Has anyone used in the past or Does anyone now use a 4 or 6 color table top press? If so what was your experience with multicolor registration, ease of use, etc. Thanks for any input.
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I had a 4 color tabletop press for a few years from silkscreeningsupply.com, and it was a pain! The press that I had was decent but had no micro registration, which made it really hard to do simple jobs. You can buy some How-to plans for micro registration out of some shelving units and other parts, but it just wasn't worth it to me. If I go back into screen printing, I'll be spending big on a good press. For me, it is easier to go with a heat press, or just outsource. Your situation may be different, but if you are looking to make money, you should think about upgrading! Do you have anything in mind? Best of luck to you!
That heavy black outline around all the elements make small registration problems easier to deal with.
The press may be capable of holding registration once locked in, but if you're doing tight registration work, without micros, it can be a pain set up. Not every job (in fact, very few) will have heavy black outlines to cover up registration problems.
Last edited by Comin'OutSwingin; August 17th, 2008 at 09:35 AM.
Reason: removed text meant to circumvent profanity filter
That heavy black outline around all the elements make small registration problems easier to deal with.
[... ] Not every job (in fact, very few) will have heavy black outlines to cover up registration problems.
i thought of that, too.
but then i considered that if there is any shifting and bad alignment of the screens, that would show up in the center of the print, too ( like Bart's socks, for example), not only at the exterior, when it can be hidden with the black outline.
i totally agree that is a lot more difficult to deal with a non-micros press.
i have one, and still waiting for my first multi-color job
Last edited by cmyk; August 17th, 2008 at 02:28 PM.
I have the 6/2 tabletop press from silkscreeningsupplies. I've had some headaches in the past setting up multicolor jobs but it can be done, especially with some trapping to hide slight misregistration. I've had to tighten down some bolts in the press to get the registration consistent. I haven't noticed any shift after everything is all tightened down. With carefull setup, I don't see any reason I can't get perfect 6 color prints with complex art. That said, micros would certainly make life a lot easier. I shudder to think of washing out screens due to less than par registration.
Table top press 
