CTS LED exposure combo at M&R booth

[244]

For those of us that weren't at sgia. Here's the factory video, absolutely awesome.


http://m.youtube.com/mrprinting?uid=AqfKMlk5dKajXz2c6zN3Uw&desktop_uri=%2Fmrprinting

I will be taking a good look at this for a capital expenditure at the end of the year. Watch the video and look at the reflection when the light bar turns on, it appears there are voids in the light where there is a space between the bulbs. It seems you would not get an even exposure, I assume the rows of lights are off set, would this make for a even blanket of light over a given area?

they are offset and too numerous for voids..

[screenprintguy]

I see it this way. Anybody that has anything to do with the pre-press set up, such as separations, film out put, or CTS, aligning films, for precise registration and efficient press line ups, should, NEVER be just some joe off the street that you pay minimum wage to. This person should be highly skilled, as their proficiency has everything to do with proper press set up. At that, your business investing in the most efficient methods allows your press opps, shirt catches, "aka mouth breathers, or average joe" to be busy busy busy. If CTS and faster exposures are leaving people standing around, well, business 101, the standers are either wasted salaries, or your sales folks need to step it up. Paying un-necessary salaries is going to hurt a business whether they have the highest of tech or not, it's just more money out the door than the cost of the gear. Yeah it sucks to cancel out a job for someone, but if they are costing more than the gear, and you are getting less output just to be the cool guy giving the job, you are actually choking the growth of your business. Sam has told us this before, because I had the same mentality, if you think you can't afford someone's salary, but need them in the shop, you just need to step up your sales. We've put it to the test over the past 3-4 months because we reached the point where we needed more hands on deck, and it's true. Get the sales folks moving and you will end up offering more jobs, and you'll find yourself pushing your newly bought techy gear to it's potential. I'm all about wanting to have a shop that employs good folks with a good paycheck, but the business can't make it if they are handed cave man tools and methods for today's market. Trust me, as a small shop owner, CTS will make your business flow. I'm now thinking about the addition of maybe a D-Scan and the auto washout booth to have a self contained imaging room and really ramp up pre-press. Again though, if any shop just lets joe blow, tape film to screens and half ass expose, all you are doing is costing yourself time, which is money and growth. Knowing that going from carrier sheets, to CTS sped us up and increased accuracy on press with pristine registration by 75% proves to me that the old way of doing things just holds back any shop, at any size. I'm just speaking from my experiences going from, vellum and film with the old school tape it to the screen method, to Tri-lock carrier sheets, to now CTS. CTS will blow it all away all the time, and the investment is more than worth it for any shop that wants grow.

[ebscreen]

I suppose my comment was more towards the computer literate versus illiterate.

My pops for example, one of the smartest folks I know, can build giant buildings in his sleep,
but when it comes to a computer it's like stepping back in time. Some folks are just that way.

Screen dude here outputs great screens daily, he wouldn't be here if he didn't. We've set him up
with the right tools for the job (how many of ya'll have a post exposure dip tank?) but it is
comparatively easy to line up reg marks on an FPU, match a color coded screen to an exposure
unit number, and press a button. Lather, rinse, repeat. That comparison is against using a computer,
for the computer illiterate.

I am happy to hear that M&R has a software that manages this stuff for you, and that even the cavemen
can use it. I was under the impression it was more like a RIP in that you still have to print from your
art program, which would be a no go for most everyone in the shop save myself and the art dude.


Lastly, I understand wanting the best throughput for your screen department, and I suppose it makes sense
for future expansion, but what is the point in being able to output screens so quickly when you're running
an 8 color press that maxes out at 480 pieces an hour? Unless you are constantly printing 8 color jobs, or a hell
of a lot of 4 color 12 piece jobs, I'd think any conventional screen room would be more than able to keep up with
one press.

[tonypep]

I'm sad I missed seeing all that in ORL but the video is awesome. I won't go into how it wouldn't have sensible ROI for us compared to upgrading and adding autos but every shop is different. Our setup more than adequately keeps a day or two ahead of 4 auto production with minimal labor and we don't use carrier sheets or roller frames.
And so many jobs are libraried. That said if I was doing a start up with gobs of capital than I would absolutely go there. Truly groundbreaking stuff.

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

wow..it exposes it too??....that's bad a$$!

[tonypep]

Apparently. Next is the automated washout booth. I was skeptical about trusting a machine to washout but apparently that is nailed down as well. It isn't too way out there to predict an automated "line" where a screen is loaded, imaged, exposed, washed out, and dried; all without touching human hands.
On the backside there have been machines like the mighty Zentner which can do the same on the dirty end of the screen making process.

