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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: Gilligan on August 08, 2012, 03:09:16 PM
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I have the little J brackets that you are supposed to use but unless I'm just REALLY dense, they don't fit.
So that leaves me trying to clamp the round bar into the rear clamp... that's less than ideal and WAY to easy to start to squish it! Not something I want to happen. But it seems if you don't then the screen will move on you.
Anyone have any ideas? I'm about to have a boat load of M3's and would like to start using them.
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Hate to say it, but all options I've seen and tried to put M3 frames into a rear clamp just plain suck.
There are adapters, but from my experience, they suck too. http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/newmanclampadapters (http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/newmanclampadapters)
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This will fix your issue, Vastex side clamps they clamp into any rear clamping press . I have 2 for my workhorse that I use for m3's. Also great for ganging up names onto one screen. These have been life savers more than a few times.
(http://www.vastex.com/products/Presses/V-2000HD/images/printheads/sideclamp2.jpg)
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I have the little J brackets that you are supposed to use but unless I'm just REALLY dense, they don't fit.
So that leaves me trying to clamp the round bar into the rear clamp... that's less than ideal and WAY to easy to start to squish it! Not something I want to happen. But it seems if you don't then the screen will move on you.
Anyone have any ideas? I'm about to have a boat load of M3's and would like to start using them.
I used Newman rollers with an old Hopkins press for thousands of setups. It's kind of a pain but it works.
You have to make sure they are the right adapters, and make sure there is no tape or other gunk interfering with the adapter fitting the round roller. If it's the wrong adapter, it just won't work, period. You'll know when it's right.
Also, make sure the press clamps are clean and the threads are well lubed. You need to crank down on the frame a little more than you do with square bars. Don't get all gorilla handed on it, just snug it down a bit more.
You're other option is look into adding side clamps. (not sure if Antec offers this) It makes using roller frames about 1000x easier, it's faster to set up and registration will hold better. (IMHO)
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This will fix your issue, Vastex side clamps they clamp into any rear clamping press . I have 2 for my workhorse that I use for m3's.
([url]http://www.vastex.com/products/Presses/V-2000HD/images/printheads/sideclamp2.jpg[/url])
Bang on.
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Hate to say it, but all options I've seen and tried to put M3 frames into a rear clamp just plain suck.
There are adapters, but from my experience, they suck too. [url]http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/newmanclampadapters[/url] ([url]http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/newmanclampadapters[/url])
That is what I have... they don't fit.
Looks like I might have to have my buddy fab me up some side clamps.
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Hate to say it, but all options I've seen and tried to put M3 frames into a rear clamp just plain suck.
There are adapters, but from my experience, they suck too. [url]http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/newmanclampadapters[/url] ([url]http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/newmanclampadapters[/url])
That is what I have... they don't fit.
Looks like I might have to have my buddy fab me up some side clamps.
I only paid 120.00 each per head.
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Never was a big fan of the j clamps, then tend to twist a little no matter how much you tighten them.
Did you check with Antec to see if they have a side clamp kit?
If they don't, friend with fab skills or the holder in the pic good route to go.
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Never was a big fan of the j clamps, then tend to twist a little no matter how much you tighten them.
Did you check with Antec to see if they have a side clamp kit?
If they don't, friend with fab skills or the holder in the pic good route to go.
Antec does make them, I have spoken with them when I purchased my press about this.
My buddy has practically a full machine shop at his disposal (one of the good things being surrounded by the oil field industry). I can't imagine it would be hard or expensive to have him knock this out for me.
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Hate to say it, but all options I've seen and tried to put M3 frames into a rear clamp just plain suck.
There are adapters, but from my experience, they suck too. [url]http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/newmanclampadapters[/url] ([url]http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/newmanclampadapters[/url])
I have MZX frames (square bars). I use these (MZX ones) and flip screens around in the manual press sometimes. Works perfect!
I have one of the side bar attachements like Shawn referenced. Also is great.
You can also use a rigid piece of angle iron. The angle iron needs to extend over the corner brackets to work. It works in a pinch, but I wouldn't use it for everyday use. I wonder if you are using MZX brackets or are putting them on wrong.
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This might sound crazy but I have about five of those frames and I use my back clamps on them, but what I did was cut a piece of angle iron that would fit all the way across the back of the screen and just clamp them down. I know I,ve printed one and two color jobs with know problem.
Darryl
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Hmm... that might not be a bad solution for the time being... trying to get an auto SOON.
I have the right sized ones, they fit the frame just won't fit in the press.
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Did I give you some adapters? Those ones I gave you fit I thought, didn't we put them on a frame and test it before you left? I may be thinking of someone else, I remember giving someone a set of them at some point in time.
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Did I give you some adapters? Those ones I gave you fit I thought, didn't we put them on a frame and test it before you left? I may be thinking of someone else, I remember giving someone a set of them at some point in time.
Those are the ones Alan.
They fit the frame just not in the clamp.
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Antec does make them, I have spoken with them when I purchased my press about this.
They do? Why the hell don't the advertise this? I might have been printing on an Antec this whole time. I was pretty sure they told me they don't offer it when I was looking at the presses years ago....or maybe they said there's no reason for them and I didn't respect that opinion, can't remember now.
Those Vastex side clamps look friggin' serious I'd just get those and be on yer way.
I have rear clamped bigger M3s with the adapters by lining up four or so of them and, like Jason said, clamping them 'extra snug', not too much. Worked fine but will damage very delicate meshes on runs over 50 or so. In this case it damaged some 310/30 but everything damages 310/30 so it's probably fine for normal mesh. Don't whip the heads up, down or around too quickly though.
