John gave you a great figure.  That's exactly what we have for our 8/10.

[Socalfmf]

we have about 120 M3's and it is still not enough.....but min i would start with is 24...

sam

[Shawn (EIP)]

For a small manual shop I do just fine with 40 of them saving each screen burned for 1- 2 weeks before reclaiming incase of a reorder, add ons or other issues.

[bimmridder]

We have at least the number of frames we will go through in three days. One day spent in reclaim and coating, One day to image, and one day on press. We are going through about 150 a day right now and I just bought 48 more, taking it over 600 frames. It's still push us to the limit some days. If I used only one mesh count, life would be a dream, but there are "normal" screens, 4CP, specialty, etc. I guess I feel there are never enough frames around.   

[Gabe]

i bought 6 mzx rollers for auto that pop up locally
you got to act quickly when they show up otherwise you get none
i`m thinking about getting me at least 24 or 30 more to start

[inkbrigade]

We're thinking about 100 frames per auto. We have 2 autos and i think we're at 150 frames. For us that's not enough. So we got some more to get some more.

[jsheridan]

. I guess I feel there are never enough frames around.

NY job, 6 autos and 14 color chameleon, had 1500 frames, 3 sizes from 25x36 to jumbo and all over screens and it still wasn't enough sometimes.