TSB
screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: Screened Gear on April 11, 2011, 09:36:13 PM
-
This is a question for Pierre and other MHM E-Type Owners.
How do you set up your E-type? What do you do first, second ...
I figured before a get used to how to use this press I should learn how everyone else uses it. It would be really cool to see a video of an e-type being set up to run a job. Or maybe a few small videos of each step. Example how to put in the screen...then putting in the squeegee and flood bar. (I still haven't figure this out without having the air pressure tuned all the way down so the squeegee holder will lift up.) I am sure that everyone does it different. But maybe we could do a best practices on the press so it will benefit everyone
Please do a video or explain each step. Act like I know nothing about the press.
Thanks a ton in advance.
-
S-Type here, some things are similar, some different, some universal to any machine.
Screens are installed rear pins first. Push back until you clear the front holder, then insert
front pins. Little funky at first.
Squeegees are different than mine, can't help you there.
Line up first screen to pallet centerline (underbase or keyline/darkest) make print,
cover in clear packing tape, repeat with following screens.
Did you get the FPU?
-
ebscreen,
I didn't get the FPU. I am looking for a used one but I will soon just buy one new. Do you insert your screens in the clean position? is there a presure release that I am missing on the press so you can put the screens in? Or does it do that automaticly in the sdjust screen? I have just played with the press for maybe an hour or so so I haven't tryed to figure much of this out yet. I have been way busy.
Thanks,
Jon
-
bottom right button is the pressure release.
putting the screen in:
release pressure
move the s/f to the front
insert back
insert floodbar
push s/f back
insert front insert squeegee (this can be done when inserting floodbar)
taking out:
release pressure
push on the screen front with both palms to pop the front out
bring s/f forward
if needed, remove the s/f
remove screen
when printing, set angles for your squeeges on 4 and floodbars on 2
white ink on 8 or so.
pressure on 4 bar on all the heads (I do not change this at all)
squeegee height will depend on the squeegee height. there is a 1/8 or a 1/4 inch variance. Two different types of blades. on the stuff from MHM start the white on 0 and back off to 2 when everything is warmed up.
colors are usually around 2.5
floodbar is set so you can just feel it from the bottom of the screen. It should do a little more than push the ink around. I would not push as hard as squeegee, but you will want a hard flood. On my lose screens, floodbar is touching the platten when down (very lightly)
color ink speed at 4 for print and 5 for flood
white ink on 3 for print and 4 for flood
get a winged floodbar for white and make sure it is set to 0 or it will rip the screen.
GET THE FPU!!! or build something like it. They are way overpriced for what it is, but it is worth it's weight in gold for what it does. air to the FPU is not necessary, you can do it by hand.
what kind of flash did you get?
pierre
-
Pierre,
Thanks for the info. For some reason on my machine the flood bar will push up so it is easy to put that in. The squeegee is always under pressure. I can't lift up the squeegee cariage it has presure on it. The only way to get the squeegee in is when the screen is out. That can't be right.
Jon
-
Pierre,
Thanks for the info. For some reason on my machine the flood bar will push up so it is easy to put that in. The squeegee is always under pressure. I can't lift up the squeegee cariage it has presure on it. The only way to get the squeegee in is when the screen is out. That can't be right.
Jon
you are setting it up backwards. Make sure you are in plastisol mode and that the floodbar is closer to the center.
we talked about printing outwards, but I checked with MHM and they said, while you could do it, printing inward is better.
-
pierre,
I am setting it up right. The squeegee is on the outside and the flood bar in on the inside position (closest to the center of the press). Does the air release button also release the pressure to the squeegee? If so then that answers my question...I will go play with it and see if it does...
Jon
-
without a screen in try this . . .
push and hold adjust and then push the little lock button. It will switch squeegee floodbar up and down. See if that makes any difference.
My floodbars do not move, but the squeegee can be pushed up. Floodbar thus has to be loaded with the screen out and the squeegee can be added later.
pierre
-
Side Note:::
Hirsch customer service was way fast today.
