Max Tension (roller frame locking strips)

[TCT]

Frog brought something to mind for me with his "word for our sponsors" post.

Has anyone used the Max Tension (roller frame locking strips) strips? Any feedback?
I got a bunch of rollers downstairs we are going to bring into the rotation over the next few weeks and I keep meaning to see what people think about the strips!

[Frog]

Pete has renewed his ad a couple of times, so I have to assume that someone is buying them! 

[alan802]

I've bought several hundred feet from him and they work great.  I know there was some argument about not using Newman's strips and that the Newmans were special but I've got dozens of screens with max tension strips in them and they work great.  As a matter of fact I need to order a couple more rolls.  They are softer and more malleable and overall more pleasant to work with in my opinion and with the ridiculous price of plastic strips that can't cost more than a couple bucks a roll to make I probably won't ever buy the real ones again.  I believe in Newman products but just like some other stuff we see for our industry, the price to pay for some of our tools and equipment is outrageous and we shouldn't have to pay that. 

Does anyone really think it costs $60-$70 bucks to manufacturer a roll of locking strip plastic?

[screenprintguy]

I agree with you Alan, that roll should be around $20 and still have some profit, they would see more sales and less shops pushing to re-use s trips that are beat to crap. I also don't believe that a set of ratchets for a newman stretch table should be any where near $600 bucks. When we got our table used, it had a set for MZX and I needed a set for M3's. I think the price was $580 plus tax and shipping, for 4 peices of die cast aluminum that should have been more like $100, but in that case, there is no way to come up with a replacement idea so you get stuck paying the insane price for 4 pieces of aluminum that look like if they dropped hard enough would break.

[alan802]

I agree with you Alan, that roll should be around $20 and still have some profit, they would see more sales and less shops pushing to re-use s trips that are beat to crap. I also don't believe that a set of ratchets for a newman stretch table should be any where near $600 bucks. When we got our table used, it had a set for MZX and I needed a set for M3's. I think the price was $580 plus tax and shipping, for 4 peices of die cast aluminum that should have been more like $100, but in that case, there is no way to come up with a replacement idea so you get stuck paying the insane price for 4 pieces of aluminum that look like if they dropped hard enough would break.

I wanted to get 4 new ones for our older frames just like you did and when I saw the price I just decided we'd stretch the old frames the old fashioned way.  No way 4 pieces of aluminum should cost that much.  If they were made from tungsten, maybe, platinum, of course, but aluminum?  Naw, that's gouging.  A machine shop could fabricate some for probably 100 total and they don't have to be made from aluminum, just about any cheap metal would do.  The threaded attachment area could be done differently so you don't have to worry about that part.  You could easily attach the wires in another fashion and the table would work the same.

[screenprintguy]

I'm sure they'd get pissed off, but we have a big customer that has a dozen cnc machines and a 3d printer, they do a lot of fabrication for disney's rides controls and cool stuff like that. I bet if I gave them one of these things they could use one of their articulating laser scanning things and map those little things out easily. I'll see if they will, we have a cool relationship with the owners, maybe see if they will make me a back up set. I couldn't believe the things were so expensive, but we had just got the table in and realized it had the smaller wrenches and had just bought a bunch of m3's and had no choice but to buy them. SD must be sitting nice and high, lol.

[blue moon]

the issues is that they are made of Magnesium rather than AL. The cost difference is pretty significant.

something about AL not being the right material for the wrench, did not get the full answer as it was a passing remark.

pierre

[ZooCity]

I tried out a box of 'em and yep, excellent deal, more pliable/easier to handle, all have withstood reclaim cycles with no noticeable swelling or issues of any kind. 

There is a difference between these and official newman lock strip material however.  I noticed a waviness to the mesh loaded with these, presumably from the strip material not being formed perfectly along the edge.  It's visible on the mesh in the first couple inches off the channel.  Compared to the newman stuff these don't have the same uniformity along the strip.   It's a small thing that would make about zero difference on lower mesh counts at standard tensions (and possibly a legitimate issue if running ultra high tension or ultra thin thread SS type mesh for HD and effects printing) but we aren't using these for higher mesh counts or those that are going to run halftones.  I'm anal about square mesh loading for uniform stress/strain and uniform mesh openings across the image area so refuse to introduce anything to those meshes that might complicate things even if it is all in my head (highly likely).  I like our almost moire' free life here in the shop so if it ain't broke I ain't going to fix it. 

