Vastex entering world of LED exposure units

[ZooCity]

Agreed that nobody is coating their 110's 1/1...unless they are putting out a bunch of sawtoothed prints all day.

So who's going to come out with an LED drop in for an Olec AL-53?  I see that there are LED bulb replacements that screw into low bay halides so it's gotta be doable.  I would be pumped just to eliminate the crazy amount of heat our 5k puts off.  Brian, you said Saati has one?

[Binkspot]

123, I understand what your saying, I know I want to take hostages if it takes 3 or more min to burn a screen. I will say this much though if i was looking at a new exposure unit even if it took the same amount of time to burn screens as our 3140 I would seriously consider it. Between the lack of heat, amp draw and bulb life for me it would be a no brainer. Even the cost around $4-5k for one to do one 23x31 screen at a time, two units would be a little more then one larger MH. Then I would be able to do two 23x31 at a time.

Zoo, yes when I was talking to the engineer from Saati while at Mindseye a few months ago he said they had a unit that would replace the tubes in a flurocent exposure unit. I looked through my lititure but was not able to find anything. If I had to guess they were just marketing someone else's product like the currently do with other equipment.

Besides rumor has it (not from a purple dinosaur) something is coming out within the next year that will top the LED exposure unit.

[ScreenFoo]

Someone got that plasma HID system up and going yet?  I want something that ACCURATELY simulates the sun.   

[Vastex]

Hey everybody. We're glad to see all of the conversation on exposing with LED so I'll chime in a little bit. We have done a lot of testing on our new E-2000 before releasing it and have compared it with a 1200W metal halide and high output fluorescent tubes.

We used Ulano (Orange and TLX) along with Kiwo (Polycol Onecoat and SWR Red) during our tests. We have also tested Kiwo Polycol Onecoat with diazo added to make the stencil waterproof for discharge inks. We used a Kiwo exposure calculator to get precise times. We also use the glisten method (3 coats shirt side and 2 coats ink side) of coating screens which give a much better stencil that 1/1. I'm not sure about testing a dual-cure on a 110 mesh as Lawson tested because most screen printers would be using a much higher mesh for that. Our dual cure tests were on 230 and 305 with the 305 easily holding 85lpi halftones and very readable 3pt text.

Our times were comparable and often quicker than the 1200W metal halide with better detail and 5-10 times faster than fluorescent on dual cure and about 15-20 times faster on single part emulsion. If anybody will be at the Printwear show in Long Beach this weekend, head over to our booth and check out the unit. We will also be printing a 4 color process (Kiwo SWR Red on 305 mesh) and a discharge print (Polycol onecoat with diazo on 156) all exposed on the new E-2000.

Thanks for stopping by Vastex boy
if there is not too much to ask, for those who can`t make it to the show
could you shoot a short vid of the new exposure unit
thanks welcome to TSB

Keep checking back on our website because we are hoping to get a video on the E-2000 posted in the near future

[alan802]

I will have limited access to one of these soon and will be doing some test exposing with some of my screens.  I'll keep everyone informed when the time gets near.  My supplier is getting one in pretty soon and he said he'd let me test it out and get some real life exposure times and hopefully enough info to do a nice review on it.  I have a feeling it might get sold before it ever makes it out of the crate but hopefully I'll get a chance to play on it.

[ScreenPrinter123]

I would be most appreciative as we have held off on purchasing a MH because of all of the buzz about soon to be released LED units

[Rockers]

I`m wondering if M&R will ever enter the market of LED exposure units.

[alan802]

I`m wondering if M&R will ever enter the market of LED exposure units.

Something tells me that if LED is for real, they will be in the market with something soon.

[244]

I`m wondering if M&R will ever enter the market of LED exposure units.

yes we are. Our units are done and waiting on patents.

[mk162]

Smart move, we are switching all of our office lights to LED and I can tell you they are so much cooler than fluo-tubes.  I had to wear gloves removing the old ones...and the ballasts get wicked hot, and a couple of them were leaking a sticky black goo...nice I know. 

I wish I would have gone LED instead of the Amergraph, well, sort of.  I can do 2 screens at one time, and I spent about what it would have cost for 1 LED unit on the Amergraph + new electrical.  It would have been nice to be able to avoid almost $1k in new wire and service panels, and breakers and so on.

[Gilligan]

What ever happened to that independent guy that blazed the trail of LED exposure units.  He was super confident and it came off cocky but he sent the unit to Pierre and I thought it all checked out.

[inkman996]

What ever happened to that independent guy that blazed the trail of LED exposure units.  He was super confident and it came off cocky but he sent the unit to Pierre and I thought it all checked out.

It is his machine that Vastex is selling.

[Gilligan]

NICE, Kudos to him!

[inkstain]

Glad people are checking these LED units out.
I was one of the guys a while back following the whole beginnings of the LED unit posts.  Pierre took my call which was super cool of him and talked me through his experience with the baby joe 2000 LED unit.  I took a risk, but not really cause Pierre is legit, and bought a unit.  I'm so stoked I did.  From fluorescent bulbs to LED is night and day.  I was exposing for 3:30 minutes.  Now only 35 seconds on my 110-230's. Anything higher is 25 seconds.  Would be faster in a dryer environment, but i'm in Hawaii.  But, the main thing is that my exposure definition is waaaaay better then before and thats what gets me all psyched!  Faster exposer times; Better exposed screens; no heat; regular 110v; and supposedly the LED's last a long time.  Can't go wrong. 

Before it was wait around for a bit and hope my screens would come out good.  Now I can't keep up and my screens are friggin awesome!

Thanks to everyone that chimes in on this forum, I've learned so much from you all!

Aloha

[Admiral]

Great to hear inkstain.

We don't have a backup exposure right now so I want to upgrade to a LED exposure unit within a year.  We don't need a blanket / glass either so I'm hoping someone comes out with the CTS option which should be 1k+ less expensive.  Heck it's so simple I could almost make the unit myself...just need a good controller to quickly select presets.