1 colour 1 station press

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ESup
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:57 pm

1 colour 1 station press

Post by ESup »

Hey There,

A year ago I bought a "home based equipment" 1 colour 1 station press.
I can't find any info or reviews on this product when I google it. Has anyone used this model/make before?
I find once I lift the arm up to cure the ink or check the print, that it knocks it out of registration and a second attempt at another layer of ink ends up with a blurred/double print..... FRUSTRATING.
I'd like to kick up the quality of my prints (colour wise) but it is impossible with this press!!!!

Is a 1 colour press not meant for 2 coats of ink? Could it be just the make is cheap? I'd really hate to have to buy another press (the shipping to Canada is disgusting,plus customs and broker fees) but I can't do the quality of shirt I would like to be doing . I'd like to figure out if it can be fixed or I just need a better press?

Help?
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Shamax
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Re: 1 colour 1 station press

Post by Shamax »

Heya ESup,

A 1-station, 1-color press should have no problems holding register when printing and checking multiple coats of ink on something, even some of the more cheap ones. Sadly, the quality of your press may be a key player, but there may be more to your dilemma than just the make of the press - stuff that can possibly be overcome to make what you have "workable". We'll need some more information though.

How does the print-arm on your press raise/lower - via hinge clamps or a shock/spring?
What are you trying to print on? I'm assuming T-shirts, but you know what happens when you "assume" ;)
How much off-contact are you using, and are you sure it's level/even?
Is the item you're printing on sticking to the screen at all as you lift it up?
How are you securing the item to your platen? Spray tack, double-sided pallet tape, something else?
Andy Barker
Owner/Operator of Fragile Branch
Store: http://fragilebranch.storenvy.com
Site/blog: http://www.fragilebranch.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FragileBranch
ESup
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:57 pm

Re: 1 colour 1 station press

Post by ESup »

Hey
Thanks Shamax,

So I am printing shirts (all black) and "band patches" (fabric)...but it's the shirts predominantly that give me the trouble :(
Like I had said I'm using high opacity waterbased inks...so a second layer of ink is needed.... the pallet gets sprayed down and the shirts do not lift or move at all.
I don't use off contact as i find it blurs the image and a few people I have talked to don't use it either...do you have to?
My shirts come out looking pretty decent...minus not being as white as I would like.

So this is the press I use:
http://www.atlasscreensupply.com/home_based_press.htm

it says no shocks.... I asked the company about the issue with it and asked if it need to be re-calibrated or what was up with the press and they tried to sell me spray (I have some already, thank you, haha).

I'm kind of at a loss for this....I do friends bands shirts but don't really feel confident to take on other orders (non friends bands) until I get this solved and I have turned down a bunch of jobs.

Is there anything I can do to trouble soot, or rule out possibilities of what the issues is??

Also I love this site, the company I get my screens re-screened at talk down to me when I ask questions , I guess I'm not at their level?? Haha
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Catspit Productions
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Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Re: 1 colour 1 station press

Post by Catspit Productions »

Hey Esup,

Unfortunately Andy is probably right. I’ll guess if you’re using spray tack, metal screens good squeegees then it could very well be the press especially if you feel that it is moving or something is happening when you lift the print arm.

This type of press you have costs $115 so you have to consider how much it cost to make. The unit has to be produced at a very, very low cost in order to sell it to you at $115. It has no lift arm system. Rather this is a magnetic mount. You have a magnet attached to the print arm at the end which hits the metal base of the press. The magnet holds the screen up.

Also, if the hinging system is not tight and secure it will not land in the same place twice. Look closely at the hinge when you lift the arm up or down and see it is NOT moving in any way from side to side or up and down. If it is, you may be able to have a machine shop, fabricator, or metal worker fix it for you.

Now it could be the other things Andy mentioned as well. But we could ask you to answer this question; does the poor result only occur when you do a double hit on the same print? If the answer is yes, then that would lead me to geustimate that it is more likely to be the press. Everything on that thing needs to be tight. The pallet should not move, the print arm should not be lose and sloppy. Nothing should move when you do the print stroke. There may be a natural flexing of things but nothing should move on its own in any way other than that.

The reason I say this is because it is recommended to use off contact but you can get off prints without it in many cases especially when printing white tees.

Stay tuned for a video coming up next week featuring my Catspit 1 color press from RANAR. The video will show the build of the press through very close up shots. I show off the design and the heavy duty workmanship in my manual textile bench top presses. If you watch that video next week I think you understand why I recommend and sell this equipment.

