First piece of M&R equipment....well second actually

[Spreading Ink]

We took the plunge and have bought an I-Image 3 DTS.  After doing some math and some thinking about our work flow I decided to pull the trigger on this technology and can already (install is just officially starting tomorrow) see where it is going to benefit us in many way in spite of our large format all over printing.  Many think this is about all we do, but reality is we have four presses - two of which can do all over work, but most of the time this work is regulated to only one press in our shop. 

Saw it print the first screen tonight and am really excited to get this working for us!

I said it's the first M&R equipment, but we actually have a tri-lock that had been modified to fit our Stratus for several years now that was bought used.

All that said it is the first piece of M&R equipment we have 'officially' purchased and we're really looking forward to putting this to use!

So excited!!!!

[mk162]

i love the direction M&R is going with this.  They really upgraded the print heads and I think this piece of equipment is one of the best DTS machines out there.

[Socalfmf]

Dave

you are going to love it and see the benefits TODAY!  welcome to the club...

sam

[Zelko-4-EVA]

damn!

how many screens do you use per day? 

im in the early stages of proposing the i-Image 2 to the owners here.  with just calculating film cost our ROI would take about 1.5 years.

[tonypep]

Duane, knowing how many screens you go through a day my advise would be to propose a unit that can image 2up (maybe thats what the 2 in I-Dot 2 means) Brad was skeptical about skipping the film as a QC step but I never really saw that as an issue

[T Shirt Farmer]

Tony,

I am pretty sure the number signifies the number of print heads. You can have 1,2 or 3 print heads thus shortening the amount of time to image the screen.

[Alex M]

The number does indicate how many print heads are in the unit. There are 1, 2 and 3 print head models available. Each model increases the screen capacity per shift.

[Zelko-4-EVA]

Duane, knowing how many screens you go through a day my advise would be to propose a unit that can image 2up (maybe thats what the 2 in I-Dot 2 means) Brad was skeptical about skipping the film as a QC step but I never really saw that as an issue

we proof read the names and dates on tour dates but sometimes the band changes dates or venues.  it can get confusing sometimes!

im curious if you print a screen and dont "need" to shoot it, can you wash the printed ink off or do you have to start all over and reclaim and coat again...?

[Socalfmf]

you need to reclaim it and start again...however it should not make it to the HOT folder until i has been seen by more than 2 people...

sam

[Alex M]

No, You can not wipe off the ink. But there is a preview in the RIP and in the Production software that allow you to double check your art. The Production software also has halftone preview that allows the true image to show (dots) and not a grayscale interpretation of it.

[mk162]

here is a question sam...has the printer ever malfunctioned, like sometimes filmmaker can skip and start reprinting an image.  Ever had anything like that?

[Socalfmf]

Brad

we have not experienced that. 

we do about 20-25 screens a day.

sam

[mk162]

cool, just wondering.  sometimes digital stuff likes to get all screwy.

[GKitson]

Duane, knowing how many screens you go through a day my advise would be to propose a unit that can image 2up (maybe thats what the 2 in I-Dot 2 means) Brad was skeptical about skipping the film as a QC step but I never really saw that as an issue

we proof read the names and dates on tour dates but sometimes the band changes dates or venues.  it can get confusing sometimes!

im curious if you print a screen and dont "need" to shoot it, can you wash the printed ink off or do you have to start all over and reclaim and coat again...?

Just as an FYI, wax ink system screens can be 'saved'.  A bit of screen opener on a rag, wax wipes right off and screen can be re-imaged.  Happens occasionally as we do final pre-flight as we are imaging screens.

~Kitson

[screenprintguy]

I've only had a weird hicup with printing a sep 2 times. About a month apart, but the same type of scenario. Doing a 1 color grayscale image and as a composite print but wanting to control the halftones. It would print part of the design, then stop spit it out. If I re-sent the screen it would print the rest but in a different spot on the screen. Went through several screens trying all the different things I could do in the rip, and in Illustrator before sending to the DTS. My fix. Taking that image, opening in Photoshop, I use Ultraseps v-2, running a basic greyscale sep run, then just using the black channel from that sep. Works awesome, and gives full control over the halftones. I think the rip get's confused trying to set halftone setting for rgb, then trying to make those rgb a composite print. At any rate, that is what we found to get around that, but other than that little hicup, I could never and would never got back to film printing after having this I-Image here for the last 7 months, it has literally improved our total pre-press process by 75% in efficiency and accuracy. Our customers notice the difference as well, which in the end is pretty freekin awesome!