I had to order some parts for my Press and I didn't wait at all. The first time I called they answered right away. They had a tech call me. He called in less than 20 mins. I was blown away. Then I called to have them order the parts and I only waited maybe 30 seconds on hold. (Flash Elements for $79 each)
Way to go it makes owning a MHM less scary then people say. (or is it just the other Press manufactures that say the MHM service is bad)
-
did you get the part numbers for the flash bulbs?
'save me the digging for the old invoice . . .
-
Pierre,
The elements part number is 111633
-
Are those medium wave carbon emitters or the standard coiled nichrome?
Calmat wants $625 for 1 carbon type delivered.
I can convert it to the standard type for less than that. Ugh.
Good to hear about Hirsch though, maybe the new MHM peoples lit a fire
under 'em.
-
what color are the carbon type? I think my flash is taking too long and all my filaments are steel/chrome color. Are the graphite ones black?
pierre
-
the ones on my press are chrome. I am not sure how long it takes to flash on a long run but its less than 5 sec just doing tests. There is a setting that when the tables index it turns the flash on and the time starts then. Rodney set that on my press.
-
I have been trying to lay down a real nice white PFP on my e-type. I am using Unions Cotton White on a 160 mesh. I have tried angles from 7 to 10 on the squeegee, air pressure from 1 to 4 bars and flood angle from 8 to 4 (I think) and height or whatever that is called from -1 to 5 on the squeegee and -1 to 5 on the flood. I have to be doing something wrong. I get a nice flat first layer (flashed dry) then a nice second layer. It looks ok but I am used to manually printing and if I was printing it manually I would hit it one more time to make it cover better. I am printing navy shirts. The only thing I can try is another ink, maybe this ink is too soft??? What ink do you guys use?
-
I have been trying to lay down a real nice white PFP on my e-type. I am using Unions Cotton White on a 160 mesh. I have tried angles from 7 to 10 on the squeegee, air pressure from 1 to 4 bars and flood angle from 8 to 4 (I think) and height or whatever that is called from -1 to 5 on the squeegee and -1 to 5 on the flood. I have to be doing something wrong. I get a nice flat first layer (flashed dry) then a nice second layer. It looks ok but I am used to manually printing and if I was printing it manually I would hit it one more time to make it cover better. I am printing navy shirts. The only thing I can try is another ink, maybe this ink is too soft??? What ink do you guys use?
what kind of shirt? 100% or 50/50?
set the squeegee at 9 and the floodbar at 4. to get going, do two strokes and set the squeegee height so it clears the screen on the second pass. leave the pressure at 4bar. stir the ink and preheat the plattens using the preheat function. use soft squeegee, 60 duro if you have it. It would not hurt to coat the screens a little thicker than usual. print flash print should give you pretty nice white.
It will take some getting used to and with time it'll get better. . .
pierre
-
Thicker stencil, and personally I go lower mesh for white only prints on darks. 50/50's suck to print on, you can do everything perfectly and they will still look bad sometimes. Like Pierre said, just enough pressure to clear the screen and lay the ink on top of the shirt. You wouldn't really think it would take lots of time to perfect it, but it really does take time to get good at it, there is an experience factor. You'd think it would be easy to just duplicate someone elses specs and that will most certainly help, but sometimes all there is to do is do it enough times to where you just become good at it.
-
Thanks for the advice. I am sure my stencil is a little thin. I am printing on 100% cotton, gildan ultra cottons.
Not to Sound like a newbie (printing manually for 3 years) on an auto, am I right on this....
Squeegee angle - More down (45 degrees) puts down more ink but you lose detail. Higher angle (60 to 90 degrees) more detail less ink lay down
Flood bar - Hard thin flood fills the stencil making it lay down more ink? Soft Thick layer of ink?
Air pressure - More pressure less lnk lay down higher detail, ink goes into the shirt. Less pressure more ink less detail ink stays on top of shirt. (use just enough to clear the screen).
Squeegee downward movement- more down harder print less ink, less down more ink (use just enough to clear the screen).
Off contact ? More off contact clears screen easer
Print speed ? Slower speeds move thicker inks and lay down more ink.
