TSB
screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: Doug S on May 23, 2014, 09:03:14 PM
-
Just wanted to tell everyone that I'll be adding the original I Image CTS to the family soon. I'm really stoked. I don't have near enough screens to justify the ST or definitely not the STE but this one will fill my needs with plenty of room to spare. I really want to thank Mike for the time to tell me about his experience with his.
I'm definitely looking for the increased quality as well as detail of the screens.
I do have 1 question though, until I get my CTS conversion kit for my exposure unit, will it hurt to expose the screens with the glass & vaccuum until I get that changed over? I know that will kind of kill the detail that the I image is capable of exposing through the glass but will there be any other issues?
-
Congrats, I got one coming too, I went ahead and got the Starlight with the conversion kit. Looks like we will both be very happy soon!
-
Congrats, I got one coming too, I went ahead and got the Starlight with the conversion kit. Looks like we will both be very happy soon!
Congrats to you as well. It was a tough decision but I couldn't quit thinking about it. It was driving me so I had no choice.
-
same here!
-
Turn the vacuum completey off and just place the screen on some shims so the image area isn't making contact with the glass. Your exposure times will still be considerably faster even having to go through the glass.
-
And big congrats to you both as well. You will not regret!
-
And big congrats to you both as well. You will not regret!
Thanks Danny, you were a big inspiration for me to pull the trigger!
-
Congrats Doug, your prepress life is about to change for the better! If you ever need pointers feel free to buzz me!
-
Congrats Doug, your prepress life is about to change for the better! If you ever need pointers feel free to buzz me!
Will do for sure. Have a great weekend!
-
i have a confession too...I am getting an I-image CTS as well. It's being crated as we speak.
-
i have a confession too...I am getting an I-image CTS as well. It's being crated as we speak.
Congradulations Brad. It seems we are all taking advantage of the older units. All that matters is that M&R will still service them and that says it all. The main reason for me getting the unit is that with the increase in smaller jobs we are receiving that I'm the bottleneck in the whole process. I'm successful in getting 8 out 10 jobs in perfect registration but "Man ole Man" the time I spend lining up films on the FPU. The exposure unit is always waiting on me. I will have to adjust placement of the stops on the pallet jig I'm sure to match the stops on the frame of the CTS. Besides that, I can see nothing but advantages and after much thought and trying to talk myself out of it or my wife into it, I just came to the conclusion that I would be crazy not to go ahead and bite the bullet. I was thinking that I'm almost finished with the lease on the press and that would make me debt free. Just like the press though, I'm sure that even though the I Image is a chunk of change that I'll wonder how I ever did it without it.
-
Turn the vacuum completey off and just place the screen on some shims so the image area isn't making contact with the glass. Your exposure times will still be considerably faster even having to go through the glass.
Or just remove the glass all together
-
i have a confession too...I am getting an I-image CTS as well. It's being crated as we speak.
There are only 3, that must mean us 3 got the last 3?
-
That's awesome MK! I can take pics this weekend of the easy mod done to our tri light for cts, easy peesy. I'd love a dscan in the future , but for now this was easy and works no issues
-
Turn the vacuum completey off and just place the screen on some shims so the image area isn't making contact with the glass. Your exposure times will still be considerably faster even having to go through the glass.
Or just remove the glass all together
That's something I'll have to figure out or make a call. The unit I have won't start exposing with out the vacuum and the lid closed. It's the only piece I have in the shop that isn't M&R it's a Lawson LED.
-
Remove the glass when ready to use for cts. Use some angle to create a track for screen frames to lay in. Pinch off you vacume line if its a vacuum swich that turns on the light when vacuum is reached. The pinched line will turn it on instantly. If your lid has to be closed, close it but the pinched line fools the vacuum switch. 244 knows lots of work arounds for such situations.
-
Awesome ideas. I was thinking I would have to become an electrical genius somehow. I'll be looking for that vacuum line and put a choke hold on it.
-
The richmond we had. Had the vacuum swich that engages the lamp. Pinch the line, or cap it and it makes instant vacuum.
You should be abe to grt to it once the glass is out. But you may want to hold off till you have the cts installed.
-
I got mine from a private seller, I know it's been well cared for.
I came out of pocket on about half of it, and got the payment down to a manageable amount. I'll damn near save my payment every month in film. It's the setups I am looking forward to speeding up. We are way faster than we used to be with our Bullseye pre-reg, but this should take us to another level.
Debating what to do with the exposure unit. We are getting a 1k unit that is ready for the CTS, but we have a 7.5k unit that wouldn't be hard to mod, especially with the metal fabricator I know. We will be selling one of them. Might be the 7.5k, we'll see.
-
There is an I-screen in our area that the guy wants 12k for I think.
-
yeah, the I-screen is an older model and from my understanding the I-image is a better unit.
