I'm trying to decide which piece of equipment I should upgrade next. I have a 6 color manual press that does NOT have micro-registration, and I cure my shirts with a flash curing unit. Do you think it would be more beneficial to buy a good press (like an M&R Chameleon) or a conveyor dryer? I hope to get both eventually, but can only afford one at time.
i think if your press has worked so far, and your at least somewhat happy with your work, i would look into getting the dryer. you can speed up production with a new dryer. and you can be sure your curing your shirts properly. i have micro registration and i rarley use it. i adjust my screens when setting it in my hold down clamps. im not sure if its my machine but when i try to use micro registration on mine, the screen tends to move when i go to tighten up my screen. if you do by i press try to see if you can play around with the machine you are interested in. this may be hard, but alot of the printing shows would allow you to do this
thats how it should be. you clamp it, then use your micro registration to line up your artwork..........i just find my system to be more of a hassle. i find it easier to line up my screen then clamp it in place, skipping the micro adjustment process. i do this because some systems work better than others, mine is not that great, or maybe im just bad at using it. anyway if you do the same and it works for you, keep doing it. theres no need to add an additional step if you dont need to. i first learned on a machine without micro adjust, so its just easier for me to not use it.......bottom line if you have been getting away without out micro adj. you really dont need it, buy the dryer first, then at a later time upgrade your press, maybe even to an automatic if you have high volume orders.
Having micro would speed up my printing process quite a bit on multi-color jobs. I do it by hand now, and if I don't get it nailed on the first try, I have keep unclamping, adjusting, reclamping, testing, etc., etc. and sometimes this can take a good 30-45 minutes. I'm kind of a perfectionist, so I keep trying until I get it dead on. So I do think micro would save me time, but I also know a conveyor dryer would also save me time. Not sure which would save more time.
The dryer might be more of an improvement on quality while the press would save time and make printing easier. Hmm...
Actually the dryer will improve your production rate more than a faster set up on press. Get the dryer and pump out a couple more months of prints until you can save enough to get the chameloen. BTW You'll love the press. I used to have 2 and still use the first one I baught 6+ years ago.
Thanks for the advice. I've never seen a dryer in use before, so do the shirts just fall off the back into a box or something? And then you have to go back and fold all the shirts after you are done printing?
Just wondering because now my process is to print the next shirt while the previous shirt is curing. And then I fold the shirt once I take it off the curing table. So they are all folded when I get done printing.
I've never seen a dryer in use before, so do the shirts just fall off the back into a box or something?
It'll depend on the dryer and shop setup (in a large shop you might have someone take them off the dryer and fold them as they come out), but they can just drop into a catch basket.
If It were me, I would get the conveyer dryer. Imagine how much time It would save by not flashing every single shirt. I spend 30 seconds on each shirt flash drying. I built my 4C-4S press, and If I had a conveyer, It would save me alot of time, once I got my registration pinned down, and the printing began. Conveyer Dryer, for sure!!!!
Regards,
Jim
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As well as all the above, a dryer will help you on every order. Have 400 one colour shirts to do? That dryer sure came it handy. New press? Not so much
I've never seen a dryer in use before, so do the shirts just fall off the back into a box or something? And then you have to go back and fold all the shirts after you are done printing?
I also vote for dryer.
Classic box at the end of the dryer. Don't let them cool too long, or they wrinkle.
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Wow, you guys are genius! I finally got my dryer hooked up last night and used it for the first time. I had been averaging about 75 seconds per shirt for 1 color, using a flash to cure them. The first dozen I printed using my dryer took me 6 minutes flat - 30 seconds per shirt. I was so pumped I stayed up and printed about 250 shirts before I went to bed. It feels great to be able to knock out 100 shirts an hour. Yall were right, the dryer definitely is the best purchase I've made. Thanks for talking me into it! I'm so glad I didn't buy the new press first.
Which Would You Buy First? 
