Platens

[screenxpress]

My old platens were warped.  Probably from the guy I bought the press from that didn't have a dryer.  At the time, I was using smaller screens and had already made smaller platens and was fine for a few years.  I'm moving on to Newmans and really need the original size platens and was going to make some like I've done before, just original size.  So here's the question.

Rectangle or Tapered (Neck)?

I've always had and made tapered and can't see how rectangular would be easy for loading.

Maybe I should have asked Andy to put up a voting board.....hmmmmm?  Dam, never mind.  I found it!! 

[Frog]

One big advantage to rectangular, no neck shape is it's easier to shift a shirt sideways when necessary. At least it's easier to keep it straight when shifting sideways.
It's also a lot easier to actually make them.

[screenxpress]

Do you just line them up to the bottom of the collar then?

[Frog]

I think that most folks have marks that correspond to the collar position, just as you do on your shaped boards.

[Northland]

I like rectangular.
I pull the shirt onto the pallet 'till the shoulder seam hits, then back it off equal distance on both sides.
Rectangular works better for tote bags and some other items, too.

[Frog]

Rectangular works better for tote bags and some other items, too.

Putting on a neck shaped board backwards is a good trick for bags as well.

[Shanarchy]

I like the Vastex style the best. They are rectangle w/a metal bolted on neck guide. I did not like the Workhorse style tapered ones. I did not give a good visual for distance from edge of platen to shoulder seems. With a rectangle platen you have a true straight edge to line up to. But I'm sure if you are used to it one way, it is the way you would prefer.

[ZooCity]

My favorites were the American style platens on an old Rototex I started out with. 

They were square platens that mounted to a top plate (the top plate mounted to the bracket with the bolts for leveling, a little involved but stick with me here, I couldn't find a picture) on that plate between the platen and the bracket there was a little wooden neck with a round top, smooth and finished.  I believe the concept here is similar to the one on vastex presses I've seen or used.  You load shirts just like a regular square platen but you have that neck to help guide your placement of the collar.  Very handy visually speaking, very quick to work with and accurate loading without moving the platen position. 

The reason I like this style best is you get the alignment assistance of a v-necked platen but without leaving the collar up on the shirtboard.  This fools with your off-contact and will have you burning up collars with the flash.  I don't even like having the sleeve seams of smaller Ts up on the platen. 

The same could be achieved by tapping a few threads on the underside of any other style platen and mounting a little wooden or metal piece.  With the mdf boards you could just screw on a piece of whatever and put markings on there to indicate where to throw the collar edge. 

[Homer]

rectangle give you the most surface area to print on making over sized prints fairly easy to do.

[Frog]

Not necessarily.

[tpitman]

I like the Vastex style the best. They are rectangle w/a metal bolted on neck guide. I did not like the Workhorse style tapered ones. I did not give a good visual for distance from edge of platen to shoulder seems. With a rectangle platen you have a true straight edge to line up to. But I'm sure if you are used to it one way, it is the way you would prefer.

Same here. I've got the platen tape marked for the neck, a centerline, and on the left centerline and pocket width marked for heart prints.
Coupled with this, I finally got off my lazy ass and worked up a film overlay with my own registration marks for the Vastex screen jig that fits to their standard platens. I've started using this instead of the pin-registration acetate, print my films out with matching registration marks, do the double-stick tape, and I'm within a hair of all screens registering now. Not dead on, but it's shortened my setup time noticeably. I've got the same neck hole, pocket outline and centerlines on my art template for positioning, then turn it off before running the film.

[jsheridan]

I like rectangle and I like my collar to hang off the edge so there's never an issue with a collar getting scorched from a flash or what not.

I put my boards in one place and never move them, i locate the print positioning on the screen via my grid template. If the print starts 3" down I use the 3" line and so forth.

This way all screens drop in the press the same, the shirt is always in the same place and the only thing that moves, is the art position.

[Shawn (EIP)]

Auto's use rectangle , hope to someday get one so I started making mine rectangle on the manual so I'm use to it.

[ZooCity]

John, what do you do then to lower the location of the art on the larger sizes? We often pull theIn collar further back from the platen edge to achieve this without adjusting the patterns. This involves eyeballing though and can be inconsistent, hence my vote for the vastex or american style with the dropped neck.

[tomt]

I learned on a Hopkins then bought a Chameleon.  I couldn't imagine having to use rectangular boards all the time so I popped a metal blade into my jig saw and cut the neck shape out of one of the brand new 1/4" aluminum platen.  I stopped using that abomination  within the month and when I did have to, it was put on backwards.  Printing with colars and drawstrings and eyelets off the board was a whole lot cleaner for me and gave me more control.