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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: Rocfrog on June 04, 2014, 03:16:50 PM
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Ok what is everyone using, recommend, stay away from???
We have gone thru three in the past week! The last one we literately got at noon and 10mins later no longer works!
Nick
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American Niagra call my Irish friend Mike Macoroni.
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I prefer the ZIM guns. They don't have that effing nozzle that can break off....
http://zimchemical.com/id31.html (http://zimchemical.com/id31.html)
bottom of the page
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Ha!!! that's what happen to mine nozzle broke, but it had a lot of help got drop on the floor with a full tank. I bought ours from Valley Litho Supply, ain't going to say I love it but it works.
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There are a lot of brands to choose from. I recently replaced an Expert 3000 after several years of use. I went with the Mystic ANC this time around that I picked up from a local supplier for $70. I would strongly suggest using a gun reel (counterbalance) to prevent the gun from being dropped.
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One thing I tell all my customers when I sell these is, "Store the gun in a cool area". If you check the MSDS; the chemicals you buy for these have very low vapor temperatures, causing them to turn into a gas, and the gas over time will eat all the plastic components in the gun. Several summers ago we had a record heat wave here in Texas and I warrantied about about 20 guns before I realized the culprit. I tried 3 brands of guns and it didn't matter from brand to brand; they all would wear out from that. It fixed our customer's issues of the pulling the trigger and it hums at you, but nothing sprays out.
As for the tip breaking.... Don't drop it..... or put a bungee cord on it.
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or get one without a tip. I also think the tips from ZIM will screw onto almost any other gun. Those stupid angled nozzles are not necessary and are a weak point in the design of most guns.
Yes, you could buy a counterbalance or use a bungee cord, but why not just buy a gun less prone to breaking in the first place because you know the second you unhook it, it's toast.
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..another vote for the ZIM gun here.... 8)
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Zim gun is holding it down for us. We use SPIFF II in it.
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We've been through about 10 of them in 7 years. No real way to store in a cool place though so if heat destroys them then that could be why we have always had problems with them. I guess I could move our zim spray station inside the sales area, I'm sure everyone would love to hear that thing going off a few times a week.
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I picked up an Albatross Expert 3000 six years ago in used condition (not sure how long the previous shop had it), and it still works great today. It's been dropped on multiple occasions, and has been used the entire time in an non-airconditioned warehouse in South Florida. The plastic housing around the top cracked recently due to a fall off a table, but it didn't affect the way it works at all. A bit of duct tape and it was good as new.
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Cool! Thanks for all the info and replys! I mentioned the heat issue to my boss and we might be able to move it into the screen/CTS room because that is climate controlled. But it also seems like the ZIM product is popular so I'll do some research into that one. I forget the brands we have but we have gone thru three of them lately and I'm sure the one that died in 10mins probably is a manufacturing flaw, but it has been hot here lately and it is set up by the back garage door which gets direct sunlight most of the day.
Nick
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Wow, $400 for that one ZIM model!!!! We've been through 10 and have probably spent about 500-600 on zim guns but I would have a hard time cutting that check for that unless I knew it would be the last gun we ever bought.
Do you guys use the $150 or the $400 model?
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Ya I just noticed there are two models.....which one is everyone using?
Nick
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Tekmar gun for us has ALWAYS outlasted the others.
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Nick, tell those printers out back to quit getting ink on sh*&! LOL
My guys know better, using the spray gun around here is really frowned upon and they all know it so we do everything possible to avoid using one. ::)
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We buy Bab's mystic guns when Valley litho has them marked for 40 bucks. We have ours right next to the dryer where they catch shirts and we don't use any fancy chems that barely work and unless someone drops one they last well over a year. I think in 8 years we may have gone through 5 guns, maybe 6. Now if those were 300-500 spot guns I'd be pissed.
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Nick, tell those printers out back to quit getting ink on sh*&! LOL
My guys know better, using the spray gun around here is really frowned upon and they all know it so we do everything possible to avoid using one. ::)
HAHA!!! Ya I've been trying to say that! I mean even as crappy as my last shop was we used the spray out gun 1/16th of the time they use it here. I think they see it as an excuse to not worry so much about blow outs, snap back, or cleanliness. The one guy that is here now is the guy that I replaced and all he says is "its a screen print shop its gonna happen no way around it." and I just shake my head....
Nick
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I remember a time around here that we'd go weeks without using the gun, now it's getting close to a daily occurrence that I hear the gun running. It's almost always a pinhole that we didn't catch during test printing or my guy unloading improperly but in his defense my printer used to put so much glue on the pallets that a snap back was impossible to keep from happening.
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You need to check that the cleaning fluid is suitable for the gun you are using.
We've recently had the cleaning material melt the plastic parts in the gun.
We have ours hanging on a cheap spring so that it cannot fall and break.
We also use a extractor fan, the chemicals are really mean.
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We have a couple of custom built rigs. Gun is spring suspended from a tripod. Compressed air gun from a retractable air line. Work station is a hollow box with a 5" hole covered by screen mesh. Inside is a industrial wet/dry vac. Directly behind it is a high speed exhaust fan which takes fumes directly outside. One switch turns on a light source, exhaust fan, and w/d vac all at once. The combination of air gun, vac and fan eliminates fumes and minimizes residual stains. Yes, we are fortunate to have a full time maintenance person who is a skilled craftsman and can build whatever crazy concepts that come into my head.