[dirkdiggler]

Apparently. Next is the automated washout booth. I was skeptical about trusting a machine to washout but apparently that is nailed down as well. It isn't too way out there to predict an automated "line" where a screen is loaded, imaged, exposed, washed out, and dried; all without touching human hands.
On the backside there have been machines like the mighty Zentner which can do the same on the dirty end of the screen making process.

I here that is next!

[alan802]

We're not maxed out yet with our equipment and payroll and I'm not ignoring all the good that CTS will do for us but I'm waiting till we're doing enough work to get the ROI I want.  We still gang most every screen with multiple images and are using 15-25 screens per day right now, it's slowed a little since the summer, but once we reach the 30-35 range per day the ROI numbers start to look way better than right now.  And now with the LED built into the CTS, do we wait a little longer and get the combo unit or stick with the CTS plus traditional exposure?  Part of me wants to get a stand alone MH bulb that way I can shoot 4 at a time hanging on a wall but then I see the speed of that STE-3 w/ LED and I think that would be way faster than shooting 4 up with an MH bulb. 

But now we need to do some LED testing on dual cures that are going to do 5000 piece DC runs and see how they hold up.

[244]

We're not maxed out yet with our equipment and payroll and I'm not ignoring all the good that CTS will do for us but I'm waiting till we're doing enough work to get the ROI I want.  We still gang most every screen with multiple images and are using 15-25 screens per day right now, it's slowed a little since the summer, but once we reach the 30-35 range per day the ROI numbers start to look way better than right now.  And now with the LED built into the CTS, do we wait a little longer and get the combo unit or stick with the CTS plus traditional exposure?  Part of me wants to get a stand alone MH bulb that way I can shoot 4 at a time hanging on a wall but then I see the speed of that STE-3 w/ LED and I think that would be way faster than shooting 4 up with an MH bulb. 

But now we need to do some LED testing on dual cures that are going to do 5000 piece DC runs and see how they hold up.

We have done the testing and they hold up exactly the same as if cured with mercury vapor. Just a FYI.

[244]

We're not maxed out yet with our equipment and payroll and I'm not ignoring all the good that CTS will do for us but I'm waiting till we're doing enough work to get the ROI I want.  We still gang most every screen with multiple images and are using 15-25 screens per day right now, it's slowed a little since the summer, but once we reach the 30-35 range per day the ROI numbers start to look way better than right now.  And now with the LED built into the CTS, do we wait a little longer and get the combo unit or stick with the CTS plus traditional exposure?  Part of me wants to get a stand alone MH bulb that way I can shoot 4 at a time hanging on a wall but then I see the speed of that STE-3 w/ LED and I think that would be way faster than shooting 4 up with an MH bulb. 

But now we need to do some LED testing on dual cures that are going to do 5000 piece DC runs and see how they hold up.

Also you can gang up images on the same screen and they both will Tri-Loc.

[Gilligan]

Apparently. Next is the automated washout booth. I was skeptical about trusting a machine to washout but apparently that is nailed down as well. It isn't too way out there to predict an automated "line" where a screen is loaded, imaged, exposed, washed out, and dried; all without touching human hands.
On the backside there have been machines like the mighty Zentner which can do the same on the dirty end of the screen making process.

Isn't that essentially what that German machine does?

Takes the coated screen (only extra step), then exposes the image on the screen via DLP and then washes out the stencil and dries it like a car wash.

Pretty awesome!  But not cheap!

[T Shirt Farmer]

Rich,

 do the pins on static and roller frames for MHM present any issues with this unit ? Is ganging 2 images per screen easily accomplished ?

[244]

Rich,

 do the pins on static and roller frames for MHM present any issues with this unit ? Is ganging 2 images per screen easily accomplished ?

for those applications we make special holders. It is not an issue.

[ScreenPrinter123]

We're not maxed out yet with our equipment and payroll and I'm not ignoring all the good that CTS will do for us but I'm waiting till we're doing enough work to get the ROI I want.  We still gang most every screen with multiple images and are using 15-25 screens per day right now, it's slowed a little since the summer, but once we reach the 30-35 range per day the ROI numbers start to look way better than right now.  And now with the LED built into the CTS, do we wait a little longer and get the combo unit or stick with the CTS plus traditional exposure?  Part of me wants to get a stand alone MH bulb that way I can shoot 4 at a time hanging on a wall but then I see the speed of that STE-3 w/ LED and I think that would be way faster than shooting 4 up with an MH bulb. 

But now we need to do some LED testing on dual cures that are going to do 5000 piece DC runs and see how they hold up.

We have done the testing and they hold up exactly the same as if cured with mercury vapor. Just a FYI.

Rich, what emulsion was used in this 5k run of dc and what were the exposure times?  Mind PMing me the name / contact info of the printer so I can chat with him/her?  This is the $ question that seems to create the sound of a pin drop up to this point with regard to LED units, so I'd be very interested to know the info above if available. Thanks!