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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: Shanarchy on December 07, 2016, 11:55:11 AM
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People who are running water-based and discharge, what dryer are you using? Are you happy with it's performance? And are you on an auto or manual?
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m/r sprint s/s with 20 ft. of heat- Handles 2 autos easily in this shop
Interchange Air Jet with 12 ft. of heat- Handles 2 autos easily in this shop
m/r mini sprint- Handles 2 manuals in this shop but would easily handle 1 auto
They all work excellent with discharge
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we are getting ready to upgrade our main dryer but we use:
M&R Sprint with 8 feet of heat
M&R mini sprint with 8 feet of heat
Both work well, but the belt crawls along to make sure we get correct retention time!
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Both work well, but the belt crawls along to make sure we get correct retention time!
This is my biggest concern, I want to make sure if we start offering it that we can realistically run production. We're a small shop so we don't need to be able to crank out 800 pieces an hour with it, but need to be able to put out a semi-realistic number.
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Both work well, but the belt crawls along to make sure we get correct retention time!
This is my biggest concern, I want to make sure if we start offering it that we can realistically run production. We're a small shop so we don't need to be able to crank out 800 pieces an hour with it, but need to be able to put out a semi-realistic number.
If it's a full sized print, we can average around 350/hr on our dryers.
Full size being like 17" tall.
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Sprint 2000 HO. 60" belt, 16' of heat.
I feel 16' is a minimum if you have 2 autos on the dryer that might be running wb/dc/hsa. At that chamber length you get about 1.5 min retention and can still keep up with both machines for most print sizes. You can lower retention but need to up the heat and airflow or potentially use fixatives, etc. which all equals additional hassle and an inferior cure in my opinion. I would honestly prefer 20-24' of heat and/or increased air exchange for our 2 auto setup.
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Are there any good electric options? I don't think gas is an option where I am at.
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Propane?
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Gas is what you want for WB and still be production friendly.
Murphy
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You can do forced air right with electric, it really doesn't matter from a physics perspective how you heat the air that your are blowing around and exchanging. It's just hard on the wallet.
You've probably heard it before and I can confirm it's true that the payment on a loan for a gas dryer + gas bill is cheaper than running electric, at least in our neck of the woods. It might still be worth it to install the gas service, buy the gas dryer- the total costs could still be lower than electric. Out here, getting an upgraded electrical service costs us a fortune but they'll size up the gas service on their dime and gas is also cheap.
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Propane?
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When going to propane, Is it like a propane tank that goes on the back of a fork lift that can be kept in doors? Or is it a large tank that needs to be kept outside?
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Large tank outside. 250-500 gal or more usually if allowed.
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Large tank outside. 250-500 gal or more usually if allowed.
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That's what I figured. We are on the top floor of an old mill building. Not sure that would be an option here.
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I feel 16' is a minimum if you have 2 autos on the dryer that might be running wb/dc/hsa. At that chamber length you get about 1.5 min retention and can still keep up with both machines for most print sizes.
Hey Zoo how are you curing for only 1.5 min? Higher temps?
We are a manual shop and print a fair amount of Wb/DC. We have a forced air electric ir dryer. 3 panels (about 4' of heat) and 36" belt. We cure at at 320 for 2.5-3 min and in order to get that we have to slow our dryer down to the slowest possible crawl it can go and then figure out how small we can fold each shirt to fit as many on the belt as possible.... It's painful :(
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Aren't you on the East coast? They don't run gas everywhere? As long as the building owner is cool with it and they would place it, you could put the tank behind the building/wherever and pipe it up to your spot...
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Aren't you on the East coast? They don't run gas everywhere? As long as the building owner is cool with it and they would place it, you could put the tank behind the building/wherever and pipe it up to your spot...
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I'm going to talk to the landlord. I believe their is a gas line into our building, but I think it's on the other side of the building (it's a large mill building). I am thinking it's going to be a pretty big job to get that into my space. Hopefully I'm wrong and I find out there is a gas line somewhere closer to me than I can tap into. I'm also not certain how long I'm going to stay here. We are getting to the point where we need more space. We can make do, but I also have goals of more growth.