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/ca ... -kits.html



I’ll try to remember to post the video here for you as well ;)
Jonathan Monaco
Catspit Productions, LLC
Learn how to screen print tee shirts!

http://catspitscreenprintsupply.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/CatspitProductions
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Shamax
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Location: Charleston, WV
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Re: 1 colour 1 station press

Post by Shamax »

ESup wrote:So I am printing shirts (all black) and "band patches" (fabric)...but it's the shirts predominantly that give me the trouble :(
Sounds like we *are* in a similar boat ;) I started looking into screenprinting as a way to make patches & shirts for some friends' projects :D
ESup wrote:I don't use off contact as i find it blurs the image and a few people I have talked to don't use it either...do you have to?
Setting your off-contact too high or unevenly can cause your ink to smear on the underside of your screen (since you have to use too much or uneven pressure to get it to go through). I always try to use about 1/16" off-contact though. When I don't, I find that the screen ends up sticking to the shirts too much. I also use water-based inks, myself, but I use a double-sided reusable pallet tape rather than spray tack to hold my shirts down.
ESup wrote:My shirts come out looking pretty decent...minus not being as white as I would like.
I know Jonathan mentioned this in his reply, but do you get the same results (blurry, off-register prints) if you do a double hit without lifting the screen? If not, I'd say to try doing 2 or 3 flood-and-stroke hits to see if you can get the coverage you're looking for. Also, what kind of process are you using to coat your screens (1 coat on each side?), and what's the mesh count? Doing an additional coat of emulsion on the substrate side of our screen will give you a thicker stencil and hence lay down more ink per hit. Using a lower-number mesh screen will also allow for more ink coverage (though you may lose a little fine-dot detail).
ESup wrote:So this is the press I use:
First time I've seen that particular make of press. My 1/1 from Ryonet doesn't have as fancy of a registration gate, but it uses a gas shock on the arm, whereas it seems like yours is a hinge only. The only thing I can recommend is to make sure all the screws on the print head itself (tilt, height adjustment, etc) are screwed down tight and don't wiggle on you. Then maybe burn a screen with just a couple of registration marks on it, try printing dark ink on a piece of paper, lift the arm, then print again and pay attention to see if you can figure out where the give/movement is coming from.
ESup wrote:Also I love this site, the company I get my screens re-screened at talk down to me when I ask questions , I guess I'm not at their level?? Haha
Another reason why I love the CatSpit forum over many other such places out there online.. *cough*gigposters*cough* :mrgreen:
Andy Barker
Owner/Operator of Fragile Branch
Store: http://fragilebranch.storenvy.com
Site/blog: http://www.fragilebranch.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FragileBranch
ESup
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:57 pm

Re: 1 colour 1 station press

Post by ESup »

Thanks guys!

The arm does wobble, I have tried in the past to tighten it and it got better but if I put it all the way up (hit the magnet) and bring it down it'll blur the image. Even raising the arm a little I find have to realign how the screen lays on the shirt.
I didn't know a machinist could fix it...I just figured it was a dodgy make not meant for being able to raise and print again with proper registration.

When I put the emulsion on I do one side but obviously it comes through the other side and I squeegee both sides to make sure its even...seems to be enough emulsion though I've had some of my screens (that I use quite often) for a year now....I do a "double bake" // second exposure once I wash the emulsion out to ensure the emulsion will stay on with all the frequent washing that comes along with using water based inks.

I've started using off contact which admittedly has helped with less mistakes, which is great.

Does anyone have advice around type of t-shirts that are affordable if you're not buying them in super bulk? It seems like the less absorbing materials for patches print whiter/better than -shirts ( I use shirts with quite a bit of stretch).

Also I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for using plastisol at home.... I have a flash dryer that I could use outside, but I understand it's hit and miss for using that to cure the shirt???? What could I do outside to cure them...a small convection oven??? I'd really love to not have to rinse screens out so much and rush in fear the screen will dry and ruin. How toxic would it be to just cure the prints in my oven when no-one else is home with the overhead fan on and the window beside the oven open and a floor fan blowing towards the window (ghetto set up)

THANKS!!!!!
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Catspit Productions
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Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Re: 1 colour 1 station press

Post by Catspit Productions »

That’s great you figured out what the issue was. I hope you can fix it or adapt to it somehow. You have several questions here relating to different topics.

Please post your specific questions about coating screens here:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/fo ... um.php?f=6

Here is a thread on wholesale shirts:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/fo ... =35&t=2170

And this is the thread you are looking for about using plastisol inks at home:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/fo ... um.php?f=9

That helps everyone find your questions and by helping you this way it helps others. I don’t mean to be anal but if it were one off question I would have just answered it ;)
Jonathan Monaco
Catspit Productions, LLC
Learn how to screen print tee shirts!

http://catspitscreenprintsupply.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/CatspitProductions
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