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Probably the latter... they basically told me the same. They offer them but don't recommend them because they engineer the press for rear clamps and they don't see the benefit of side clamps.
Yeah, my guy already whipped the m3 around too fast once and had it fall. I THINK this was before I "beefed" up the springs or maybe it caused me to beef them up, I don't remember right now.
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The side clamp thing was much more of an issue, and benefit years back when wood was the frame of choice, and had a tendency to warp. The side clamps leveled out those suckers.
The ability to do the old in-out thing (for name drops and such) is pretty much an added benefit, but a benefit nonetheless
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I'll concede that modern alum frames probably don't need the side clamps if they are at "manual" sizes, no longer than 24" or so.
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What I like about side clamps is that I don't have to be precise with where I burn the image on the screen , can gang up designs and mount teh frame backwards, mount auto frames on the manual just as easy as a manual or alum frame. The benefits are too great not to have them IMHO. The wood frame scenario maybe be the reason why they exist but the benefits to my shop are too great to go back to a rear clamping configuration. I think all presses should come standard with side clamps.
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I`m eye balling an antec press so far i look at the brochure DK. was nice to send
one of the features i like you can move the pallets just like an auto press
that would come handy for name drops that said.
after looking closer at antec legeng i don`t think it m3 is feasible with back clamps they are heavy and all round
how about using the shur locs frames they are square and lighter with higher tension capabilities than regular frames
just a thought
Gabe
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I`m eye balling an antec press so far i look at the brochure DK. was nice to send
one of the features i like you can move the pallets just like an auto press
that would come handy for name drops that said.
after looking closer at antec legeng i don`t think it m3 is feasible with back clamps they are heavy and all round
how about using the shur locs frames they are square and lighter with higher tension capabilities than regular frames
just a thought
Gabe
my blue M3's are actually pretty light , its the chase frames that I have weight issues with
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First option would be buy those Vastex arms.
I think the ultimate solution is to buy a Chameleon press lol! :o
The reason I say Chameleon is this. If you keep growing, at some point your're going to go auto. If you go auto your best option is to use the M&R pallet mount type, on whatever press you get. While your Antec collects dust in the corner you're printing shirts on the auto. Then you're going to want to do pockets/sleeves in large and small runs. You buy a set of sleeve pallets for your auto and realize that it sucks to swap out all the pallets on your auto for sleeve pallets for a 24 piece order. That means the Antec will undoubtedly have sleeve pallets left on it 90% of the time for smaller runs. If you had a Chameleon you'd only have to worry about one pallet type for all your presses, you could use your tri-loc, that you'll buy after a month or so running the auto, and you'd be much better off.
Anyone want to buy my 6/4 Legend?? lol
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I won't have room for the 6/4 after I get an auto. I'll keep my jiffy clamps for the odd sleeve or maybe a vacuum table.
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First option would be buy those Vastex arms.
I think the ultimate solution is to buy a Chameleon press lol! :o
Funny you say that.. the shop across the street who does overflow printing for us, has a 14 color cham that has not been used in 5 years! Its a coat rack and a place to hang samples.
I work on an 8 color cham doing samples and small runs all day so the autos don't have to so it really depends on the shop.
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First option would be buy those Vastex arms.
I think the ultimate solution is to buy a Chameleon press lol! :o
Funny you say that.. the shop across the street who does overflow printing for us, has a 14 color cham that has not been used in 5 years! Its a coat rack and a place to hang samples.
I work on an 8 color cham doing samples and small runs all day so the autos don't have to so it really depends on the shop.
My Legend is the screen taping station now and little else. The rare sleeve print in quantities under 50, or most recently, 4"x6" polyester capes for stuffed monkeys lol. Now that I'm switching to newmans, I'll need to either change presses, buy vastex arms, or keep statics on hand solely for the manual press. Last being the most likely option that will end up biting me in the ass a time or two due to lack of planning.
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I agree that you should have consistent frame sizes, print areas, tooling, etc. on all your presses but, the chameleon and I guess the sidewinder are the only two presses that can enable this effectively and efficiently without adapters, workarounds, jerry rigging and the like. (Anatol manuals are not engineered to accomodate auto screens, they are falsely implying/advertising this and have put about zero thought into the matter, so don't bother with those models if you are using M3s)
The chameleon is a sampling press and not optimal for production imho so that leaves you with one option there which is kind of a bummer not having any selection but I hear the sw is a fine press all the same.
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My Lawson HD MAX 6 color has side clamps and spins my mzx's like a champ!
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The chameleon is a sampling press and not optimal for production imho so that leaves you with one option there which is kind of a bummer not having any selection but I hear the sw is a fine press all the same.
Let's rephrase that.. I production run all the time using mzx's.
it's when you load it with M3's and have 14 of them.. it's a nightmare!
Check this out.. it's a 7 color discharge run on the press at work..
http://www.facebook.com/BlacktopGraphics (http://www.facebook.com/BlacktopGraphics) scroll down, it's the highlight video. Ran 48 of these shirts lickity split!
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The chameleon is a sampling press and not optimal for production imho
That depends. The 14 color, yes that is a nightmare for much more than color sampling. I had a 8 color with side clamps and air, I used all M3's on it. No problems at all using it for production.
However - I am 6'3" @ 215. Smaller printers might not like it so much.
The Sidewinder, even with side clamps is super easy to spin. I almost bought one after giving it a whirl at ISS. I didn't want to give up my extra 2 colors though.
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Agreed on the chameleon. we ran ours with the big m3s and it was an eight color. I'm about 5' 6", 135 lbs and didn't mind the weight of but out annoyed me when the o.c. would walk and the platens went out of level often. I think both issues are weight related. Our other printers at the time did not care for it though- to heavy they said.