Laser to Screen (LTS)

[inkman996]

I think the draw to the laser system is to be free of any wet system. Many of us been through the DTG then Epson film printers to know the aggravation of cleaning heads, chasing clogged nozzles, dealing with waste inks and caps etc etc. The thought of a machine that has ZERO of any of those issues is super attractive. But the price is way out there for most of us.

[GraphicDisorder]

I think the draw to the laser system is to be free of any wet system. Many of us been through the DTG then Epson film printers to know the aggravation of cleaning heads, chasing clogged nozzles, dealing with waste inks and caps etc etc. The thought of a machine that has ZERO of any of those issues is super attractive. But the price is way out there for most of us.

1000000% the case for me.

The cost of it though is really right with a STE 3 Head though. VERY close.

[inkman996]

I don't know what this convo is really about anymore. I get the over all vibe from you Dan that you want to find some way to put a flaw on wax but it is just not panning out. You keep bringing up 120 degrees which I think is ridiculous. Maybe 115 in some extreme cases but 120? Even then it is already been said at extreme temps no one has had an issue with their wax except for the Spyder but honestly we are all talking about the Douthit here. I do love the I Image we have and will continue to use it till end of life. But the next machine with out even thinking about it will be a wax. Laser would be awesome but not at the current pricing.

I can't pin Dan down at all really. He's beating up on Laser and Wax.

Dan are you telling us to buy i-images again?

Another note on this.  I mentioned above that (I, don't need the Laser to obtain any better quality). I know it's not needed to make a perfectly shaped dot at 3% in a 65lpi (on a tee shirts).  With my sep skills, I'm able to obtain any quality in the seps that I need.  I adjust, I make it work. Knowing your sep gal, I can't see you needing to pay for that either.  My opinion.  She does great using her own skills to get out of the prints what she needs in there.  It's more about the separations and how you prepare them than what machine you are using (as it pertains to image quality).  Same for wax or wet ink. It's never mattered. But many people had used (dot shape) as a method or an argument to justify their wax purchase over wet ink in the past...by comparing dot shape quality. Remember those old post?  Me,  I say, enjoy what you've decided to get. It doesn't really matter what machine you get. They all will be a good purchase.

I've never believed that the shape of your dot at 3-5-10% really make a big difference in the end result. That's also where my past example of (the award winning prints using FILM with wet ink, CTS with wet ink and also wax) came to be.  They ALL work...and nobody every complained in a contest about the shape of the small dots. I've been able to show that in my prints, so I'm good with whatever I use.

Now back to Mr Tony Pep's original reason for posting.
If my shop I worked at got a Laser, I'd be stoked too!  Nothing wrong with them if someone had bought it for you to use in your shop. It's not what I would "choose" to buy, but it's not my business is it. LOL.   It's going to work great and (has been) and ain't nothing wrong with that at all! Heck, I'd love one for free it it were me and my GOSH it's 100 times better than where you were I take it.   Good on ya.

I am certain any of them would be fine for us, we make it work regardless as I believe we are a team of people who will simply figure it out. It's not a money thing for me. I just want either a better flow, better quality, or better speed or all 3 if can be. The wax to me makes the MOST sense for me not having a dedicated room. I think ill end up with that. Probably pretty fast too.

Ill tell you the number one thing that has me on the wax train, we are having more issues lately with registration than we should be, why? Our girl running the i-image is small, shes not always hitting the stop blocks as she should, its not a machine flaw as much as it is just her size.  The Wax unit locks in screens with air, thats gotta be better than human I suspect. Talking with others I think its the ticket.

Does your machine have the green light to indicate full 3 point contact?

[inkman996]

I think the draw to the laser system is to be free of any wet system. Many of us been through the DTG then Epson film printers to know the aggravation of cleaning heads, chasing clogged nozzles, dealing with waste inks and caps etc etc. The thought of a machine that has ZERO of any of those issues is super attractive. But the price is way out there for most of us.

1000000% the case for me.

The cost of it though is really right with a STE 3 Head though. VERY close.

I should qualify way out there for most of us means most of us that are in the single head I image needs. A 3 head would be no benefit for us hence no benefit for a laser system.

[GraphicDisorder]

I don't know what this convo is really about anymore. I get the over all vibe from you Dan that you want to find some way to put a flaw on wax but it is just not panning out. You keep bringing up 120 degrees which I think is ridiculous. Maybe 115 in some extreme cases but 120? Even then it is already been said at extreme temps no one has had an issue with their wax except for the Spyder but honestly we are all talking about the Douthit here. I do love the I Image we have and will continue to use it till end of life. But the next machine with out even thinking about it will be a wax. Laser would be awesome but not at the current pricing.

I can't pin Dan down at all really. He's beating up on Laser and Wax.

Dan are you telling us to buy i-images again?

Another note on this.  I mentioned above that (I, don't need the Laser to obtain any better quality). I know it's not needed to make a perfectly shaped dot at 3% in a 65lpi (on a tee shirts).  With my sep skills, I'm able to obtain any quality in the seps that I need.  I adjust, I make it work. Knowing your sep gal, I can't see you needing to pay for that either.  My opinion.  She does great using her own skills to get out of the prints what she needs in there.  It's more about the separations and how you prepare them than what machine you are using (as it pertains to image quality).  Same for wax or wet ink. It's never mattered. But many people had used (dot shape) as a method or an argument to justify their wax purchase over wet ink in the past...by comparing dot shape quality. Remember those old post?  Me,  I say, enjoy what you've decided to get. It doesn't really matter what machine you get. They all will be a good purchase.

