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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: ebscreen on July 25, 2025, 01:44:51 PM
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We were recently contacted by a robotics company that is looking to automate the loading of garments onto automatic presses.
I feel bad because I laughed a little too hard when they explained what they were planning on doing. I told them about the M&R Passport
and how it can be had for pennies on the dollar these days, the nuances of even *unloading* a garment let alone loading, etc.
Their counter was that "AI" would solve all of these problems. Then I laughed even harder and didn't feel bad.
For any press ops concerned about their job security just watch any of the recent Amazon warehouse robots or the
Chinese "soccer" game a few weeks back. We're a long long way from even pulling boxes off the shelf, and I strongly doubt the handling of textiles
will be automated much more than it already is.
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We were recently contacted by a robotics company that is looking to automate the loading of garments onto automatic presses.
I feel bad because I laughed a little too hard when they explained what they were planning on doing. I told them about the M&R Passport
and how it can be had for pennies on the dollar these days, the nuances of even *unloading* a garment let alone loading, etc.
Their counter was that "AI" would solve all of these problems. Then I laughed even harder and didn't feel bad.
For any press ops concerned about their job security just watch any of the recent Amazon warehouse robots or the
Chinese "soccer" game a few weeks back. We're a long long way from even pulling boxes off the shelf, and I strongly doubt the handling of textiles
will be automated much more than it already is.
That’s hilarious! Yes, AI is going to solve it!
On the other side though, we are using a robot to catch at the end of the dryer and will soon be working on it dropping the shirts directly onto the folder.
The stacker works well enough that we are looking into getting more and sort of replacing the catchers at the end of the dryer.
pierre
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That’s hilarious! Yes, AI is going to solve it!
On the other side though, we are using a robot to catch at the end of the dryer and will soon be working on it dropping the shirts directly onto the folder.
The stacker works well enough that we are looking into getting more and sort of replacing the catchers at the end of the dryer.
pierre
That's doable, I've thought about doing similar but having a set of eyes at the end of the dryer has been invaluable.
I'm sure you could add machine vision but then if your unloader isn't aligning everything on the belt the same all bets are off.
Do you have a pic/video of the stacker by chance?
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On the Auto heat press that RoQ has..they have a machine that takes the shirt off. Also a machine to drop the transfer right where it needs to go.
Id like to see in person though..LOL, I just saw it n a meeting with a sales rep
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That’s hilarious! Yes, AI is going to solve it!
On the other side though, we are using a robot to catch at the end of the dryer and will soon be working on it dropping the shirts directly onto the folder.
The stacker works well enough that we are looking into getting more and sort of replacing the catchers at the end of the dryer.
pierre
That's doable, I've thought about doing similar but having a set of eyes at the end of the dryer has been invaluable.
I'm sure you could add machine vision but then if your unloader isn't aligning everything on the belt the same all bets are off.
Do you have a pic/video of the stacker by chance?
Yes, we are losing a set of eyes, but puller and printer should be enough. Additionally, shirts need to be sorted by size and folded, so somebody ultimately does take a look (just not as good as if they were catching).
We have a proprietary system (and I am overseas so cant take a pix), but just placed an order for one of these to add to our current setup:
https://dekkenusa.com/stacker-joe/
You’ll see that the shirts are not neatly stacked and thats a bit of an issue. I am hoping to tie it to a folder and solve that. This way everything would be folded, but hey hopefully we either get paid for it or make the customers happier!
pj
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On the Auto heat press that RoQ has..they have a machine that takes the shirt off. Also a machine to drop the transfer right where it needs to go.
Id like to see in person though..LOL, I just saw it n a meeting with a sales rep
Dropping transfers is not a good idea, they can move when the press spins. I have a better solution, but will not have time to test for at least 5-6 more months. Think directly from the roll onto the shirt.
pj
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On the Auto heat press that RoQ has..they have a machine that takes the shirt off. Also a machine to drop the transfer right where it needs to go.
Id like to see in person though..LOL, I just saw it n a meeting with a sales rep
Dropping transfers is not a good idea, they can move when the press spins. I have a better solution, but will not have time to test for at least 5-6 more months. Think directly from the roll onto the shirt.
pj
it's only been a matter of time before this is introduced. Where transfers are printed on press in real time, and applied in real time.
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On the Auto heat press that RoQ has..they have a machine that takes the shirt off. Also a machine to drop the transfer right where it needs to go.
Id like to see in person though..LOL, I just saw it n a meeting with a sales rep
Dropping transfers is not a good idea, they can move when the press spins. I have a better solution, but will not have time to test for at least 5-6 more months. Think directly from the roll onto the shirt.
pj
it's only been a matter of time before this is introduced. Where transfers are printed on press in real time, and applied in real time.
Not real time, preprented on the roll first. Think ROQ foiler with transfers…
Pj
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Hey Guys, I know Aldelco has their arm and I believe it is in use in China. In the States I know Culture Studio is working with a company and has their own version working now in their Chicago facility. As in day to day production
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On the Auto heat press that RoQ has..they have a machine that takes the shirt off. Also a machine to drop the transfer right where it needs to go.
