Advice on new startup?

[noiseloops]

me and couple of buds are thinking of starting a tee printing biz. its a collection of our designs.
to paint a background, out here from where i come from, screen printing is a saturated biz that is dominated by the big leagues and not a lot helpful workarounds. a couple of local suppliers but mainly for inks.
i have only worked on single color prints previously that I have done for band tees which i most used the ryonet silver startup press. and if its not a difficult 2 color job, i'll use the "eye" registration technique. hehehe.
then came along these 2 other friends who want to invest in getting a multi colored setup going.

i have scoured over and all these info basically leads to investing in a good multi color press. and it doesnt look cheap.
was seeking your advice/inputs on which setup i should be looking at.
1) what manual press would be gd start point without being over the hill. was looking at the ryonet silver press / riley hopkins econo / workhorse odyssey 4-1 setup.
2) would a flash cure unit be handy as we're mostly printing on water based inks, or would be advisable to switch to plastisol.
any other hidden stuff that i should be aware of before making the plunge into multi prints?

its a lengthy read, and thank you for any advice. all i know is for certain that we are going ahead with multi colors.

[Denis Kolar]

Do not go with a cheap press, get as many colors and pallets as possible. Look into used presses, get conveyor.
I have started with about 4K, with that I bought used Antec Legend 6/4 (One of the best on the market) with auto flash, Atlas 824 conveyor, Nuarc 40-1K exposure unit and I have built washout booth for another $200.

Look around and do not "cheep out" with a small press. (You'll thank me in a year or two)

[tonypep]

Alot to comment on but most importantly a good dryer really is adviseable for WB vs a flash.

[Socalfmf]

well first off this is a great industry with a lot of cool people...To start I would say go to the Atlantic City ISS SHOW!  it is only a few weeks away.

there I would look at all the different stuff then buy M&R. 

[blue moon]

well first off this is a great industry with a lot of cool people...To start I would say go to the Atlantic City ISS SHOW!  it is only a few weeks away.

there I would look at all the different stuff then buy M&R.

unfortunately, Normann is in Singapore so I doubt the trip to ISS AC is in the budget!

pierre

[jsheridan]

The best advice for a newbie wanting to break into this rag business..

Run as fast as you can away from this mess we call screen printing

There is nothing good and 'cheap' about printing shirts period!

If your area is already saturated, then sell and use the locals to print, you'll make more

[Screened Gear]

The best advice for a newbie wanting to break into this rag business..

Run as fast as you can away from this mess we call screen printing

There is nothing good and 'cheap' about printing shirts period!

If your area is already saturated, then sell and use the locals to print, you'll make more

I have to agree here. Brokering printing is a ton easier and if your good at sales you will make more for your time. The key is to find some dumb screen printer that thinks they are worth nothing. Find that guy that will believe you when you say the guy down the road is only charging me 10 cents a color. That is the guy you want to work with. Then after you negotiate the Sh!t out of his prices then tell him he has to do top quality work for you. Make sure to tell him your going to bring him a ton of work. If you can find that guy then your business will be a success. While your at it you may want to find 2 guys like that. Even thou your giving the first guy a ton of work they will hardly be able to pay the bills on what your paying. They will do it for a few years because they think as long as they are printing they are making money but its inevitable they will go out of business. Its always good to have a back up.

Best of luck and if you do get a press and want to print learn everything you can. It alot of fun at times and you can make money if your not like that dumb screen printer that thinks they are worth nothing.

[Frog]

Just to play devil's advocate here, I know of at least one fairly large, award winning shop that began because of problems with their contracted printer.

Sometimes, it's nice to be in control.

[ebscreen]

Businessman printing or printer in business.
I know I could only be one of those.

Welcome aboard!

[noiseloops]

@DKgrafix problem with that is I'm out here in Asia, Singapore. Bummer I guess.

@tonypep noted, will start sourcing for a good one then. issue is prices are ridiculous out here and one of the distributors just got back with a SGD$1200(USD$900) for a flash cure unit. thats the problem when there's not many hobbyist out there.

@Socalfmf would love a trip up. Facetime it for me maybe?   

@pierre cheers!

@jsheridan one thing about asians are their stubborn mentality. hehehe. but again, we're not really looking to sell them for cheap. i'm just trying to figure out a cost effective one and minimize the mistakes. i came across a post early on about not settling on wooden frames and just head straight for the metal ones. which i thought was sound advice. we fully know that its not gonna be easy. i made a bad judgment call on my own just getting a single color press early on. so hopefully with this new phase, we're ironing out our options.

@Jon cheers for the heads up. we do have our backup guy to go to. but for me, we're trying to make this work with our own setup. tough work yes, but i have enjoyed the ride so far. 

@Frog cheers mate!

@ebscreen cheers mate!

[Denis Kolar]

@DKgrafix problem with that is I'm out here in Asia, Singapore. Bummer I guess.

Well, I did not know that small detail when I answered
Just move to US, problem solved.....

[noiseloops]

@DKgrafix problem with that is I'm out here in Asia, Singapore. Bummer I guess.

Well, I did not know that small detail when I answered
Just move to US, problem solved.....

so am i taking your couch or garage? hehehe.

[Denis Kolar]

@DKgrafix problem with that is I'm out here in Asia, Singapore. Bummer I guess.

Well, I did not know that small detail when I answered
Just move to US, problem solved.....

so am i taking your couch or garage? hehehe.

Well, I know how it is. I came to the States in 2000 and took a spare room at my relative's for 6 months until I "got on my feet"

[noiseloops]

Well, I know how it is. I came to the States in 2000 and took a spare room at my relative's for 6 months until I "got on my feet"

nice, thats a swell deal man!

[Homer]

as far as the production end, run like the wind......let me tell you how this sht goes....

 you start out with a small 4 color 1 staion press,  homemade exposure unit, a cute little rack of super clean wooden screens, all your pretty inks in nice labled buckets without a drip on the container. nice clean sharp squeegies dieing for a chance to get used. you slowly build up business from the cub scouts and little old ladies at church..then you need to be faster...so you buy a better manual press, with more stations...then you need to upgrade your screens but your cute little screen rack doesn't hold the larger frames and neither does your exposure unit. now you have to buy that sht again..then your pretty little ink buckets start to look like they went through a paint mixer without the lid on. now your so busy you need help -so you turn to friends...they see the money coming in and bitch because you only pay them 50.00 for the day...so now they get miffed and tell you to piss off...oh isn't this fun, so now you need a bigger space, insurance, employees, bigger equipment, a repair guy to fix all this equipment WHEN it breaks...."checks are in the mail" from orders 90 days out, money is tighter than a virgin cooter, your employees still need to get paid, rent is due, your ink costs are going up 25% and you popped your last 305 screen on a rush order. your kids can't eat  good intentions so you have to bleed a stone to take money home...see where this is going?

yeah...it's a blast  . . .send it ALL out to a contract shop, go fishing.