We're ready to buy, I think... Have it narrowed down to Vastex or Workhorse 6 color 4 station, with micros. We're leaning toward the Vastex. What are your thoughts and do you know of any wholesale dealers? We're limited on funds so I would like to find the BEST deal. Anyone know of any? Thanks so much.
It really comes down to "whatever floats your boat". Going on 3 years ago at an ISS show we looked at all the manual presses on display. There were a few that found favor with us and some that didn't. I do own 1 piece of Vastex equipment. Their Universal Registration System. I think it's great. Between the two you seem to have settled on, I would also pick the Vastex. That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of screen printers out there that aren't doing just fine with the Workhorse. The press we bought, though, was an Antec Legend.
What ever you buy, my personal piece of advice would be to buy one with at least the same number of stations as colors. You're thinking of a 6c/4s press. In my mind, that means you're planning on possibly printing as many as 6 colors on a shirt. That likely means flashing unless everything you print will be wet-on-wet. If you have more stations (ie. 6 instead of 4), your shirts will have 2 more "prints" or opportunities to cool down before they get the second or third coat of ink. That means they will be less inclined to stick to the screen and the shirt tack (whatever method you use) will cool down and hold onto the shirt better. If your shirt lifts, your registration will be off.
I have Vastex and they're awesome. The steel platens are rubber coated and cool off faster than my old aluminum platens I had on a different press. And the machine is built like the proverbial brick ****house. I doubt anyone could be disappointed with one of their presses. The Workhorse I can't say anything about as I've never used one.
I have a workhoarse 8 station 8 head press. It is definantly build well, it makes other presses look spindly and cheap. My gripes with it are these:
1.The carosel does not lock into place so there is not much to keep it from rotating a platen under your flash if you have to walk away.
2. The platons are melemine and can get seriously damaged by heat.
3. There is an adjustment knob that is not very efective situated right where you would rest your squeegee. This can result in your squeegee flopping over into your ink or off the back.
4. The rear micros are pretty useless and use knobs that break easily.
5. I would like it if the heads would adjust individually out and in away frfrom the center of the press so that you do not have to use longer screens than usual. It feels like I am always trying to get my image burned on the screen in just the right spot to give me space to load my ink and still clear the clamp from the edge of the platon.
They offer side clamps as an upgrade which are prob pretty great. Other than those gripes, you could push the thing off the back of a truck and do more damage to the ground than the press. Their dryers and flash units are great though I wish you could turn the heat elements completely off and let the belt cool down- but I've never burned the belt either. Their Photosomething halide exposure unit is amazing. Very well thought out and great results especially for being a 110 watt unit. The only thing that cold be improved would be making the time program easier to access. I think it's called the Photosharp.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mreicher
I have Vastex and they're awesome. The steel platens are rubber coated and cool off faster than my old aluminum platens I had on a different press. And the machine is built like the proverbial brick ****house. I doubt anyone could be disappointed with one of their presses. The Workhorse I can't say anything about as I've never used one.
I have the workhorse odyssey 6-4. i have my gripes too, but i would with any press i bet. i helped my ink & supply vendor at the ISS show in Ft. Worth, i printed on the vastex v-1000 or whatever and did not like it. it held registration fine, but it felt overbuilt, heavy and a little sloppy to me, mainly the stop to hold it in position.
i would like rubber-topped aluminum pallettes, the melamine will chip off, burn and warp.
if you can spring a little more $$, try a Hix. Best press I've seen for the money.
we recently acquired a Vastex 4 color 2 station, and we couldn't be happier. Don't know much about the workshorse, but the Vastex has worked out great. No problems so far.
I've never used a Vastex but we have had an 8 color 8 station workhorse for over 10 years and it still works great. Ours has the aluminum boards with rubber coating and has side clamps. I like the side clamps better because I think they hold rgistration better with two points of contact and I can gang multiple images on one screen ( like name drops or player names) and move the screen up or down. Ours also does have an adjustable lock so you can feel when its in place under the flash. We have it adjusted not to click into place because I don't like to hear it click as I spin the press. I would recommend workhorse or M & R.