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With the cost of the flexible pipe these days, you may find it is not so bad. If the landlord raises a fuss if there is only 1 meter you should be able to get a sub meter easy.
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Maff, we run the dryer at 350 deg F typically with that retention time. Can go as low as 320 if needed to mix plastisol and wb jobs.
Airflow and recovery are a factor.
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Both work well, but the belt crawls along to make sure we get correct retention time!
This is my biggest concern, I want to make sure if we start offering it that we can realistically run production. We're a small shop so we don't need to be able to crank out 800 pieces an hour with it, but need to be able to put out a semi-realistic number.
Hey Shanarchy, similar situation for us. Smaller shop looking to upgrade to a larger electric dryer to be able to start offering more wb/dc printing. Any progress in finding something suitable? I'm looking at a minimum of 8' of heat, not sure if I have room for something larger so hopefully that will do the job. A couple hundred shirts an hour is all I really need to pull off.
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Ill tell you what. I was working in the Workhorse booth at ISS and saw the Powerhouse 2 in action. That thing is a beast! a lot of airflow 6' chamber, and forced air. It probably would do anything you are asking...
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Yeah I checked it out there, definitely an option, just a bit concerned about the overall tunnel length. Not sure it would leave too much room for further growth. But hey, it would look real nice alongside my Sabre!
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Hey Shane, we run 2 old Advance Tex-Air Machines with convection in the middle, gas. We used to have one with the convection that was electric, but the electric bill was insane, and the heaters burned out too frequently for our liking. Not to mention removing the old one and installing a new one. The Gas company will be the ones moving your lines most likely, so check with them first. Ours only have 12' of heat, so we send them down twice, no problems after that. Hope this helps...
Steve
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Hey Shane, we run 2 old Advance Tex-Air Machines with convection in the middle, gas. We used to have one with the convection that was electric, but the electric bill was insane, and the heaters burned out too frequently for our liking. Not to mention removing the old one and installing a new one. The Gas company will be the ones moving your lines most likely, so check with them first. Ours only have 12' of heat, so we send them down twice, no problems after that. Hope this helps...
Steve
This. Big time. It doesn't matter how you heat up the air in terms of curing, just as long as it's hot and moving/exchanging. But it does matter when electricity costs so much more than gas.
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First statement not technically correct. Second is of course true and theres the labor of running them through twice
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First statement not technically correct. Second is of course true and theres the labor of running them through twice
What's technically incorrect about "we run 2 old Advance Tex-Air machines"? Or do you mean Zoo's first line...
Steve
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If you took a gas dryer and pulled the gas train out and put an electric plenum heater array in there with enough oomph to heat air as rapidly as the gas train did (what the texairs did on all electric models) what would the difference be?
There wouldn't be, technically.
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The Fire Fly fits the profiles listed above
45" chamber or 90" chamber
45" chamber has an equivalent capacity as a 8' to 12' gas dryer
90" chamber has and equivalent capacity to a 16' to 20' gas dryer
(Assuming dwell time in the gas dryer is 120s to 180s, or running them twice @ 60s or 90s)
Energy usage, for the above capacities:
6kw - 18kw pr/hr. In many cases it takes more energy to run the blowers and exhaust than the entire consumption of the Fire Fly. (If interested I can post a live energy consumption graph of full production energy consumption)
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We run a HIX 3616. 8' heat 36" wide belt with air knives. All electric. Can do about 350 an hour with it (discharge). Costs me $3 an hour to run the dryer 220v single phase. It will be for sale in a couple months as we are going to a gas dryer for faster speeds. You might think 350 an hour is fine unti you get a large order then the slow pace will feel like torture
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Good to know SI. I am actually considering that exact dryer but 3 phase. Have you been happy with it other than out growing it?