Running Discharge through M&R Sprint International

[alan802]

Just a quick video of us doing a discharge underbase with plastisol on top using the new Sprint dryer.  This was our first discharge of any kind going through the new dryer.  I didn't have much time to get into all the features or anything, just something for us to look at.

Screen Printing at SRI Monogramming, Discharge UB,

[Screened Gear]

Ok give us some info. what discharge? what mesh? what plastisol?

Did you ever figure out the gas and power savings on your dryer compared to the old one?

[alan802]

Sorry I didn't give any info or specifics, just thought I'd put something up really quick and didn't think about it.  I'll get back on tonight and give the details.

[killergraphics]

Thanks...I love watching people work. That is a nice shop you got.

Allen I have an extra flash exactly like yours...need a good deal on a #2?

Are you using two flashes in the vid?

[Binkspot]

1. How "cured" is the discharge after the flash. Does it have to be dry to the touch before the plastisol?
2. Sounds dumb but how and how hard is it to register to the discharge? Can you see the image or do you have to rely solely on the Reg devise?

[Gabe]

Yo @Alan
what`s the sidewinder diameter?
thanks
Gabe
p.s. looking good

[Evo]

1. How "cured" is the discharge after the flash. Does it have to be dry to the touch before the plastisol?
2. Sounds dumb but how and how hard is it to register to the discharge? Can you see the image or do you have to rely solely on the Reg devise?

Nice vid Alan. NOW GET BACK TO WORK.


Often you can get away printing WOW right on top of the discharge base, although with the design in the vid, maybe not so much as it was a big rectangle of ink. Doesn't need to be super cured, just dry, and often the full discharge effect will occur under the flash. The remaining trip through the dryer is for proper cure.

Registering to dried discharge prints isn't any harder than any other print. Only thing holding you back is the opacity of your chosen emulsion.

Tri-loc negates any issues at all. Flip the screen clamps closed and GO.

[californiadreamin]

Hi Alan!
Nice Vid, Nice Shop, Nice Equipment.
We use to have the same dryer in our sample/ special run area.
We ran a 16 color MHM an four 14 color  M&R chamelions  thru it,
and it worked great. The last shirts that went through it were the
Vancouver olympic shirts for the athlete's. Then we shut it all down!
The RPM looks and runs cool too! Keep it up.

winston
 

[alan802]

We were running the first flash right after the UB to warm the pallets up but it wasn't doing anything to the discharge.  The inks were very stiff because it was cold in the shop so I turned the 1st flash off after about 10 minutes.  We ran the second flash to gel that gray ink because the design has black halftones going on top of it to create a shadow affect.  I also turned that 2nd flash off for a few dozen shirts during the run to see what happened and the halftones were still there and clean, but they weren't as opaque and didn't look quite as good as when we gelled the large gray area.

1. How "cured" is the discharge after the flash. Does it have to be dry to the touch before the plastisol?
2. Sounds dumb but how and how hard is it to register to the discharge? Can you see the image or do you have to rely solely on the Reg devise?

1.  Not at all, and no, you can print wet on wet right on top of the discharge.  I've experimented with flashing it for long enough to dry it to the touch but the results don't change much, certainly not enough to run that flash unit for several seconds each print.
2.  Registering over a discharge UB is easier to me than most white UB that we do.  If you do set it up manually then I'd print the darkest color to register everything else from, then on your first test print, I'd flash it enough to start the discharge process so you can see if you need to adjust it, or you can just wait till the shirt goes through the dryer and then look at what needs to be moved.  I bet if you were off a point or two on your top colors from the UB, you'd never be able to tell without getting right up on the print and looking with a 10X loupe.

Yo @Alan
what`s the sidewinder diameter?
thanks
Gabe
p.s. looking good

I'll get that to you on Monday if I don't go up to the shop tomorrow.  Any pictures you want to see of it, a particular area of the press?

Thanks...I love watching people work. That is a nice shop you got.

Allen I have an extra flash exactly like yours...need a good deal on a #2?

Are you using two flashes in the vid?

Yeah, 2 flashes in the beginning but I cut the 1st flash off after things got warmed up.  I was actually thinking of upgrading our flash unit with something like an 18x20 or 18x24 because that little unit that we have isn't my favorite tool in the shop:).  It's not terrible but when you get used to quartz flash units on the auto it's hard to work with a small IR.

We could have done some things differently with this job as far as mesh count and not even used an underbase of any kind if all we were printing on were the orange shirts, but there were navy and a couple medium gray shirts in the order and the urge to do a discharge UB was strong with me the last few weeks so we just did it.  I put the UB on a 156 and the top white was a 156 as well.  The large gray area was on a 180-S thread which was a dream to print on, the red was on a newman mesh 205 at 45 newtons which was equally as awesome to print through.  The black was on a regular 230 and the yellow gold was a 230.  Those 230's are terrible compared to the 205N and 180 S thread and I'll not ever buy them again.  I'll go with S threads and newman roller mesh on all new mesh.

Here is a pic on a medium gray.


Thanks Winston, I hope you get an install or something in the area one of these days so you can stop by.

[killergraphics]

No I meant the 3 zone 9 bulb auto quartz flash. It's to big for my press.

Nice shirt.

[alan802]

No I meant the 3 zone 9 bulb auto quartz flash. It's to big for my press.

Nice shirt.

Now we're talking, send me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

[Gabe]

Yesss, @ALAN taking advantage of your good nature
i would like to take a closer at the print head
the side clamp`s  bracket that attaches to the printhead
from the video i saw it has a plastic handle in order to adjust to different size screens
how sturdy is it? i know you use heavy roller frames
Have nice weekend
Gabe

[alan802]

Yesss, @ALAN taking advantage of your good nature
i would like to take a closer at the print head
the side clamp`s  bracket that attaches to the printhead
from the video i saw it has a plastic handle in order to adjust to different size screens
how sturdy is it? i know you use heavy roller frames
Have nice weekend
Gabe

I'll get you some closeups of the printhead on Monday.  The only thing plastic that connects the side clamps is the handle of the kip lever, but the lever itself is metal inside and the actual pieces that contact the horizontal bar that holds the clamps is all metal.  It handles the shurloc ez frames really easily and they are heavier than the heaviest newman roller of the same size.  The press holds the screens with perfect off contact from front to back with no sagging.  Our old manual coudn't handle the 23x31 frames because of the rear clamps but the 18x20 with square bar worked great.  I haven't been up close with a vastex with side clamps to compare the two but I'm going to visit a shop next week that has one with side clamps.  I've been around most of the better manual presses like the antec legend, the hopkins, v2000hd, rototex and the new anatol's and the sidewinder is just better built than any other manual that I've seen in person.  It's not an entry level manual like M&R says on their website. 

[244]

It's "our" entry level manual. You are correct if comparing the Sidewinder to other entry level presses. One other benefit to the SIDEWINDER is besides the money back guarantee if you don't like it we offer full refund of purchase price toward any new M&R automatic in the first year of purchase. Just a FYI

[Gabe]

It's "our" entry level manual. You are correct if comparing the Sidewinder to other entry level presses. One other benefit to the SIDEWINDER is besides the money back guarantee if you don't like it we offer full refund of purchase price toward any new M&R automatic in the first year of purchase. Just a FYI

I know is an entry level press but the reason i`m paying attention to the side clams
is because when i go to shows i only see presses with back clamps
i got some rollers 23 by 31 i want to be able to use in a manual as well as in a autopress
now diameter of the press loaded with auto frames is critical when you running a press out of basement, garage,small place etc.
soon i`ll be on the market for a new home
with dimensions  handy i can make a better decision on a house