I know all this is dependent on the job you are printing but are these basically how it works. If there is a how to print on an auto book you can suggest let me know.
-
You're getting it, and you'll get there. No books that I know of.
When I first went auto I had a hell of a time too. Could not get white ink to clear a
156 to save my life. Same principles apply as manual printing, but you don't get to
feel what's going on.
You'll get it. Just stack the test shirts and mess with settings until you get it.
And get some Wilflex Quick White too.
-
I think I got it figured out. I had the squeegee coming down too far. It was applying to much pressure. I backed it off and then I got more ink on the shirt. It wasn't perfect but it was working a lot better. I also speed up the flood to 8 and made it a hard flood. It only left a thin layer of ink but filled the stencil. then i spead up the squeegee and that made the print much smoother. (went from 2 to 3.5) I printed 450 navy shirt with it and it went good. I have some practice to do on loading and unloading. I could only do about 300 shirts an hour according to the display. not sure how if figures that. I was doing a 6.5 second flash and I was only about 2 seconds behind the flash. Thanks everyone for the help.
-
the display only counts the last 10 shirts. . . so it tends to get skewed as you stop and start.
300 to start is actually pretty good. It took me weeks to get past 100. It took almost 6 months to break 750, but my experience was pretty limited. You'll get there fast.
I don't think I ever flooded at 8, that's pretty fast, especially for a white.
If you flood too hard, you'll hit the plattens at the end of the stroke (when the flood bars come back down). Make sure you are not banging them too hard.
did you figure out the squeegee cylinders being able to go up?
pierre
-
Pierre,
You can print 750 with you loading and unloading the shirts??? that can't be right. It was a lot harder then I thought it would be to do 300. I don?t think I will get much past 400 by self. I may have to move the dryer position to get any faster.
I am flooded at 8 but the white is Unions cotton white. It is as soft and printable as any other color (I have printed it through a 305 with no problems had to push hard). I am sure I need to change what white I use to get a more opaque print in 2 layers. Even on a manual I print 3 layers. (156 screen) it leaves a glass like print that is really thin and bright white.
I did figure out the squeegee / Flood bar lifting thing. That is what I needed. It is easy to change them out that way. Is there any other hidden controls that I need to know about? Maybe they have a secret book that has all the hidden controls?(manual)
On another note. I am going to buy the FPU they told me I can get it for $3000. Then I am just going to have the Drill Jig made. They want $500 for it. It is just a piece of metal white 2 holes and a few guilds. I can have a machine shop build it for maybe $100.
Thanks Pierre.
-
Pierre,
You can print 750 with you loading and unloading the shirts??? that can't be right. It was a lot harder then I thought it would be to do 300. I don?t think I will get much past 400 by self. I may have to move the dryer position to get any faster.
I am flooded at 8 but the white is Unions cotton white. It is as soft and printable as any other color (I have printed it through a 305 with no problems had to push hard). I am sure I need to change what white I use to get a more opaque print in 2 layers. Even on a manual I print 3 layers. (156 screen) it leaves a glass like print that is really thin and bright white.
I did figure out the squeegee / Flood bar lifting thing. That is what I needed. It is easy to change them out that way. Is there any other hidden controls that I need to know about? Maybe they have a secret book that has all the hidden controls?(manual)
On another note. I am going to buy the FPU they told me I can get it for $3000. Then I am just going to have the Drill Jig made. They want $500 for it. It is just a piece of metal white 2 holes and a few guilds. I can have a machine shop build it for maybe $100.
Thanks Pierre.
HELL NO! On my own, loading and unloading best case scenario (with shirts that fit snug on the plattens) I can get close to 500. I think that might have happened once or twice.
One operator, if averaging 300-350 I am happy with it. We run two ppl for anything over 100 pieces and can hit some pretty good numbers on simpler prints. We'll hit 750-800 in operating speeds for many runs and have gone over a 1000 on several occasions. Now this is running speed. Actual production is 400-500 per hour (with no major issues).
