Just got this idea from another thread regarding automatic presses. Those of you using a manual press - what is your optimal/top printing speed with,say, simple one color printing jobs?
Yesterday I was printing Cotton Canvas Bags, just a simple one color logo and I noticed I was printing approx. 120 bags per hour. I can't really say how many shirts I can print in a hurry.
How fast is it really possible to print with a manual? What is the top speed of a screen printing master?
We can do 144 pcs/hr or more one color on a manual. It's possible to do close to 200, but you have to BURN!
Probably couldn't do it all day.
WE print 100- 4 color designs in an hour.
This is like asking "how fast does a car go".
I have 27 years experience in SP and have operated about every manual press out there on every kind of job. There are so many answers to this that it buries the question.
1.) depennds on the skills of the printer.
2.)depends on the weight and size of the press.
3.) depends on the print(light ink on dark or dark ink on light?)
4.) depends on the number of colors/sreens
5.)depends on how fast your drier is.
6.) depends on if you are running it alone or double teaming.
7.) You have to add the FOLD time in as production time(cheaters!)
8.) Depends on what BRAND of ink you are using(oneshot will be faster than two flash Union or qcm or...)
9.) depends on how many beers you had.(Don't Drink and Print!)
10.)depends on if you talk on the phone.
Depends on how many stations you are running(even on a one color)
11.)Depends on what DVD you are watching as you kill another long night printing.
12.) Depends on how clean a printer you are(gotta deduct time for spot blasting!!!)
13.) Depends on if you are working for yourself or lining somebody elses pockets with YOUR speed-slave-printing(Bleh!!!)
14.) depends on if you LIKE that somebody else you are s-s-p' ing for?
15.) Depends on your screen print bio-rythms( you know what I mean...some days the LAST thing you want to see is that press or never ending job)
16.) Have you done all that the Screen printing Gods demand of YOU...to have a good day screen printing?
17.) Did your girlfriend just leave you BECAUSE you are a screen printer(happens...and it will slow you down unless you already found another!)
18.) Do you have a winning lottery ticket in your pocket? Screen printing and suspense do not mix.
19.) did you get a good screen or does it look like a starry night(pin-holes) the longer you print with it(gotta deduct that blockout time!)
20.) Are you the ONLY guy screen printing a job today where NOTHING goes wrong and so the WHOLE job(not that little time where you were inconsistently 'amazing')fast and perfect?
then there is really no point in asking. Just do the best you can. Sometimes I blister stuff out on the rotary I built(super accurate and quality ALWAYS being first)...and sometimes I just mosey along and talk along with some movie I have watched way too many times. The better question is what are YOU actually getting out of the job? There will always be some guy running an auto or even manualwho doesn't even put down the squeegee to take a shower(if he takes showers at all?) . That is robot printing. Is that where you want to be?
one color on light I run 100-150/hour. prints like that i only use one station, it seems to go a lot quicker. on dark with a flash print it slows to about 70/hr. That's by myself loading & unloading, letting them drop into a box. sometimes my wife catches them off the dryer.
I know a guy who can print 20 doz./hr on a all heads down manual with 2 people printing. I'd like to see that in person!
A wonderful analysis. Lee, I salute you. Yeah we all know everything depends on everything but all those things weren't meant to be taken into consideration. I wanted to know what 'max speed' is! And man, these guys here get busy! That means I can get better too. Sure, I work with a piece of crap but no excuses. No, Sensei! I must train the art of screen printing relentlessly so one day I might carry a Black Belt around my waste.
But I think Mr. Miyagi once said it best - "Someone always know more".
Sure, you wouldn't want to print manually all day, every day at s cases per hour, but .....
When you need to, you need to. 1000 pcs * 1.00 = 1,000 bucks. Do that in a day and a half or even 2 days and guess what? Most people dont make that in a week!
You don't work, you don't eat... that's my motto.
Keep it spinnin' !
Me and my partner just did a one color logo on 100 tees the other day. He prints, then hands it to me and I wait for them to dry under the flash and fold.
We were doing about 30 shirts an hour.
Now we've both only been printing tees for just over a year and still inspect very closely at every shirt that comes off the printer. We could go faster but that will come with more experience and a faster way of drying.
We still made over 200 dollars a piece net profit for just a little over 3 hrs of printing.
That's more than I usually make at my real job in 8 hrs so I can't complain.
Lee you are so right, it totally depends on the day, my mood, I usually am printing alone while Ivett is reclaiming or doing art prep for clients or she prints alone while I create development packages for clients or try to remember I am also a mom and even though my son is a teen, at least once every couple months he might appreciate me putting him before our clients....
We were told when we started, if your time equates to a minimum of $60.00 an hour your fine, just don't go under that. We rarely are near $60.00 usually over $100.00 but that compensates for when the pin holes and boredom and phone calls and i just want 1 more smoke break all take us well under the $60.00 an hour. We are looking at what we need to bring in per month to have the salaries, savings and capital investment funds we personally want. If our roller coaster speed meets these numbers, we're o.k.
There is no max speed. Unless you drop your press out of a plane and then there is a terminal velocity/max speed...but otherwise you just cannot remove the human element and the subjectivity that is built into that. Oh yeah...I forgot to list weather/temperature. If you are printing in a 110 degree shop and sweating in your screen(I printed 8 years in Arizona)you won't be as fast as someone printing in 70 degrees. Union has released an Ink that is impervious to sweat. I believe it is labeled: AZ- 110...not sure...feel free to call their 800 number and ask.
You also have to realize that as your speed goes up, your quality control goes down. I personally prefer quality shirts and return customers rather than seeing how fast I can print.
One of the few times that I have timed myself, I printed 150/hr. That's 1 color prints, and I had to stop and fold between size changes. You definitely have to be in the mood to print to get fast. Some days I just don't feel like printing, so my print speed is alot slower.
__________________ Unik Ink Specialty Printing-oversize & all over printing
Impressions 2008 Awards winner- Manual Textile Screen Printing
Your printing speeds with manual press? 
Re: Your printing speeds with manual press? 
