Vastex 1000 Semi Auto Coater

[T Shirt Farmer]

So easy even a cave man can do it...Opened the crate stood it up in screen room and bolted to wall. I coated 5 screens and was completely confident in operation. Took an embroidery operator who never touched a screen, showed him what to do and how to use the machine, let him practice with an empty coater for a few minutes. Let the operator start coating with emulsion 10 screens latter I walked away as he was obviously coating perfect screens... this all happened in the span of one hour. IMO i just made the $1500 investment back the first day.

EDIT
*Due to complaints of aching necks, I had to straighten that pic!

[mk162]

dammit, let me find my credit card....

[KevWilso]

So easy even a cave man can do it...Opened the crate stood it up in screen room and bolted to wall. I coated 5 screens and was completely confident in operation. Took an embroidery operator who never touched a screen, showed him what to do and how to use the machine, let him practice with an empty coater for a few minutes. Let the operator start coating with emulsion 10 screens latter I walked away as he was obviously coating perfect screens... this all happened in the span of one hour. IMO i just made the $1500 investment back the first day.

Awesome!

[LoneWolf2]

Got a video of it in action?

[mooseman]

A side line question, what brand screen is that? Looks like a static based on the tight corners but then again it looks like a re-ten because of the brackets.
Please share with a guy who is really PI$$ED at all my  Newmans and the freaking stripping bolts.
mooseman

[californiadreamin]

So easy even a cave man can do it...Opened the crate stood it up in screen room and bolted to wall. I coated 5 screens and was completely confident in operation. Took an embroidery operator who never touched a screen, showed him what to do and how to use the machine, let him practice with an empty coater for a few minutes. Let the operator start coating with emulsion 10 screens latter I walked away as he was obviously coating perfect screens... this all happened in the span of one hour. IMO i just made the $1500 investment back the first day.

Wow.. What a testimony for Vastex, Kudos To Vastex!
This product fills a real niche. Simple design, functional, easy to use, at a fair price!
Refreshing Idea, In an Industry That tries to over complicate simple task, by adding "Fluff" To justify High Prices.
Kudos To Vastex!!!
 winston

[blue moon]

A side line question, what brand screen is that? Looks like a static based on the tight corners but then again it looks like a re-ten because of the brackets.
Please share with a guy who is really PI$$ED at all my  Newmans and the freaking stripping bolts.
mooseman

those are Shurloc easy frames. hold up very nicely and with proper mesh can stay in rotation for a very long time. They are high tension, but are more like static frames. Once you put the mesh on them you can not make adjustments. They do sell longer bars that you can use on screens that loosen up, but none of our screens have made it that long. . .

pierre

[mooseman]

Thanks Pierre for the info, the classic hybrid ......a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll
mooseman

[T Shirt Farmer]

a guy who is really PI$$ED at all my  Newmans and the freaking stripping bolts.
mooseman

I have never stripped a single bolt in 20 years... maybe because I use a torque wrench ?? 

[repogolfer]

I just ordered one up after watching the video of this in action.  Its going to solve a problem here I'm guessing since 3 different employees all coat screens at different times throughout the rotation. And all of them have different speeds in this process.   Looks super easy...thanks for posting.

Jon

[Screened Gear]

Here is the link to the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbNaE8m88uE

[ericheartsu]

ok, so ours arrived today. I spent about 30 mins getting the parts together to install the unit, and it took a total of 10 mins to drill in and install.

I was coating screens in under 5 mins once it was installed.

I will say, first impressions:
i'm not crazy about the screen holding mechanisms. Multiple times while coating i felt my rollers slip out of the groove intended to hold it. Also anytime i had to push my screen down to pull it out of the holders, the whole mechanism shifted down as well, almost like the holders were sinking. Another issue, the holders kept sliding out of place, which made it seem really flimsy, and that a lock should be added so your upper holder doesn't have a chance to move around.

Coating: took me a minute or two, but i was able to coat pretty smoothly, with little issues. I did feel that every once and a while i was a getting a jerky motion though.

Two screens in and i had emulsion everywhere, but once I understood how i needed to coat screens with it, it was smooth sailing. Not bad for $2k, but also maybe not the best either.

[GKitson]

We just brought back a Vastex Semi-Auto coater from the Indy PW show.

We will be demonstrating the unit at the PROScreen-SAATI Professional Screenmaking Workshop at Mind's Eye Graphics on August 14-15.

Not yet installed but we should start working with it in the next week to 10 days.

If anybody in the Midwest is interested in a hands on demo prior to the Workshop give me a call at 260-724-2050.

Better yet check out the workshop.

~Kitson

[T Shirt Farmer]

As I mentioned this unit will be slower for folks that are Very Good at coating one handed, but if you want you can teach a person who has never seen a screen to coat iefficemtly in minutes

[UltraSeps]

Kudos to Vastex for sticking around all these years and manufacturing quality products.  They were here when I started in the late 70's.  I can definitely see this product helping printers with inexperienced help to correctly coat screens at an affordable cost.

During my 30+ years owning/operating my shop, regardless of the demands on myself, I would always coat all screens as nobody could seem to do it accurately and consistently.  My "automated" coating setup was a 5 gallon pail turned upside down with a folded bath towel on top to prevent the screen from slipping as I coated.  After about 10,000 I got pretty damn good at it.  Okay...maybe it didn't take quite that long.  LOL!