Dryers what & why

[3Deep]

I've been reading a few post here and most of you are doing DC, water base inks and for those inks dryers play a very big part, 90 sec to 120 sec 2 minutes to really get a full cure.   Now my question is which I may already know the answer, what purpose and why are smaller dryers needed if they want get the job done and why build them still.  Vastex make I think some of the smallest dryers far as tunnels go, I don't see a shirt staying in there no more than 20 to 30 sec if that ( I could be wrong never own one), but yet they still get the job done.  We have a older smaller M&R economax dryer, it gets the job done, but if I had more room I would go bigger for the purpose of production speed.  With more and more shirt  fabrics getting thinner I can see the purpose for DC/water base inks to have a softer hand, so is smaller dryers a dying breed or does some company need to work on a smaller dryer that fits the bill like Anatol did with the Mini auto press.

[Frog]

Small dryers can still get plastisol up the the 290-320 temp it needs, but don't provide the dwell time needed to evaporate all of the water out of the WB inks.

[Stinkhorn Press]

cost.
people think they want them.
cost.
electric v gas.
cost.
if all you could previously afford was a flash, even a IR 4" dryer is a wonder.

you can (somewhat) cure a plastisol print with a flash dryer.
you can (somewhat) cure discharge/WB ink in a 4' IR dryer, turn the temp, speed down and send it through 3 times.
you can (somewhat) cure plastisol in a 4' IR dryer.

if you have the space and the means, no matter what ink, you really want a full size, decent dryer. you're not really curing anything properly and with control until you do.
cost.

[Frog]

Besides cost, some folks just don't have the physical room. (another reason why used dryers can often be great bargains as there's nowhere to store the old one)
Little tiny 4 and 5 foot electric dryers also can be very handy when printing plastisol onsite, especially when 220 is not available.
I know more than one shop who temporarily limped by using one when their moneymaking behemoth was down for repairs.

[Homer]

because small dryers are GREAT for pop tarts.....

[whitewater]

At my old shop i wanted a gas dryer for the future cost of running it, but there was absolutely zero room for the length, so i had to go with the MR Fusion.

Now that im at my current shop for a couple years, i may sell it and get a larger gas.. And last winter my equipment was paid off.

[stitches4815]

For us it was space, money was not an issue.  There is just no room for the auto and a larger dryer.  If and when we get into a larger building I will be buying a bigger dryer.

[Hey Monkey]

I am using a Vastex Econored II 30 and am an all WB and DC shop. Mind you I am low output (on purpose) as I am also a design and branding shop but it does the job for me.

[Sbrem]

We run an old Cincinnati Demon every day, no cure problems, but plastisol only. We also have a small EconoRed for our numbering machine, and yes, a much lower dwell time, and they are cured, we don't get any back for quality problems. We are changing our big old gas/electric Tex-Air 60" for a new Interchange MD-8, all gas, we expect a considerable monthly savings.

Steve

[Shanarchy]

I am using a Vastex Econored II 30 and am an all WB and DC shop. Mind you I am low output (on purpose) as I am also a design and branding shop but it does the job for me.

We have the same dryer (I plan on upgrading semi-soon). I haven't done discharge or wb with mine.

What are you using for the dryers settings, and about how many pieces per hour do you think you're outputting? Also which dc and wb products are you using?

[Biverson]

I am using a Vastex Econored II 30 and am an all WB and DC shop. Mind you I am low output (on purpose) as I am also a design and branding shop but it does the job for me.

We have the same dryer (I plan on upgrading semi-soon). I haven't done discharge or wb with mine.

What are you using for the dryers settings, and about how many pieces per hour do you think you're outputting? Also which dc and wb products are you using?

I'm also on this same boat. I needed the Vastex EC-2-30 for space and amperage as I started out in my basement....Now in the garage. I'm mostly all plastisol with WB and DC here and there. I use Comet white for my whites and add the warp drive so I run it through a little quicker and it still cures just fine. I like that it's also modular and I can add another element if needed. I had curing issues on my first dryer (Workhorse Odyssey) but none with this. I did a plasticharge job awhile back (2 years) and put them through at 60 seconds at 340 and they turned or great and are holding up well.

I just got a Volt 7/8 last month and the Dyer keeps up with it when I'm by myself. Two of us it does just fine too. If it's a quick dark print on a light shirt with 2 of us we definitely push it. My garage amps are absolutely maxed though (100 amp panel) so upgrading is out of the question ATM.


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[Prince Art]

Why small dryers?

Starting out: Low budget, low throughput when printing manual only.
After the need for more capacity is there, why stay small?: Available space, electrical requirements, and, of course, budget still is a concern for many.
(And budget & utilities concerns go hand in hand: You'll spend more money to get a bigger dryer, but then you may have to shell out more $ to accommodate it, too; either upgraded electrical or bringing in gas. (If your location is equipped already, then great. But that's a hurdle for many small shops.))

We started with a Little Buddy (available to sell, if you know anyone!), and then moved to an 8' Lawson Encore with a whopping 4' tunnel. When I have time, I should be able to clear just enough space to fit a 10'-11' dryer, with a 6' tunnel. But I've got to watch the electrical requirements carefully; and once done, my space is absolutely maxed out.

People talk about, and mfrs. promote, small dryers that do hundreds of shirts per hour & keep up with autos. I think this must be mainly related to single-operators (no puller) doing small prints. Yes, I can bust through some left chest prints pretty quickly. But when it's temp-sensitive blend shirts, with a 17" long full chest print, laid flat on a 24" belt, I slow to a crawl. In the case of 1-color designs, I'm no faster than I would be on a manual press, because the dryer throttles everything. So... I think we'd all love to be running the biggest, best, most trouble-free equipment possible. But we have to deal with what's feasible in our particular situations.