"Talk to me like I'm ten and better explain to me the importance and benefits of increasing the infeed and outfeed, as well as what is an ideal size for each. "
Shane - okay - since you asked...
How long should the infeed be ? and how wide a belt is needed ?
Depends on a number of answers to the following questions(and I'm sure there are more)
What quantity of throughput do you need today ?
How many and what kind of presses do you need to accommodate today ?
What is the available square footage ?
Once you have answered those questions, if you use waterbase/discharge you'll want to consider the size of your heat chamber as more heat/time is required to cure those inks.
Next is the more difficult part - given a gas dryer represents a significant business investment you may wish to consider planned for or anticipated expansion, especially if it includes additional presses that the dryer is expected to handle.
Lastly, outfeed requirements usually get shorted - don't know if it is still true, but many of the poly/poly stretch inks (let's forget about bleed) were tacky coming out of the dryer and unless sufficiently cooled might stick to each other in the dryer basket -often with undesired images being transferred.
Shops I've visited with gas dryers generally:
with one auto and manual ---had 4/5 ' in and out: 9/10' of heat with 36" belt.
with two autos and manual --- had 5/10' in and 5' out:10/12' of heat with 48" belt
(two shops doing a fair amount of water-base/discharge had only 1 auto w/ above dryer
At one of the shops I worked with - ran an Anatol 60" split belt with 12' in and 8' out - had 2 autos, 2 manuals and 2 numbering presses on that line.
It was modular so heat chambers could be added if necessary at a later date.
Glad to hear from you with any questions...
Michael Jirasek
Anatol
847-582-1694
