How To Load A Shirt On A Screen Printing Platen

[Deborah Sexton]

Experienced screen printers all have their own technique for loading a shirt on a platen. But newcomers may find it takes a bit of experimentation if they have no one to show them. Chuck Maulsby, screen territory manager, GSG, Dallas, Texas, a full line distributor of equipment and supplies for textile and sign screen printing, embroidery, digital printing and electrical signage, offers this advice:

An easy way to center a shirt for printing while loading is to gather the body toward the top, then pull it over the platen toward the press until it is stretched tightly from the neck. If necessary, then grab the shoulders and pull the shirt right or left to center it. Then pull the shirt back toward you until the image area is on the platen.

[ABuffington]

This has always been a worker preference I have found.  Some like to flip load the shirt, some like the print side up.  By far my fastest loaders always flip loaded and could center shirt easily and place the collar correctly without having to pull back and re-straighten.  That gets time consuming on a fast auto.  It helps to stack shirts precisely with the bottom of the shirt lined up so the loader didn't have to search to find the hem.  After a couple of hours of printing we noticed that loaders would start to load in the direction of the back foot.  Left foot back, shirts loaded a little to the left on the bottom and horizontal prints would tilt.  If Right foot back the bottom of the shirt would be off center to right.  Many of us practiced switching stance every hour to prevent this.  We also rotated workers from catcher to loader, to unloader to catcher every hour.  This really paid dividends if one was out sick.

Precise close placement to the neck or seam should be done with lasers to get accuracy, this will slow down production from peak speeds.

Artwork is similar.  Horizontal art, lines, or artwork that has lots of wide horizontal elements requires more careful placement than art with no reference lines.  Lasers can show where armpit seams need to stop, or put small round head pins into the rubber mat of the pallet to show and feel when the seams are lined up correctly.  The thinner the horizontal art, the slower it is to get the shirt loaded correctly, and then when it washes, well that's a whole 'nother problem since shirts distort horizontal art elements easily as they shrink.

Al

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I'd like to see some videos of seasoned loaders.

Actually....I've HAVE seen some YouTube videos--of the speed challenge variety. Maybe there isn't anything better for my purpose.

I'm midway through my seventh year and I still load like an amateur compared to the 2 or 3 videos I've seen.

[Frog]

I'd like to see some videos of seasoned loaders.

Actually....I've HAVE seen some YouTube videos--of the speed challenge variety. Maybe there isn't anything better for my purpose.

I'm midway through my seventh year and I still load like an amateur compared to the 2 or 3 videos I've seen.

I'm just old man fussbudgety enough to think that many of the shirts printed in the video speed contests would be rejects due to a condition known well by you.

[ABuffington]

Read my own post, still recovering from the dentist and it shows.  When the right foot is back the bottom of the load would be off to the right.  With left foot back the load would be to the left.  There are many ways to help loaders.  One is how you stack your pallets, if you are so lucky to have 1200 piece runs.  Dozen folds help keep the count right.  We hit 1440 in dozens with pallet wrap.  If the loader has to stack their dozens on the cart yields will be low.  A helper is almost needed all the time to keep his cart full.  We found that stacking 300 one way, and the next 300 the opposite way with the hems lined up very square yielded the best hourly marks.  Use a scissors jack, never stack shirts again.  This method also presses the slubs into the shirt, and took out the wrinkles as well.  Method would be lift up back of shirt, slide hands in.  Slide hands to the outside to center on grip.  Flip the shirt and let the pallet separate it.  Watch collar as it nears drop point and slow down to do final centering and drop.  No need to brush in place.  If flat with decent pallet tack you don't need to.  Keep pallet tack away from corners of pallets so the shirt doesn't hang up on tack and can go on in one smooth motion.

Or let the girls load it.  Mine did it better than any of the guys.  8 hours and they didn't show it.  My guys looked like a prize fighter moving it around and down for the count at the end of the day.  My girls could talk all day, laugh and get it right every time.  Economy of motion

Al

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

....known well by you....    (crooked)

That just struck me funny! (Probably plowing a little too close to the corn, caused me a nervous snort.)

I load tee shirts all the way on the platen, letting the shoulder seam "stop" the shirts. I like that a lot. Depending on the tackiness of the shirtboards, it variously aligns the tees somewhat, and pretty quickly, I think. Then I pull them back to the final print position. I might do that a couple of times, if I don't like it after the first effort.

I often grab the extreme corners of the shoulder seams--of BIG sizes especially--during that "pull back phase". With 3X's on up, sighting down at the corners in my fingertips helps.

Also, I usually spread the armpit seams to see how they compare to the platen edges.

On designs that are more forgiving, I "fling" 'em on a little faster. I've never timed myself on the Auto, but I never could beat 25 seconds per, for one color tees on a manual. Maybe 20, for short bursts.

On that whole crooked thang, the Missus and I come from 17 years in the sign biz. Actually, I grew up in a sign shop. For signs, "straight" is just easier to define and so is crooked. We did screenprint way back when, but comparing screenprinting in THOSE days to now, is like comparing the welds of a Farmer Welder VS a Career Welder--a craft about which I guess I know a certain amount. I used to build, decorate, and install my own electric signage. But when I quit in my early 50's, I still welded like a farmer. My signs never blew down in the Kansas wind, but my welding wasn't too pretty.

Anyways, my wife can't seem to overcome the whole crooked deal. "Yes dear, every shirt is printed crooked to one degree or another." I'll stipulate that. Signs can LOOK completely straight, but they aren't REALLY straight either. Not 100%. There is a + or - tolerance level to everything.

Do any of you guys ever have custys bring back shirts that are too crooked to wear? I rarely see most customers (they irritate me) but I don't ever see those types of rejects. To me, left chest designs often look crooked on a body.

I just need to speed up a little while loading for my Gauntlet. I'm painfully slow on designs that are more sensitive to loading errors.

[Frog]

Do any of you guys ever have custys bring back shirts that are too crooked to wear? I rarely see most customers (they irritate me) but I don't ever see those types of rejects. To me, left chest designs often look crooked on a body.

I've never had custys bring back crooked shirts (though i've caught them while folding and replaced them) but I have had them complain about distortion due to stickum and stretching to remove. I hate regular shaped designs for this reason. They require finesse and just the right amount of stick.

[Shanarchy]

Do any of you guys ever have custys bring back shirts that are too crooked to wear? I rarely see most customers (they irritate me) but I don't ever see those types of rejects. To me, left chest designs often look crooked on a body.

I've never had custys bring back crooked shirts (though i've caught them while folding and replaced them) but I have had them complain about distortion due to stickum and stretching to remove. I hate regular shaped designs for this reason. They require finesse and just the right amount of stick.

When the artwork is in a circle seems to be the worst for this.