TSB

screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: screenprintguy on February 13, 2014, 09:25:12 AM

Title: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: screenprintguy on February 13, 2014, 09:25:12 AM
Man, I came in this morning to find out one of our flashes a Reno was left on all night. That means, it was on from 8am yesterday till 8am this morning. Very thankful the pallets were out of the way and it regulated itself all night. I know M&R has the claim to fame that their gear runs 24/7 in shops, but it's a lil scary to think that thing was on 1000 degrees by itself all night. Now I don't want to push it, so turning it off for a few hours and sub it out with another roll up flash. Testament to the gear though. When I touched the house and checked it out, sniff test and all, no difference than if I had just turned it on.
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: kingscreen on February 13, 2014, 10:40:16 AM
This happened in our shop a couple times. In my attempt to idiot proof everything (even from my own idiocy), I moved all the flashes and heat presses onto separate circuit breakers which all get shut off as part of the end of day routine.
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: jsheridan on February 13, 2014, 10:47:40 AM
It runs all by itself 8 hours a day 5 days a week 220 day a year at 1000 degrees

why would that be any different overnight..

To put this into perspective.. the last shop I was at.. ran the big dryer and a few machines 24/7 for 3 months.. the dryer nor the flash units had their power shut of for 3 months.

Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: screenprintguy on February 13, 2014, 10:57:05 AM
whaaaaaaat really John, three months? WOW talk about some serious power bill huh lol.  I guess the scary part was not being here and knowing it was on all night.

king, good idea with the breaker!
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: tonypep on February 13, 2014, 11:05:43 AM
My guys left both IR flashes on on one of the presses over Thanksgiving. 48 hrs straight.
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: tonypep on February 13, 2014, 11:06:25 AM
oops  96 hrs!
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: screenprintguy on February 13, 2014, 11:14:03 AM
oops  96 hrs!


daaaaaaayuuuuuuuuuuum
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: jvanick on February 13, 2014, 12:03:21 PM
I'm not a licensed electrician, but:

If you're going to use your breakers as switches that get turned off every night/morning, make sure you get SWD or HID rated breakers, not the typical ones that you put in a panel.

The contacts are heavier duty and are rated at a higher power factor.  the HID ones are rated for high intensity lighting circuits which have an initial draw higher than the rating of the breaker.  You might want to consider these if the heat presses/dryers turn on immediately when flipping the breaker.

As always, I'd get the recommendation of a professional electrician licensed in your area.
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: 3Deep on February 13, 2014, 12:20:19 PM
Good equipment is all I got to say about that, we left the heat press on over night once and it's still kicking today.

Darryl
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: jvanick on February 13, 2014, 01:12:20 PM
Really not too shocking... the most stressful time on equipment is the initial warm up.  Not to say that leaving it on won't reduce the useful life, but it won't hurt it as much as cycling it on and off a bunch

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: Admiral on February 13, 2014, 04:00:34 PM
This happened in our shop a couple times. In my attempt to idiot proof everything (even from my own idiocy), I moved all the flashes and heat presses onto separate circuit breakers which all get shut off as part of the end of day routine.

Not a bad way to keep the place safe...

We have end of the day checklists for certain workers to make sure the stuff gets done.  Then the person who closes the shop checks things are off as well.

More importantly our flashes can't stay on over things to burn the place down anymore anyway - we use a rotating IR on the manual and quartz flashes for the autos.  With our old Reno flash one platen was burned from an employee leaving it on (and a platen under it) which was noticed 3-4 hours later with a lot of smoke in the back and burnt rubber top...not fun.
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: screenprintguy on February 13, 2014, 04:12:58 PM
This happened in our shop a couple times. In my attempt to idiot proof everything (even from my own idiocy), I moved all the flashes and heat presses onto separate circuit breakers which all get shut off as part of the end of day routine.

Not a bad way to keep the place safe...

We have end of the day checklists for certain workers to make sure the stuff gets done.  Then the person who closes the shop checks things are off as well.

More importantly our flashes can't stay on over things to burn the place down anymore anyway - we use a rotating IR on the manual and quartz flashes for the autos.  With our old Reno flash one platen was burned from an employee leaving it on (and a platen under it) which was noticed 3-4 hours later with a lot of smoke in the back and burnt rubber top...not fun.




Yeah I'm to blame for leaving the Reno on last night. I wanted to do a set up to have ready for first thing in the morning, closed up on my own and even when I got home, thought man, did I turn it off. Which normally OCD wouldn't allow me to miss that, but dam if I didn't leave it on. Another good reason to get ready to switch over to all quartz. Kinda hate the IR flashing anyway, just my personal opinion.

Isn't that burnt pallet aweful!!!!!! Had that happen a few times, real nasty!!
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: jsheridan on February 13, 2014, 04:31:22 PM
Yes mike.. 3 months they ran like that  :o


I'm not a licensed electrician, but:

If you're going to use your breakers as switches that get turned off every night/morning, make sure you get SWD or HID rated breakers, not the typical ones that you put in a panel.



I'll echo this.. not a good idea to use breakers as 'switches'. Each time you 'switch' it, you lessen the contact points and over time that wear will lessen the breakers load rating.

Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: Northland on February 13, 2014, 09:46:41 PM
I've got my Ipod docking station right next to the receptacle for the IR flash.
When I'm done for the day, shutting off the music and the flash is always a one-two punch.

Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: Evo on February 14, 2014, 12:08:32 AM
I still do a walk around each press when I leave, even though I'm the pre-press guy now. The press ops also do a careful walk around before they go.

Presses off, flashes off and compressor off and drained every day. Also the pressure washer is turned off, and the hose valve shut off and the hoses relieved of any pressure. (failed water line or hose in shop = BAD. Long story but I've seen it first hand)
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: jsheridan on February 14, 2014, 01:04:30 AM
(failed water line or hose in shop = BAD. Long story but I've seen it first hand)

i'll take a weird electrical problem, or a ripped screen in head 3 of a 16 color print with lazy pullers..

Than to deal with water problems.. nothing worse. 


Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: Evo on February 14, 2014, 03:08:39 AM
Picture this...

7000 piece order. Children's sizes. All white fleece pullovers.

Blanks delivered with embroidered fronts, to be screen printed 4 color on backs.

Job is 50% done. Boxes of fleece are all over the shop in various stages of packing/unpacking. Very few on pallets.

Some time early in the weekend, the inlet pipe to the small shop water heater breaks open...


8000 sq ft shop, 8000 sq ft storage, 6000 sq ft office and stock/shipping area, all with about 4-6 inches of water.
Title: Re: wooooooooooooooooooooooo, don't try this at home kids!
Post by: Frog on February 14, 2014, 08:34:23 AM
Water disasters? WE seem to have turned the corner from hot to wet, and since my shop is on my residential property, this may qualify as a work related story.

Wednesday, January 22, just after returning from ISS about 4:00 am, I wake to a sound like a jet engine or something.
I jump up to investigate, to hear it coming from the kitchen, and immediately step into 1/2" of hot water on the floor.
The sound is coming from under the sink, and when I open the cabinet door, water is blasting from the shut-off valve. The stem and handle had broken off!
I, of course raced to the shut-off at the water heater, and spent the next 30 minutes sweeping and vacuuming the water out.

All I could think was what if this happened when I was not here? This was not like us leaving the water on to the pressure washer, or even not shutting off the water supply to a washing machine to prevent a burst hose. Who the hell thinks about a valve failing this way? Even with the damn plastic stems?