-
yeah, the I-screen is an older model and from my understanding the I-image is a better unit.
true, but its cheap!
-
Brad, did you buys sam's unit? I-screen is the first series to come out, correct? I wish there was a way to "try before you buy" with a unit like that....
-
Stupid question.. but what's the difference between cts and dts?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
-
Computer to Screen= Direct to Screen
-
Too bad I won't get to see many of you getting the models Pre ST and STE and STE2. I haven't been trained on installing these other models, not that it should be an extreme difference. They won't be sending me out on these if I don't know them 100%. So, I'll miss installing them for you. What a shame. :(
With so many of the members getting them, it would be super cool to meet all of you in person. I've already met "the Dirk". Dirk digger and a few at the Nashville show. Met Graphics Disorder for a bit and TCS to name a few.
-
Hey Dan, I tried to make it happen that you'd do my install, but it wasn't to be. At least I had the pleasure of meeting you at Winter Meetings a number of years ago
-
Yeah Dan that would've been great. One of these days I'm going to make another trade show. I missed the Nashville show due to weddings and graduations.
-
Too bad I won't get to see many of you getting the models Pre ST and STE and STE2. I haven't been trained on installing these other models, not that it should be an extreme difference. They won't be sending me out on these if I don't know them 100%. So, I'll miss installing them for you. What a shame. :(
With so many of the members getting them, it would be super cool to meet all of you in person. I've already met "the Dirk". Dirk digger and a few at the Nashville show. Met Graphics Disorder for a bit and TCS to name a few.
It was good to meet you!
-
Hey Doug, sorry I didn't post this sooner, crazy day yesterday. Here is the home made CTS exposure rack we have in our tri-light. Glass removed. Then this frame that can seat two 23x31 frames. The big shop we got this unit from had already done this as they use CTS, all we did was lower the rack an additional 4 inches closer to the bulb. Really sped up the already quick times. The only thing that ticks me off from time to time is raising and lowering the lid. I think our's may need new lifts cylinders as it seems pretty tough to lift sometimes. I actually rigged the magnetic sensor switch on the side so that we don't have to have the lid closed all the time, "if we don't want to". Usually if it's later in the day or at night and I'm here shooting screens I'll just leave the lid open not worrying about any ambient light getting on the screens. Only bad part about that is making sure you don't have some rum head who wants to walk by the exposure unit and look in at the pretty bright light. Anyway, it's a solid work around as far as the rack goes. I would like to maybe add a d-scan in the future to replace the tri-light, but it's an awesome unit as is.
-
Hey Doug, sorry I didn't post this sooner, crazy day yesterday. Here is the home made CTS exposure rack we have in our tri-light. Glass removed. Then this frame that can seat two 23x31 frames. The big shop we got this unit from had already done this as they use CTS, all we did was lower the rack an additional 4 inches closer to the bulb. Really sped up the already quick times. The only thing that ticks me off from time to time is raising and lowering the lid. I think our's may need new lifts cylinders as it seems pretty tough to lift sometimes. I actually rigged the magnetic sensor switch on the side so that we don't have to have the lid closed all the time, "if we don't want to". Usually if it's later in the day or at night and I'm here shooting screens I'll just leave the lid open not worrying about any ambient light getting on the screens. Only bad part about that is making sure you don't have some rum head who wants to walk by the exposure unit and look in at the pretty bright light. Anyway, it's a solid work around as far as the rack goes. I would like to maybe add a d-scan in the future to replace the tri-light, but it's an awesome unit as is.
Pretty nifty. I managed to experiment yesterday and unhooked the vacuum hose and taped off the end to see if the exposure light would still work and it did. Now for just building the rack to hold the screens. I'll probably still shut the lid but that's not a big issue. Thanks for sharing that.
-
Anytime brother! Before we got the tri-light, we had 2 other units. A richmond screen maker 10k. That one we had to do the hose bypass. I had ended up just putting a plug in it and it held no problem. Got rid of that unit, and used our back up unit that we had the photosharp 1000. Smaller surface area, so I had go to lowes and got some pieces of flat 1" aluminum angle, cut the lengths to go from side to side of the surface area, notched the angle and flipped the angle downward so that the flat side was up, then just used double sided 3m tape to hold those pieces in place. On one end, I put a peice of half inch agle connecting the two with the angle up as a stop for the top of the frames. Same thing 3m double side tape to hold together, then got a roll of one sided gasket tape for the tops of the angle to give a non skid surface for the frames. Once I knew it worked I used little self tapping screws to do a more solid lock of everything. It worked good, just that the unit itself was a 1 screen at a time and too weak of a light for us with emulsions for w/b printing. I'm sure a similar work around like that would go good in your unit. You will probably be at 2-5 second exposures with that unit and the I-Image. ;D