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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: dirkdiggler on January 02, 2019, 10:06:13 AM
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Who has it? Cost? Pros and Cons? Getting to a point where I can see it being necessary. Thanks in advance for your help.
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Who has it? Cost? Pros and Cons? Getting to a point where I can see it being necessary. Thanks in advance for your help.
'been on the fence about it for a while now. If we were doing 20-30 more screens a day it would be a no brainer.
It seems like it saves a little bit of time, provides some consistency to washout in exchange for not a lot of maintenance (unlike the reclaim units).
pierre
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I think they're around the $28-33,000 range. We bought ours with an I-Image & Uni-Kote so there was some discount. It's great. Set 2 screens in, hit a button & they get washed out. No need to have a separate booth so you don't interrupt reclaim & don't need somebody to stand there with a power washer. Some people have added a second screen holder bar so they can fit 4 screens in at a time. 1 person can operate an I-Image, Uni-Kote & Eco-Rinse @ the same time.
No real operational cons I've found with this unit. The only 2 problems we encountered are very minor. Foaming is a slight issue. We add a little de-foamer to the tank if it's getting too foamy, but we've found that if you clean out the tank & unit more frequently it greatly reduces the issue. Drain tank, scrub down, remove sediment, fill tank adding 1-2 gallons of bleach, run unit for 15-30 minutes, drain, rinse, re-fill & you're good.
The second issue is that you'll notice a rank, sewage-like smell if you don't run it for a day or 2 & haven't recently cleaned it, most often on Mondays after the weekend. The water sits in the lines & tank getting stagnant & nasty smelling. There's a very large shop in town who have 2 of these units & they say they have the same problem. Easy solution: add a couple ounces of Vanilla Extract to the tank & run a cycle or 2 before you leave for the weekend. Masks the nasty smell & a little pleasant vanilla scent. But with any machine, preventative maintenance & keeping it clean is the best practice.
Only other thing is making sure you stick those screens in the holders tight so they are secure. If they come loose the washer drive will strike it & can cause damage to the drive unit if there is a strike.
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Who has it? Cost? Pros and Cons? Getting to a point where I can see it being necessary. Thanks in advance for your help.
'been on the fence about it for a while now. If we were doing 20-30 more screens a day it would be a no brainer.
It seems like it saves a little bit of time, provides some consistency to washout in exchange for not a lot of maintenance (unlike the reclaim units).
pierre
Hey Pierre-
Would you still be on the fence if the unit was about $10K but only did 1 screen at a time? I was badgering/encouraging/working with a company to make a single station unit for us here... They got busy and we got very busy and my badgering took a rest. Apparently they have the unit in their warehouse for us to test. I'm sure if there was minimal outside interest it would become more of a priority for them.
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Who has it? Cost? Pros and Cons? Getting to a point where I can see it being necessary. Thanks in advance for your help.
'been on the fence about it for a while now. If we were doing 20-30 more screens a day it would be a no brainer.
It seems like it saves a little bit of time, provides some consistency to washout in exchange for not a lot of maintenance (unlike the reclaim units).
pierre
Hey Pierre-
Would you still be on the fence if the unit was about $10K but only did 1 screen at a time? I was badgering/encouraging/working with a company to make a single station unit for us here... They got busy and we got very busy and my badgering took a rest. Apparently they have the unit in their warehouse for us to test. I'm sure if there was minimal outside interest it would become more of a priority for them.
one screen is fine and the price is right. My main concern would be consistency so we know that our halftones would wash out the same every time. . . If they can pull that off, we would probably get one.
pierre
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I would prefer a single screen unit of a variety of reasons.
There are also conveyorized models out there.
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Who has it? Cost? Pros and Cons? Getting to a point where I can see it being necessary. Thanks in advance for your help.
'been on the fence about it for a while now. If we were doing 20-30 more screens a day it would be a no brainer.
It seems like it saves a little bit of time, provides some consistency to washout in exchange for not a lot of maintenance (unlike the reclaim units).
pierre
Hey Pierre-
Would you still be on the fence if the unit was about $10K but only did 1 screen at a time? I was badgering/encouraging/working with a company to make a single station unit for us here... They got busy and we got very busy and my badgering took a rest. Apparently they have the unit in their warehouse for us to test. I'm sure if there was minimal outside interest it would become more of a priority for them.
one screen is fine and the price is right. My main concern would be consistency so we know that our halftones would wash out the same every time. . . If they can pull that off, we would probably get one.
pierre
honestly same with us.
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same here, my i-image only does 1 screen at a time. My eco rinse should just match that.
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As mentioned in a previous post; The main point in automation in the screen room is to minimize labor ie:
multitasking. This is not just better technology without proper human management
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We calculated just about no time saving as we use a post exposure dip tank. Why the Eco Rinse wouldn't save us time (enough to matter) is because it only takes 15-20 seconds to wash out a screen with a power washer.
Now it WOULD increase consistency dramatically which is great. But the added cost and footprint do not help us at this time. We are at 40-125 screens a day. Higher I could see maybe more of a need but I would much rather go for the conveyor style (and add a dryer to it so you just take it off and tape it up immediately). More space would be needed so that won't be happening in our new facility but maybe the next one haha...we just moved last year though. 1500 or so square foot dark room + developing / staging area.