My BullsEye Screen Registration System has arrived

[Homer]

do you have squeegie /flood bar regulators or are you using the thumb screw kind? that is a pain constantly setting and re setting the pressures.  I understand there is a conversion kit you can buy to have the pressure set, flip the switch and it dumps the air off of the squeegie.

[mk162]

not a bad idea, it would probably be easier to machine a couple parts to even it out.  it looks like it's bent inwards, very strange

Homer, which ones are you talking about?  The switches that give pressure to the squeegee/floodbar?  That itself is a half-assed aftermarket idea from M&R.

[Homer]

I have 2 kits kicking around someplace.  I paid like 100.00 each for these damn things and they are not what I wanted. I want the squeegies to go to a resting position after the stroke, not constant pressure on the screens. There is always pressure on the screen from the squeegie. It makes a micro adjust a battle. I never installed them - It's about 20.00 worth of parts from SMC, my buddy used to work there. . .should have returned them but it's too late.

[mk162]

yeah, the constant pressure also messes up the emulsion there.  I can't stand it, let me know if a kit works.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Has this company gone out of business? I guess it did not work so well?

[Doug S]

I'm the creator of the registration jig.  I will try to give an update this evening after I finish work.

[Doug S]

Has this company gone out of business? I guess it did not work so well?

I would say not out of business but in suspended mode because I never had time to get near other makes of presses whether automatic or manual to ensure it would work with them  I created the Bullseye about 2 and a half years ago and have been using it every since for my preregistration.  I've sold about 8 of them.  I just stopped trying to market it due to lack of time with trying to run a screen printing/sign shop with just me, my wife and a part-timer.   I've sold one to Brad aka mk162 and I've been meaning to call him to ask how it's working out for him.  Just like any prereg system out there, how it works depends on how well the films are lined up and press calibration.  For me, the original one I made,  "you would have to pry it from my cold dead hands" to take it from me.  I'm not going to say that I have dead on registration every time, however for me 9 out of ten jobs are perfect  I will say that if the registration is a tad off that it only takes an educated guess with the micro knobs to dial it in.  In fact,  that's all I will have is an educated guess because I always block out my reg marks on my screens before they reach the press.

As far as improvements to the system goes, I would like to have time to get near a machinist to improve the clamping system.  As it stands, if I'm really using a close off-contact, then I will have to adjust it to it's furthest distance from the screen before I register the screens to ensure the clamps don't make contact with the mesh.  To me, that's a small sacrifice to make and still much quicker than manually using the micros. 

It's the kind of thing that you know you have something good, but trying to reach everyone in the same field is not possible when you are the small guy.  On the same note, if I had 30 screenprinters watching me go through the setup process and how quick it is that 25 would walk away with one.

Maybe Brad could chime in and give his opinion of it.

[mk162]

the system is 95% there.  I made some mods to mine and it's sweet.  For the price, you cannot beat it.  No carrier sheets, simple to use, it works on the gauntlet and RPM, no problem.  I did shorten the top of the jig for the gauntlet, it wouldn't have needed anything for the RPM.

The main drawback of the system is the registration table.  Doug was nice enough to send me one made of plexi...what a HUGE difference.  I turned it into a vacuum table and dropped the need for double sided tape...it's made a big difference in the amount of time needed to align a film.

All in all....i would buy it again, in a heartbeat.  As a matter of fact, I might buy an extra jig to leave on the table so it cuts trips to the darkroom.