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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: ericheartsu on August 30, 2012, 03:44:06 PM
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might be looking for a new one, just looking to see whats out there.
what do you use?
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msp3140 awesome
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amergraph 750..awesome-er
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Violux 5002-S, tried and true, been using them for 25 years.
Steve
You want a point source light, no matter what...
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I have a vastex exposit (black light). It works extremely well.
My neighbor has a msp3140. That thing kicks some serious rear end. When I update I will look at one of those for sure. In my opinion you should buy one that will at least maintain double what you think you need.
Matt
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Amergraph 150 over here.
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Richmond Solarbeam 10K metal halide, awesomest of them all. Well, in terms of pure UV light output, doubt anyone is shooting more than a 10K watt bulb. Built in light integrator and 30 preset exposure lenths. I'm sure other manufacturers have those features and a 10K watt bulb, but I don't know any off the top of my head.
I know Olec and Nuarc make some good damn exposure units, but my knowledge of exposure units is very limited. I just don't have as much fun studying the latest exposure unit technology and features like I do automatics.
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Home made....2K Plate maker turned upside down and built a vac. lid and stand for it. 2k and it works awesome and was under $200 total cost....
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ours is serious overkill, but i couldn't pass the deal up. $1600. Shoots stupid fast.
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MSP 3140... definitely a nice unit, nothing wrong with the Amerigraph's either.
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I have no idea....bought used off ebay 8 years ago $300....National maybe?...single source light....hope the bulb doesnt go cause I have know I idea to access it :o
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We used to have a 3140 and it was great. We upgraded to a 6000 Watt tri-light.
It's amazing amazing amazing amazing!
We burn two screens at a time and they burn in just seconds.
In talking to Walt from Murakami he indicated that the bulb in this unit has a much better spectrum then in the 3140.
My halftones are better, my screens are better overall, and it exposes way faster.
Don't get me wrong, it was not cheap. But it has saved us so much time it's ridiculous. So totally worth it, I almost like it better than her 10 color sportsman
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Richmond Solarbeam 10K metal halide, awesomest of them all. Well, in terms of pure UV light output, doubt anyone is shooting more than a 10K watt bulb. Built in light integrator and 30 preset exposure lenths. I'm sure other manufacturers have those features and a 10K watt bulb, but I don't know any off the top of my head.
I know Olec and Nuarc make some good damn exposure units, but my knowledge of exposure units is very limited. I just don't have as much fun studying the latest exposure unit technology and features like I do automatics.
Alan, the utmost awesomest would have to be a carbon arc lamp. Unfortunately, it puts off poison gas, but it was the way to go 35 - 40 years ago. It was like a little sun in a box... I don't know how many of us here used them, maybe Frog, but they were the berries.
Steve
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Amergraph 150
2 brown quartz jobs
Amergraph sweet.
Browns ok.
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I bought a used Brown halogen unit years ago and converted it into a 2k metal halide unit with vacuum blanket.
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Atlas 5-way 1000 watt point and the old stand by Prolight 1
Darryl
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We have a trilight 6k the same as inkbrigade. Still have the 3140 for back-up.
Years ago, different shop, I used a Solarbeam such as Alan's. They are the cat's meow. I was burning 305x with a pure photopolymer coated 2/2 at 25 units cell speed 2. Very fast!
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We have a trilight 6k the same as inkbrigade. Still have the 3140 for back-up.
Years ago, different shop, I used a Solarbeam such as Alan's. They are the cat's meow. I was burning 305x with a pure photopolymer coated 2/2 at 25 units cell speed 2. Very fast!
i'm pretty sure i'm gonna get a 6k trilight if i can't find a solarbeam. Either going to go cheap or go for the whole she-bang.
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Alan, the utmost awesomest would have to be a carbon arc lamp. Unfortunately, it puts off poison gas, but it was the way to go 35 - 40 years ago. It was like a little sun in a box... I don't know how many of us here used them, maybe Frog, but they were the berries.
Yup 8) Old Nuarc carbon arc, kicking the thing to get the arc going when the rods weren't straight. Instant sun!
I use a Olec AL-83 8K tri-power with an old Olec 970 25 memory integrator with a 6' x 4' wall frame. Also a Nuarc 3K flip top with the platemaker blanket replaced with neoprene so I can do 20x24" or smaller screens in there for the manual, bottle printer and small clamshell, also use it for pad printing plates. The 3K instant-on in the Nuarc @18" away is faster than the 8K @48" away.
