Screen Print Equipment.

[Jay2703 704]

Has anyone used this model of screen print equipment.

http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/site/799934/product/EC41

I found this setup for sale locally and wonder if it is any good. The price sure seems good for all you  get.

Jay

[nonabelle 5]

lol, that's my next move jay. yes i have heard a lot about that setup. all has been positive. they have utube vids on that one .  a lot of folks on the t shirt forum give it a thumbs up. the tech support there is phenomenal, they just don't leave u hanging with their products. they go all out to help u with it. i have been looking forward to purchasing it. probably next year. i have learned so much with my yudu machine, this is my next step, and that's my dream machine for the space that i have to use it in. although my business has two rooms space is still limited because i have cutters and printers. i will have to make room in the back shop, but i'm gonna do it when the time presents it's self.

[cutme 5]

i have their six color two station press. love it! i have spent thousands on other equipment since i bought my press. mostly on used equipment. search craigslist alot!

bb

[Jay2703 704]

Both of you, thanks for the info. There is one here in town and the guy is asking $650 for. He says it has only been used once. I'm not sure if he paid the full price for it or got in on the $699 special. I am thinking of offering him less to see if he will take it. I really don't have room right now but if I can get it for the right price it would be hard to turn down.

Jay

[mr300s 1,272]

I really don't have room right now but if I can get it for the right price it would be hard to

So what would you have to lose I would offer low can always offer more never less...

[ThsirtLady 0]

If I'm reading things right, you need to supply your own stand for the unit correct? I guess not a biggie if you are good at building, just remember to make it super sturdy.  Other question, how are you going to dry the ink into the garments? Heat flash units are just for flash drying one color before you lay down more ink. You need an oven with a conveyor belt to dry printed apparel.  Don't make the mistake of thinking that a heat flash unit will correctly cure ink on a garment.  Ink needs to be "baked"  into the shirt for about a minute at 360 degrees.  If you don't, it can flake off and make you look like a fool, and hurt your business. 

As for the burn unit to expose your screens....that's worth about $25.00.  You can build something more effective for a little more.

Anyways, if you can get the unit and screens for 3 or 4 hundred, go for it.  But if you are interested in doing it right, keep looking for the extra equipment to do yourself and your customers a favor. If you are interested, you can email me and I'll help any way I can. I've been in the screen printing biz since 1988.

Good Luck in your printing adventures!

[Jay2703 704]

TShirtLady, thank you for the tips.  I was aware of everything that you mentioned except the baking part. I assumed that air cure was sufficient. I realized that it was not a complete setup but more something to get me started. I thought the price was attractive and I could upgrade features at needed. Since it is more a hobby than to make a living from I thought I could live with it. Alas, someone beat me to the purchase. What are your thoughts on the basic setup? The company looks like it has the add-ons you recommend.

Jay

[n7kon 1]

Silk Screen supplies is a very good company to work with. They have good people to help you delivery is fast and if you buy from them they will discount any classes. Think to remember with screen printing it is like any of the other ways of decorating shirt there is a learning curve. There low end press the silver one is better than most others intermediate press. The one thing you will loose with the smaller press like these is production quantity. Do some reading on burning screens and how to make art work for them it is different from vinyl cutting. You can spend a lot of money having some one do color separations for you.

If you do decide to give it a try I can help you with the art work if you would like PM me and I can give you some hints and help.

KeithH

[boomerbabe 0]

I use a flash unit to cure our shirts and a laser temp gun to make sure the ink gets to temp (320 - 350 degrees) on  plastisol ink. No complaints from my customers. I don't have room for a dryer. It is slower than a dryer as you can only cure one shirt at a time but it works just fine. With plastisol transfers or items that may melt (polypropylene bags for instance) I cure with my heat press. Would love to have a dryer, just don't have the space or $$$ yet.

[mb7387 0]

I too use a flash dryer to cure my shirts.  I do however use water based inks.  I heat them up to around 370 - 400 degrees.  Once they hit that number I pull them.  Have had no complaints whatsoever.  Usually it's compliments because after a couple of washes the shirts have practically no hand.  However, the flash dryer can be used for this, I just wouldn't get into any huge orders.  Works for me on anything less than 100 shirts or so.  Not fun, but I make it work.

Mike-b

[Jay2703 704]

I too use a flash dryer to cure my shirts.  I do however use water based inks.  I heat them up to around 370 - 400 degrees.  Once they hit that number I pull them.  Have had no complaints whatsoever.  Usually it's compliments because after a couple of washes the shirts have practically no hand.  However, the flash dryer can be used for this, I just wouldn't get into any huge orders.  Works for me on anything less than 100 shirts or so.  Not fun, but I make it work.

Mike-b

That's what I was looking for. Something to get me started where I can add on to it later. thanks for the great tips.

Jay

[deceptiveclothing 0]

let me know if you ever have received a specific answer or have bought this machine. I have this exact press be more than glad to give you my feedback on it.

[gooddeal 0]

I had a 4 color /4 station. For final drying I installed a 16 x 16 floor tile to one of the stations. I used the flash unit to heat the tile for the final drying. Worked just fine for 1,000's of shirts. Never got a single one back. Vinyl & a heat press is a much simpler way.

[johnh 3]

ok lets say i wanna buy that screen printing station... Im gonna need a flash dryer and a conveyor dryer lets say.. But do i understand this right im also gonna need a printer for this machine? Film printer?  Guess thats how u get that image to the screen machine?

[midwaste 4]

You can print the positives that are used to burn the screens from a regular desktop printer, using good inkjet transparencies designed for screenprinting positives.  They are reasonably priced from Victory Factory and other places.

You use these to burn the image into the emulsion.

[johnh 3]

ok lost kinda.. went to that same site to look and estimate a price for screen printing shirts.. the printers i thought i would need are here    http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/site/799934/product/WARipComboBLK1400

i didnt think i could use my inkjet printer. Just use that "positive film" with my inkhet and im good...?

sorry to ask the next question but will i ever need to upgrade printers? is there limits or quality difference? And im lookin to print sellable shirts lol

[midwaste 4]

That package from SSS is an Epson 1400 with the Blackmax system, which is basically some software that tricks the printer into replacing all 6 ink cartridges with blacks, instead of the CMY, light C and light M.  It also includes the cartridges, I believe.

I have the exact same printer, and by changing the settings to Ultra Premium Presentation Matte, I can pretty much lay down as much ink as the BlackMax system, to the point where I can get positives that are dark enough to expose using a Metal Halide exposure with halftones and fine lines, which is really the only thing you will need.

I paid less than $200 for the 1400 from Officemax.  A lot of people have the Blackmax and really like it, but IMO, it's like everything else SSS sells, overpriced and less than necessary.  Your mileage may vary.

Before I bought this (which I did solely to print 13x19s), I used a cheap ass all-in-one Lexmark printer that I paid $79 for at Walmart.  I printed positives on Officemax inkjet transparencies.  I probably printed around 1500-2000 shirts using this method, taping up transparencies to make a larger image, until I built my metal halide exposure unit and it simply wasn't dark enough.