The reality is, most of the orders are small and we don't get a chance to run fast very often. So it all boils down to what you can do with small runs!
pierre
-
Pierre,
Are you running your press in auto mode or pushing the start button every time? I did both and the auto mode can be a little scary but it does make you have to be consistent.
I am sure I can load over 700 if i was just loading. It is so easy to load shirts on a MHM. I have a Workhorse Manual and the shirts always get stuck under the boads on the knobes. On the MHM there is nothing down there to get stuck on...I am loving this press. I also like not havign to turn knobes to tighten the boards. I have calists on my hands from the knobes on my Workhorse.
-
we run on auto now. My guy that is leaving keeps his foot on the pedal as a brake. He lets it go when getting a new shirt.
I run it straight up auto and will find the pedal and press it if something is causing a delay. It took a very long time to get used to auto mode. I would suggest start with it, use the pedal as the brake and you'll learn right from the start.
Auto mode also runs faster. In manual and pushing the button (or stepping on the pedal), the print cycle starts after you let og or push the button. In auto, it starts earlier. In the end auto will print faster, in some cases it will run 100 shirts per hour faster.
pierre
-
I didn't get the pedel with my press. I guess just another thing I need to buy. I may wait a while for that. I am sure it is atleast $500...
-
I'm late to this party, but here's our typical set up for white plastisol on E-type, something soft like a quick white.
Flood speed 8-9, flood angle 0, depth set all the way down (this varies with detail and mesh count, raise depth for detail and delicate mesh, hard flood for low mesh/high coverage), decrease flood speed for even more coverage.
Print speed, start at 1 slowest until ink softens, then increase to 2-3 usually. Angle, 6-8 for low detail, 4-6 for more detail. Depth set all the way down (we rarely move the squeegee depth). Pressure, starting out usually 4 bar, 1.5-2 bar once ink is creamy (lower the pressure to bare minimum for best results). We love 60/90/60 squegee blade for second down white, 70 or beveled smilin jack for UB, sometimes a 60/90/60 works well for UB's, sometimes not so well.
We like thick stencils too for UB's, we run most low detail bases on 110/71 S mesh or 125, moderate to high detail or lesser coverage on 150/48 Murakami S mesh (try this stuff if you can it's amazing mesh). Very fine detail we run from 225-300 for UB, depending on the art. We run 1/3 coats on 125/110 mesh, 1/2 on 150 and up. We get 100-110 micron stencils on 110/71 S mesh, 80 micron on 125 and 150/48.
-
I'm late to this party, but here's our typical set up for white plastisol on E-type, something soft like a quick white.
Flood speed 8-9, flood angle 0, depth set all the way down (this varies with detail and mesh count, raise depth for detail and delicate mesh, hard flood for low mesh/high coverage), decrease flood speed for even more coverage.
Print speed, start at 1 slowest until ink softens, then increase to 2-3 usually. Angle, 6-8 for low detail, 4-6 for more detail. Depth set all the way down (we rarely move the squeegee depth). Pressure, starting out usually 4 bar, 1.5-2 bar once ink is creamy (lower the pressure to bare minimum for best results). We love 60/90/60 squegee blade for second down white, 70 or beveled smilin jack for UB, sometimes a 60/90/60 works well for UB's, sometimes not so well.
We like thick stencils too for UB's, we run most low detail bases on 110/71 S mesh or 125, moderate to high detail or lesser coverage on 150/48 Murakami S mesh (try this stuff if you can it's amazing mesh). Very fine detail we run from 225-300 for UB, depending on the art. We run 1/3 coats on 125/110 mesh, 1/2 on 150 and up. We get 100-110 micron stencils on 110/71 S mesh, 80 micron on 125 and 150/48.
huh . . . floodbar all the way down? I am finding that it is banging pretty good already in the middle, can't imagine what it would be like if it was any lower!
pierre
-
You mean the floodbar banging the pallet? Like I said, it depends on the mesh, for lower counts and a hard flood definately all the way down. Higher mesh count or delicate mesh we raise ours. It depends on the work and the desired results.
I have noticed that both our machines are not identical for the depth setting, so there is probably some difference there from machine to machine. Amount of OC also has a role in this.