The below applies to the 'gator 401' press as equally as it does to knight-mfg.
People are going to buy what they are going to buy...for any number of reasons. I have a horse in this race. But I am fair. I can say and prove that Jaimie Knight hopped on the back of MY horse and expected me(and YOU)not to notice. Only thing is...the guy on the BACK of the horse is not the one who is steering the horse! A wannabe at best.
I came up with on screen micro tuning(as at least 200 people can attest)back in 1990. I was working in a shop on a very expensive multi color press that never the less would NOT keep the screens for(4 to 6 colors each) the small flags I was printing, in alignment. It was then, with NOTHING to see(or ideas to steal)that the idea for my micro tuner popped into my head. In 1990...I'm pretty sure Jaimie Knight was sitting in grade school with NO interest or knoweledge of/in screen printing. In fact, his ebay ads say clearly that he has NO videos to explain screen printing. He hopes people will buy the dumbed down version he offers based on the logic of on screen micro tuners...which he stole from me(as did Gator 401) and STILL could not get(either of them!) right!
SP is very much about accuracy but it is also FAR MORE. My skills and knowledge did not begin with Jaimie or on the day I came up with micro tuners. I was already nearly 12 years in SP before I had that idea. Right about the time Jaimie(if not gilligan also?) would have been playing with his/their favorite Hotwheels cars? He cannot add apparently...but I trust YOU can? Yet Gilligan has SO much to say, in open and threads now closed, so that I cannot respond to his disparagements.
Just know that when it comes to SP and who knows what...Gilligan; Midwaste and Jaimie(and?)have shown up to the SP 'gunfight' with pea shooters. As at least part of the 'crowd' looks on in awe and ignorance. I'm not a fan of ignorance. Re SP or in forums. My customers and equipment owners/users KNOW this. I know a guy who owns a bike shop who has a sign in his window: "it is impossible to make anyhting 'fool-proof', as fools are SO ingenious!" Little harsh? Truth often is...(JODY).
3,200 people love my equipment and some have even used it to accomplish great things. I'm I to blame for those who cannot or won't? Or for speaking up FOR myself when I have a right to? only people I know who do NOT do so have little self esteem and have gone nowhere. I used to print 12 hour...even may 16 hour and a few 24 hour days/stretches at SP. Not easy or even anything to be concieted over. Astronauts get better pay. many burger joint mgrs get better pay! But I ALWAYS cared ; knew and had pride in my work. That has not changed as I work for myself and the few who get it...well BEYOND the Gilligans and Jaimies who look to pull the rug out from under me.
World is full of that. Was in 1979 when I got into SP and it is now alive in 2011. I don't claim to be a master of or even that interested in forums. Some master keyboards/trolling. I am a master of screen printing. Before 'them' and forums. A keyboard is MUCH easier to use than being a really skilled printer (or equipment builder/backer). That is why most have and will never do all of it. Those who steal and degrade the true developers, have not yet 'done it' either. They are okay with that pretense...I am not. Never have been.
Some down me for talking about what I know, if it does not directly involve putting ink on a tee!...but then they come here as NON owners/users/ or even able to understand me and what I do and talk about me, who they know NOTHING about. But they are amused at their own ignorance. I like to label things...so YOU will have some truth to make your decisions based on...and not these guys.
Jaimie Knight says in "2003" he started making equipment. 13 14 years AFTER I came up with the idea and had built sold around 1500. There is a poster named 'gilligan' here who is not as reasonable as he wants YOU to believe he is regarding me and or all of this. he will even refer you to Jaimie and his copied and dumbed down equipment. Gilligan calls me "crazy" often and Rodney allows that slamming while at the same time removing what I have said to Gilligan and/or closing threads as at the same time Rodney preserves the insults here, there and everywhere from Gilligan. What does that tell you?
Do I have a reason to be upset? Yes. More than one reason? Yes. But it is NOT the center of my life, being angry, just because I do not hesitate to handle these things on a forum. I have been more honest than Gilligan...Midwaste... And certainly far more honest than Jaimie Knight. Again...PROVABLE.
Jaimie Knight makes metal micro tuners and due to the adjust bolts being also metal their is an issue with tolerance/slop that makes it necessary to employ a 'lock nut' on EVERY micro tuner you mount to the screen. which also means you have to loosen each and every lock nut any time you want to make a minor adjustment. That will be a waste of time for any body first mounting and then when adjustinmg MT's during a job.
I thought the idea of takins somebody's idea was 'supposed to be' that one could make it better(?) but he did not do that. that is why I say 'dumbed down' as his version is so. My micro tuner is designed so that it can be adjusted at any time with NO slippage and NO locknut. I had nothing to go by when I invented the idea and yet even with jaimie looking at the REAL deal he still misses this flaw and gladly offers that flaw to YOU.
WHY after 30 plus years of doing and loving screen printing would I toss it all away to be as angry as some of you people think I am? Think more...post less...at least about me. you don't know me and guys like Jaimie(and Gilligan) are darn glad of THAT.
So...back to the 'race' . I cannot keep the horses off the track (or the internet) which means I just have to be MORE out there and running faster. Do I like that guys are competing in the market with BAD versions of my GOOD ideas? Of course not. If you need me to explain that in a way that will make you feel warm and fuzzy...don't wait. Instead I am holding to what I know is true and the REAL skills i have.
Some of you accuse me of ranting and making too long videos with stuff you don't want to hear. fine...I will send you back the money you paid for all the info you also got but with little to no thanks.
I've said it before and i say it here again: I am here ONLY for those who get what I do. I have been in EVERY phase of SP for over 30 years. Some of you think all I know is wrapped up in a table top press I offer!? Wow. I never set out to sell systems or with the on screen micro tuners. I was talked into it by locals. I was just glad that I had invented and applied a logic that had never been applied before.
Others do not be able to do the same...as they copy my ideas(with no thanks)...or when they come on a forum.
As for 'Gilligan' he has a very long way to go before he can call me 'crazy' in any way that matters to me. I paid my dues in the real world of SP and design and caring about/working hard for customers. He has not. Far harder than trolling on forums.
My past/ current and REAL customers (to come)KNOW where to find me. No Gilligans peppered troll forums required. And people wonder why I do not frequent forums!? Now you know. A LITTLE bit more.
Before you BUY your 'stuff'...KNOW your 'stuff'. investigation pays off; you will be glad you did when it is just you and the screens/inks and you either know what you are doing...or do not. I spent a LOT of years earning what I know in SP. Or I would not build or offer anything to anyone. I've done it every way in every kind of shop and now my goal is to distill SP to what matters.
