Discuss the different types of equipment needed for screen printing. Topics include manual screen printing presses, automatic presses, dryers, folding machines, starter kits and high end machines.
So, I've just picked up a whole lot of second hand screenprinting gear that blows my homemade 4 colour press out of the water.
The gear I got is still homemade but extremely well built that if I didn't know it was homemade I would have thought it was a factory built one.
Amongst it was a 'flash dryer' that the owner used often with great results. I haven't had a flash dryer so I was overjoyed to find it, the weird thing is... it's a bunch of halogens.
What he has done is wired up 6 500w halogens in a 2 X 3 grid, screwed them to a piece of an old fridge that also hides the wires. It has a switch on the back of EACH light so I can just flash a small area if I need to or if I've only done a small area. There is also a main switch for switching the entire thing on and off.
I have tested it and 3 of the bulbs were dead or broken and I need to replace them but it all seems to work well.
Interesting concept? Been done before?
I'll post some pictures for you all sometime soon.
Also for anyone interested I also got an AWESOME 6 colour single station press with interchangeable platens, 5 platens including a vacuum platen and a heap of squeegees and screens.
The guy also had some other homebuilt things including a wide format screen printer and a 6 X 4 foot vacuum exposure unit, sadly I do not have the room for these but they were incredible to say the least.
Last edited by polarbear; July 19th, 2009 at 05:17 PM.
By my calculations, 3000W/120V=25A. That thing has blown some breakers, I'm willing to bet. I'm sure it works, but it's probably one of the least efficient methods of flashing.
I don't know how much electricity it uses but it's my parents house and they pay the power bill
He only used it for flashing, he custom built an oven for curing.
Thats pretty nice homebuilt stuff. I built a similar flash with halogens to replace my heat gun at the recommendation of someone on the forums. Mine wasn't that nice and only had plates for 1x2 and 2x2 so a max of 4 halogens. The only real problems I had with it were hot spots when using it close to the shirts. The halogens do not put out evenly distributed light and there is a noticeable concentration of heat beneath the length of the bulb. It does work and until I get my IR flash built its gonna keep working. Be careful with 50/50 shirts because they seem to scorch easy with the halogens. It might be a good idea to put a few fans on the back of that flash too cause they get real hot.
Alright, I'll see how hot it gets when I run it in a couple of days. If it got really hot I would have thought the bloke who built it would have put a fan in, seeing as he put so many other extras etc into his designs.
I love the press, I have about 5 platens and they take a bit to line up when you change them over but aside from that it's sweet.
Looks like a V6! 25 amps? make sure you are using it on a 30amp circuit. Another question. You said you had a homebuilt press and you upgraded to another homebuilt press. Why?
Hey guys, just a little update, this stuff work brilliantly! I absolutely love it, the only problem is the springs need to be in a position between the two available holes... I managed to smash a cement handle bit on one of the arms :| ahh well...
And the flash works really well, no problems with over heating but on occasion I have to be careful or it will start to cure my ink.
Oh, and I'm in Australia where the power is 240V, which would make it 12.5A.
Just aquirred a homebuilt flash dryer. 