I agree that the newman ones are silly overpriced but they are made differently than other strapping type materials. It probably has something to do with the tolerance in extruding/manufacturing the stuff and I imagine is does cost them more but still, the cost is very hard to swallow.  These Max Tensions are an excellent and much welcomed alternative that will work for most applications.  I fully endorse 'em for lower mesh counts!

[Gilligan]

Want to talk about over priced repurposed products.

I just went to a clients office yesterday, he's a chiropractor.  When I walked in he got all excited about his new tool that he has... eliminates pain... it's amazing, he keeps raving.

He sends his patient into another room to do something else because he wants to demonstrate this device on me so badly.  When he walks off to show her to the other machine he wants her to use I pick up this new device that is in the room and start looking at it.

It's covered with a spandex sleeve and zippered up but the zipper is glued close, all you can see is the hole where the switch is and it's a blue switch... very familiar blue switch.  I flip the switch on to see what it does and I immediately realize what I'm holding in my hand.

A Dremel brand oscillating tool with a specially fabricated attachment on the front.

He walks back in and I tell him what it is and he says "It better not be, I paid over $2,000 for it!"  I start to strip back some of the spandex and I pull up a picture of one on the internet and start making him feel all the vents and different tactile bits that are easy to identify to the picture.

He's not pleased.

They had taken a standard attachment piece and cut it off and welded on a stainless peg shaped device that they had machined for a few bucks at most (if it wasn't repurposed from something else as well!)

Done in decent quantities I'm sure these things cost about $100 bucks... yet they charged over $2,000 for it!  (no, it's not medically approved or anything like that either).

This guy's shop is FULL of WAY over priced gadgets that DO work well... but shouldn't cost but 10% if not less than what he's paying.

I've taken apart a couple of his Magnetic Pulse Therapy machines for him to clean or repair them and I'm like... you paid $40,000 for this?!?!  Wow!  Basically it's an adjustable spark gap box with a neon transformer and a very large capacitor... few other bits but that is the big nuts and bolts of the device.  The transformer charges up this capacitor till the charge is great enough for the spark to jump across the gap and into the coil that is around whatever is ailing you.

Now, don't get me wrong, this machine is INCREDIBLE and works amazingly well... it's a wild ride to be treated with this thing and the results are immediate.  But 40k?!  I don't think so.

[TCT]

So I am going on to buy these strips now(on my list before the end of the day) and I can't for the life of me get the damn Max Tension banner to load on any of the pages!!!!

I wish there was something that could search things on the web....Something with a nonsense name.....Boogle, no that would never work!

[Frog]

So I am going on to buy these strips now(on my list before the end of the day) and I can't for the life of me get the damn Max Tension banner to load on any of the pages!!!!

? It's in the normal rotation and currently displays both at the top and after the first post in each thread.

[Gilligan]

Everyone gets a different ad, don't know or understand the algorithm, but I wouldn't want to either.  Same has happen to me for tech support guys.

[starchild]

A large chunk of the adds I see on here, follow me here from other sites I visited or searched for.. Stuff not even related to screen printing.  So it's def reading cookies first. Hope the forum is getting paid for these ads.

Posted with Tapatalk

[Shanarchy]

In case you haven't found it yet.

http://max-tension.com/

[Frog]

A large chunk of the adds I see on here, follow me here from other sites I visited or searched for.. Stuff not even related to screen printing.  So it's def reading cookies first. Hope the forum is getting paid for these ads.

Posted with Tapatalk

Yes, we do supplement our ad income with Google Ads that "adjust" to individuals.
That's why you get the ads for rock and roll paraphernalia and sex toys, and I get the ones for arthritis medicine, canes and walkers.