One station query ?

643 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by PatWibble, Jul 6, 2018

Tabz

Discussion Starter · Jul 6, 2018

hi all.. total virgin here in the screen printing dept

at the mo im using a plotter and vinyl, i only use white on black t shirts..
so this got me thinking.. would a one station / one colour (white) be a better option ?

hope this makes sense, thank you

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PatWibble

· #2 · Jul 6, 2018

Tabz said:
hi all.. total virgin here in the screen printing dept

at the mo im using a plotter and vinyl, i only use white on black t shirts..
so this got me thinking.. would a one station / one colour (white) be a better option ?

hope this makes sense, thank you

Potentialy yes it could be, depending on the design. Single colour printing is the only really viable use for a single colour press - multi colours need flashing and the platen gets too hot and warps.

For longer print runs it will be cheaper and quicker. You will be able to print more intricate designs and on larger designs the ink cost will be pennies vs. £1+ for large vinyl designs.

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Tabz

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 6, 2018

PatWibble said:
Potentialy yes it could be, depending on the design. Single colour printing is the only really viable use for a single colour press - multi colours need flashing and the platen gets too hot and warps.

For longer print runs it will be cheaper and quicker. You will be able to print more intricate designs and on larger designs the ink cost will be pennies vs. £1+ for large vinyl designs.

thank you pat .. vinyl isnt getting any cheaper and weeding is a pain, so thats great news.

one more thing.. will a heat gun work for curing the ink ? reason i ask ive seen a few use them on youtube vids

p.s. im not a fire risk or arsonist ;-)

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jwpenkman

· #4 · Jul 6, 2018

Hi Tabz,

There's a fair bit of expense to set up a screen print production, even if just on a one colour press. Exposure unit, the actual one colour press, flash cure if you're doing white, screens, emulsion, washout area etc and a dryer. A heat gun might touch dry the print, but will be difficult to know how well cured your prints are without putting them through a dryer.

Whereas now with your vinyl and plotter, your good to go. Don't get me wrong, screen printing is ideal for higher volume, intricate work, but depending on what you're doing and what funds you have might be better to stick with vinyl.

That said, if you have the finance available go for it!

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Tabz

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 6, 2018

jwpenkman said:
Hi Tabz,

There's a fair bit of expense to set up a screen print production, even if just on a one colour press. Exposure unit, the actual one colour press, flash cure if you're doing white, screens, emulsion, washout area etc and a dryer. A heat gun might touch dry the print, but will be difficult to know how well cured your prints are without putting them through a dryer.

Whereas now with your vinyl and plotter, your good to go. Don't get me wrong, screen printing is ideal for higher volume, intricate work, but depending on what you're doing and what funds you have might be better to stick with vinyl.

That said, if you have the finance available go for it!

yeah youre so right.. its a case of if i see 1 more thing to weed im going to scream or cry or both.

plus the vinyl is putting a major dent in profits.. im paying around £140 inc vat and delivery for 20 meters of vinyl.. and it doesnt go that far ... thank you for the reply

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jwpenkman

· #6 · Jul 6, 2018

Tabz said:
yeah youre so right.. its a case of if i see 1 more thing to weed im going to scream or cry or both.

plus the vinyl is putting a major dent in profits.. im paying around £140 inc vat and delivery for 20 meters of vinyl.. and it doesnt go that far ... thank you for the reply

I can imagine its tough, and I'm not self employed so its easy for me to say these things, but cost of vinyl etc makes a bigger difference to someone self employed like I presume you are.

Where I work we have vinyl/plotter, large format print, screen print, and embroidery, and each order suits different things, some jobs we screen print would be a nightmare if we only had a plotter so I can sympathise.

I must admit, nothing more frustrating than spending hours weeding jobs!

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PatWibble

· #7 · Jul 6, 2018

Tabz said:
one more thing.. will a heat gun work for curing the ink ? reason i ask ive seen a few use them on youtube vids

p.s. im not a fire risk or arsonist ;-)

No need if you have a heatpress - search the forum for posts about curring with a press. A heat gun would come in handy to gel the ink before removing from the platen.

A halogen flood lamp is good enough for most screen exposure. Bit slow, but until you are doing a dozen or more screens at a time it isn't the end of the world. Just make sure that you get one with a 3200k bulb - most of the ones available now come with a 2700k bulb which is no good.

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