I've never believed that the shape of your dot at 3-5-10% really make a big difference in the end result. That's also where my past example of (the award winning prints using FILM with wet ink, CTS with wet ink and also wax) came to be.  They ALL work...and nobody every complained in a contest about the shape of the small dots. I've been able to show that in my prints, so I'm good with whatever I use.

Now back to Mr Tony Pep's original reason for posting.
If my shop I worked at got a Laser, I'd be stoked too!  Nothing wrong with them if someone had bought it for you to use in your shop. It's not what I would "choose" to buy, but it's not my business is it. LOL.   It's going to work great and (has been) and ain't nothing wrong with that at all! Heck, I'd love one for free it it were me and my GOSH it's 100 times better than where you were I take it.   Good on ya.

I am certain any of them would be fine for us, we make it work regardless as I believe we are a team of people who will simply figure it out. It's not a money thing for me. I just want either a better flow, better quality, or better speed or all 3 if can be. The wax to me makes the MOST sense for me not having a dedicated room. I think ill end up with that. Probably pretty fast too.

Ill tell you the number one thing that has me on the wax train, we are having more issues lately with registration than we should be, why? Our girl running the i-image is small, shes not always hitting the stop blocks as she should, its not a machine flaw as much as it is just her size.  The Wax unit locks in screens with air, thats gotta be better than human I suspect. Talking with others I think its the ticket.

Does your machine have the green light to indicate full 3 point contact?

No, its one of the first i-Images before that was added believe.

[Evo]

The Wax unit locks in screens with air, thats gotta be better than human I suspect. Talking with others I think its the ticket.

The clamping bar is air actuated - it does not force the screen against the blocks, it's just a clamp. Like tri-loc operation on press, the contact with the stop blocks is all human and then a switch closes the clamp while the screen is held in place. Like any system it's potentially prone to human error.

[zanegun08]

The good part about newer equipment is that it takes a while to catch on, and during that time you can strike some try before you buy deals, so why don't you just get them to put a laser in so you can try it before you commit.

Also talk to bluewater as maybe there are some opportunities there.

Since you are a plastisol shop, laser will work great for you, I think some of the people that it doesn't work with are for places that do more aggressive inks, and so it's not getting a super solid exposure for that.

Wax will work great, but it can't really do anything better than the i-image, and for process work you'll want to print uni-directional anyhow so it will be slower than advertised bi-directional speeds, as well as you do large prints so it will be slower for that as well.

If I were in your position, I'd send Douthitt / Spyder an image, and have them do a video of printing it so you can see how long it actually takes, and have them send you a screen, and do the same for the laser and M&R 3 Head, then you can compare screen quality, and see actual time for a real image.  Or just strike a try before you buy with the laser.

Still think you are sleeping on the Bugatti of screen making though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m17Pl-mrfms https://signtronic.com/en/stm-tex-series.html you said money was no issue

[GraphicDisorder]

The Wax unit locks in screens with air, thats gotta be better than human I suspect. Talking with others I think its the ticket.

The clamping bar is air actuated - it does not force the screen against the blocks, it's just a clamp. Like tri-loc operation on press, the contact with the stop blocks is all human and then a switch closes the clamp while the screen is held in place. Like any system it's potentially prone to human error.

Yes I get that, but in theory a screen locked by air is definitely not moving.... vs one not. We agree?

[GraphicDisorder]

The good part about newer equipment is that it takes a while to catch on, and during that time you can strike some try before you buy deals, so why don't you just get them to put a laser in so you can try it before you commit.

Also talk to bluewater as maybe there are some opportunities there.

Since you are a plastisol shop, laser will work great for you, I think some of the people that it doesn't work with are for places that do more aggressive inks, and so it's not getting a super solid exposure for that.

Wax will work great, but it can't really do anything better than the i-image, and for process work you'll want to print uni-directional anyhow so it will be slower than advertised bi-directional speeds, as well as you do large prints so it will be slower for that as well.

If I were in your position, I'd send Douthitt / Spyder an image, and have them do a video of printing it so you can see how long it actually takes, and have them send you a screen, and do the same for the laser and M&R 3 Head, then you can compare screen quality, and see actual time for a real image.  Or just strike a try before you buy with the laser.

Still think you are sleeping on the Bugatti of screen making though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m17Pl-mrfms https://signtronic.com/en/stm-tex-series.html you said money was no issue

I have been offered a try before you buy laser deal, it's a bandwidth thing for me. We don't have the time right now to mess around trying something that may not be ready yet.

We have a bluewater reclaim, are you saying they are doing imagine now?

Yes we are plastisol shop but who knows that could change, I wouldn't want my CTS/LTS to dictate that really.

Mark would probably do that but he's given me some real world math based on our general image size, he thinks 200 screens a shift on his machine for the type of work we are doing. That is fine for us for now. That is similar to the numbers I was told with the Saati, only bonus there is 1 load vs 2.

Dang never seen that Signtronic, looks expensive. LOL

[GraphicDisorder]

Wax Machine ordered.

[bimmridder]

Congrats. I know you'll be very happy

[TCT]

Congrats. They are awesome. Equally as awesome is Mark. Logged into our system on New Years day(I told him it was no rush and we would not be in, his choice) to get the computers talking to each other again after from something from our ISP changed and screwed up our network. Congrats again!

[blue moon]

Wax Machine ordered.

It’s the Porsche of the DTS. Best bang for the buck if you are going to daily drive it.
pj

[Dottonedan]

Congrats!  Can't go wrong.

[GraphicDisorder]

Machine came yesterday and we self installed it with Mark over the phone. Some tweaking to do this am but should be making screens today with it. Well built machine.