Dual Dryer Project DONE!!

[MikeVastex]

We love it!

We have had a few inquiries, and a few ideas bounced around about this exact idea. Our apprehension on the subject came from the shirts folding over themselves as they dropped down to the lower level. We were worried that this would cause a sticking issue with a thick full front print.

Much applause to you though, you really did a great job on that project! I take it you are controlling each chamber individually? How's the belt speed for you? Are you running at max speed? We could supply you with different sprockets and even an HD motor to handle that length of belt and give you a different range of speeds if you'd like. I'm actually very curious to what sprockets you are currently using? It looks like you are using the Drive off of an older EC-I and maybe the DB-II-30? The early EC-I and the Dri-Box dryers are the only ones that used belt speed controls on the conveyor in recent history.

You made the owner say, "Whoah!"

[mk162]

You could always put cooling fans at the end to help cool the image, or misters...but I am not sure how that would work.

[Mr Tees!!]

AWESOME, thanks for the compliment!

I was concerned about the sticking issue too, but so far, so good. I have an exhaust hood mounted on the end that hepls cool the shirt, and I run the bottom conveyor at about twice the speed of the top one, so it kind pulls the shirt when it falls and help flatten it to some extent.  You may remember I picked your brain a month or so ago concerning temp/belt speeds, the idea here was to run the belt barely fast enough to keep up with production, and at a lower temperature. These dryers are EC1s, the original one is a 2006 according to the serial plate, and the second one is a 2008. (the DB30-II box I purchased as separately when I bought the auto) The chambers and the conveyors are identical, although I turned the bottom conveyor the other direction (with the controller near the press) instead of fiddling with any wiring to get it to run the opposite direction.

Yes I am running each chamber individually...the first EC1 is set at 700, the second EC1 at 625, and both panels in the DB 30-II are actually set at about 4.5. All panels are 3.5 inches above the belt (I just lined em up to the inside railing). I have the scrub-air option on the final panel that runs continuously as well. I have a pretty wide window for belt speed with this setup, but I get a full cure at belt speed of 45 no problem, and have had it up to 60 with some delicate fabrics and still get a thorough cure. The ultimate goal here is to be able to cure waterbase inks at MY production speed, which as you can see isnt all that fast for an auto. First im going to work on plastcharge, which I will be experimenting with this week. I realise I am probably going to need some exhaust stacks at some point too.

If I do any more upgrades i will probably need the HD motors, so I will be in touch at that point. Would it be possible at all to get the side pieces of the conveyor extensions to install in place of those 2x6 sections? I know its not something you normally sell by itself, but I dont need the belt or the aluminum floor piece. Im thinkin I would need 6-8 18-inch sections to do it right.

One other thought: have you considered offering dryers with the same panels as your forced-air flash? I have one of those now, and it would seem beneficial to printers that want to get into waterbase and plastcharge inks.

Thanks for looking, Mark! THIS is what makes these forums so great!

EDIT: just realized this was Mikes post , Not Mark, which means we havent spoken yet. Sorry for the confusion there...

[Gilligan]

That's pretty awesome.  At first I was like... umm, what's the point?  Which just shows my lack of experience.

As soon as I saw the video I was like "AHHH!  Genius!!!" 

[rushhourscreen]

Talk about thinking outside the box, dude you better patent this before anyone else.  I have a question though, why are the flood and squeegees running up and down if you are not using them?  If that is normal, there is no way I would go with a machine that did that, OMG that would drive me crazy.  Seriously, I would buy a dryer like your invention, I run an auto and then have to go back and stack, what a waste of time I'm thinking, I have on long runs gathered up shirts to stack at the load station while I'm waiting for the press to finish printing and index to load another shirt, geez anything to save time with a one person shop.