Id like to see in person though..LOL, I just saw it n a meeting with a sales rep
Dropping transfers is not a good idea, they can move when the press spins. I have a better solution, but will not have time to test for at least 5-6 more months. Think directly from the roll onto the shirt.
pj
it's only been a matter of time before this is introduced. Where transfers are printed on press in real time, and applied in real time.
With powder-less DTF on the horizon this will happen. I am going to bet mid 2026, definitely 2027
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On the Auto heat press that RoQ has..they have a machine that takes the shirt off. Also a machine to drop the transfer right where it needs to go.
Id like to see in person though..LOL, I just saw it n a meeting with a sales rep
Dropping transfers is not a good idea, they can move when the press spins. I have a better solution, but will not have time to test for at least 5-6 more months. Think directly from the roll onto the shirt.
pj
it's only been a matter of time before this is introduced. Where transfers are printed on press in real time, and applied in real time.
Not real time, preprented on the roll first. Think ROQ foiler with transfers…
Pj
correct, where the transfers is printed on a roll, and rolled up, to be applied in two-3 tees.
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BTW the Passport is an unloader not loader. Worked with RH on the loader concept but he passed on that. Too finicky and only for mass production which no one wanted to pay for. Remember 86 cents an hour?
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I think AI can check the print coming off the dryer, if you have a high quality camera AI can compare the printed and file image and pick up any differences.
I saw the Dekken unloader at FESPA. Problem is you have to put one shirt after the other when you take them off,
when we print fast we use the width of the belt and usually have at least two shirts next to each other.
You'll need a longer oven with faster belt speeds.
These machines are expensive and great for high production printers.
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I think AI can check the print coming off the dryer, if you have a high quality camera AI can compare the printed and file image and pick up any differences.
I saw the Dekken unloader at FESPA. Problem is you have to put one shirt after the other when you take them off,
when we print fast we use the width of the belt and usually have at least two shirts next to each other.
You'll need a longer oven with faster belt speeds.
These machines are expensive and great for high production printers.
To a computer a slightly different fold on the garment would be enough of a difference to trigger detection,
and isn't something that can be avoided/worked out in software without then missing defects. Doing it on last head of press makes more sense
but even then you've got enough non-defect irregularities I could see press ops turning the stupid buzzer off and the camera
relegated to the dustbin eventually. I really do think that when it comes to the physical process of screen printing textiles
~99% of anything that will ever be automated has been.
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I think AI can check the print coming off the dryer, if you have a high quality camera AI can compare the printed and file image and pick up any differences.
I saw the Dekken unloader at FESPA. Problem is you have to put one shirt after the other when you take them off,
when we print fast we use the width of the belt and usually have at least two shirts next to each other.
You'll need a longer oven with faster belt speeds.
These machines are expensive and great for high production printers.
To a computer a slightly different fold on the garment would be enough of a difference to trigger detection,
and isn't something that can be avoided/worked out in software without then missing defects. Doing it on last head of press makes more sense
but even then you've got enough non-defect irregularities I could see press ops turning the stupid buzzer off and the camera
relegated to the dustbin eventually. I really do think that when it comes to the physical process of screen printing textiles
~99% of anything that will ever be automated has been.
there's also very small things that happen in the dryer like fibrillation due to over flashing. They look great right off the press, but will develop small white dots on them after getting hit with the final heat.
If you sensitivity will pick up that, it'll surely pickup other things that aren't a problem.
I could be wrong though, and maybe it's trainable.
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Rich Hoffman explained this years ago. M&R would have had a counterpart loader machine to the Passport but the shirts need to be stacked perfectly to make it work. The man hours needed to stack the shirts perfectly was more than just having a human loader load the shirts. To get the shirts perfectly stacked and ready to go from the mill would have required "an act of God" (Rich's words).
So we are a ways off until robots can autonomously and deftly pick a shirt off a stack and load it.
Go mammals.
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Thats exactly true of course. Also true is on some unloader models, the dryer cant always keep which in turn somewhat defeats the purpose. Unless you purchase a new dryer which may or may not fit and adds quite a bit to the purchase decisions. Definitely a could you/should you and quite possibly a big "whoops"!
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It would be possible to use a machine to stack, but not sure the ROI would be there. You’d still need a person to feed the garments to the stacker, which ultimately would just simplify the loading process rather than replace it…
pj
P.s. take a look here to see what can be automated in the garment creation. It is amazing how we can now move fabric with automation. Something we thought impossible just few years ago.
https://www.facebook.com/kael.chen.2025/reels/ (https://www.facebook.com/kael.chen.2025/reels/)
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Could you imagine these dudes loading/unloading your machines? Or even catching?
I'm not gonna lie and say we haven't had similar employees but....
https://youtu.be/bo4d1dH0kZY?si=V9chrNWg1es9RHnX
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Could you imagine these dudes loading/unloading your machines? Or even catching?
I'm not gonna lie and say we haven't had similar employees but....
https://youtu.be/bo4d1dH0kZY?si=V9chrNWg1es9RHnX
that looks exactly like peewee soccer ;)