I own a Vastex 4 color 4 station with a Vastex flash dryer, I dont know about the work horse, but the only issue I have with vastex is the adjustments. They require a wrench & somehow always need re adjustment. The equipment is built solid & will last you for ever. I think the price is also very good & they do carry the entire line for a startup to a full production shop. Good luckPrint It 4 Less - Superb Products
I've got a Vastex 6/4 that I upgraded to an 8/4. Aside from the way they're built, what makes the Vastex presses so good is that their micros are pre-loaded with springs, so that when you make an adjustment with one, it doesn't go out of whack when you go to move another. There's no movement from the threads in the micros as they change direction. The Antec Legends have the same feature but at a higher price. The steel platens with rubber faces are guaranteed not to warp. The press spins easily and has a platen carousel stop. And I've always gotten good customer service from Vastex, and I bought mine second hand. I also bought am 18x24 Redflash with the heavy duty base, another great item. When I get the scratch up, I'll buy the EconoRed II Dryer, but I just spent money on a new exposure system from Doug Grigar (who also is a consultant for Vastex). All in all, very good products for the money.
i have used a workhorse for the last 6 years and couldnt ask for better. the micro is user friendly, and the heads are built tough. however i use custom built waffeled aluminum platens and im not sure what the press comes with...
The vastex is a good, solid press that is one of the better presses on the market. I have a few gripes about ours but they are minor and have not had an impact on our prints.
Gripes:
1. The stop for the carousel is kind of cheap, like a rollerskate wheel. It works and is very simple but not what I was expecting.
2. The pallet rubber was not glued very well at all and on our first job with the flash the rubber started to come up without overflashing, probably underflashing if anything. I replaced the rubber and used a good contact cement and haven't had a problem since.
3. The pallet leveling system is simple but not as well built and sturdy as expected. The nuts & bolts come loose fairly often and it did not come with lock washers so I went to Lowes and bought some to reinforce.
I made our press better with a little time and money but I didn't expect to have to do that. It holds registration well and is easy to spin. We got the numbering system and it is engineered really well and works like a charm. Well worth the money if you do any team sports. Overall, it is a good manual press that will probably last us as long as we are open for business.
3. The pallet leveling system is simple but not as well built and sturdy as expected. The nuts & bolts come loose fairly often and it did not come with lock washers so I went to Lowes and bought some to reinforce.
Are you sure you set the pallets up correctly? They are supplied with jamb nuts to keep things from loosening. I've never had to readjust the pallets once I set them up and tightened the nuts. Lock washers will work also, but I'm surprised you had trouble with what came with the press.
The only time I've had the rubber come loose was when I walked away from my flash and forgot a pallet was under it. I've taped down the corners of the couple that loosened, and haven't had trouble since. I've never reglued any of the pallet rubber. I keep my flash about 3 to 4 inches above the pallet.
I wish ours would have come with jamb nuts. An oversight on their part. We have our flash at about 3 inches. I have walked away from the manual with a pallet under the flash but that wasn't the case this time. When I called vastex they assured me I was overflashing and they used plenty of contact cement. The print wasn't curing to the touch and the pallets were warm at best. I run the auto mostly but learned on the manual so I had plenty of experience with pfp. I pulled the rubber off with one hand and there was not much adhesive there. I had put new rubber on our auto a few months before and had an idea of how much glue should have been on them. Thanks for the info though, I might see if they will send the jamb nuts so I can set it up per their specs.
I might see if they will send the jamb nuts so I can set it up per their specs.
Well, maybe I misspoke. (I just walked out to look at my press). The nuts are installed against flat washers on either side of the bracket. Their are a set of nuts up underneath the platen (where the bolts attach to the platen), and a set where the threaded rods pass through the bracket that slides onto the platen arm of the press. All in all, there are 16 nuts/washers per platen/bracket assembly (four for each of the four threaded rods). Anyway, as I said, I've never had one come loose. When I bought my press (second-hand), I just reassembled it as it had been done by the original owner. Later, I went over the whole thing, starting off with one printhead and platen, then all the other printheads to that platen, then all the other platens. I just moved my shop to a new location, having broken the press down by taking off all 8 color heads, all four platen arms and platens, and the top carousel. I slapped it all back together, and everything is just as I had had it. In over two years of owning the press, I've never had a nut come loose. In fact, the only problem I had was mis-registration on one platen arm, and what it was was I had over-tightened my platen brackets to that arm and there was apparently some distortion in the top of the arm (this was with the old-style brackets that use two clamping bolts). I put some duct tape on top of the print arm, and some 3M Anti-Skid tape bits to the bottom of my platen brackets so that when I tightened them down, there was something "grippy". I've since installed the newer single bolt brackets on my regular platens, which eliminates the problem. On the one homemade platen I use (for short shirt sleeves) that still uses the old 2-bolt style, I use the anti-skid tape and have one platen arm with the duct tape that I use exclusively with that platen and bracket.
Vastex or Workhorse? 