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Nuarc 40-1K.
Got on eBay for $400 delivered. Got it day before I was gonna start building my own :)
No problems so far. Takes me a bit more than a minute per screen.
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... The 3K instant-on in the Nuarc @18" away is faster than the 8K @48" away.
Inverse square law is a b!tch ain't it. ;)
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msp-3140 here too. 8)
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Olec AL-53 and AI 970 Integrator 5k
Millington 48"x60" vac frame. 1/4" tempered glass.
Generic bulbs, Caprock L-1250 knockoffs I believe.
At 64" from our vac frame glass to the lamp safety glass the exposures are x6 from running enclosed in my DIY vac unit w 3/8" float glass.
So yes, whatever Gilligan is talking about is a b, but I do notice we can resolve .25 pt lines on a 180 now so better to suck it up and do it right.
I want what Alan has. I wish the vac frame was wall mount.
But no complaints- our whole setup, including another complete AL-53 backup, cost about $1k.
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MSP 3140 here...
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Richmond Solarbeam 10K metal halide, awesomest of them all.
I'll second this. The resolution these things give is amazing. I found out one time I had accidentally bumped up my highlights to 1% where it should have been 0 because even though I couldn't see the things with the naked eye, they rinsed out on the screen just fine, & I had a big pink square on my first sample print. 85 line, on a 355 mesh.
The integration is nice, too. I like that the whole thing shuts off when it his the set exposure, and that the vacuum is what turns the light on when it gets tight enough. They're very well thought out in that respect.
The small 7k units are a tad slow, but still give great detail. The 10k ones are really fast. And reliable. I've had 3 Richmonds, over 18 years now, and other than broken glass and torn blankets, only been down for a whole day just once.
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Inverse Square Law
The light hitting your screen is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the light source.
(http://personal.cityu.edu.hk/~bsapplec/Fire/Image320.gif)
Sound waves work essentially the same way, they are just effected a little differently by media around it as the frequencies are MUCH lower than that of light. 20hz to 20k vs quadrillion hz ;)
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Richmond 10K and Amergraph. We can burn 4 auto screens at the same time. Processing 60 to 80 screens a day on average.
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Inverse Square Law
The light hitting your screen is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the light source.
([url]http://personal.cityu.edu.hk/~bsapplec/Fire/Image320.gif[/url])
Sound waves work essentially the same way, they are just effected a little differently by media around it as the frequencies are MUCH lower than that of light. 20hz to 20k vs quadrillion hz ;)
Beautifully stated Gilligan. I've seen some folks have their light on a track, if they expose one frame, they can get closer for a faster exposure, if they want to expose more than one frame, they have to be further back, so they move it to a pre-determined spot and shoot away. You can double your distance and shoot 4 screens at once, depending on the size of your vacuum frame of course...
Steve
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we have an old tracking device from a surplus radio telescope that we mounted on my neighbors house. It has a computer program that tracks the sun here in NY and shoots it at the reflector unit from an old solar cooking oven I bought off ebay.
We concentrate the beam using a 340 pound hand blown lens from an old lighthouse, the focal distance is about 20 miles so I have to bring my screens over to the next county.
For vaccuum unit I have my neighbor come with me when I take the screens on the road trip, he is an extreme left wing loon that seems to create the perfect vaccuum where ever he goes.
It works pretty good except we only have 37 days of sunlight here in beautiful New York so sometimes the exposure time is weeks depending on weather pattern.
When I upgrade I am going to use Sam, he is always telling folks how to suck it up, he is totally focused and he is really really bright, and i hear he is also pretty fast or at least half-fast. ::) A I & O
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Thanks Steve... I had a decent stint/career in the sound/lighting world for a while and being a "nerd" I soaked up this sort of information.
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we have an old tracking device from a surplus radio telescope that we mounted on my neighbors house. It has a computer program that tracks the sun here in NY and shoots it at the reflector unit from an old solar cooking oven I bought off ebay.
We concentrate the beam using a 340 pound hand blown lens from an old lighthouse, the focal distance is about 20 miles so I have to bring my screens over to the next county.
For vaccuum unit I have my neighbor come with me when I take the screens on the road trip, he is an extreme left wing loon that seems to create the perfect vaccuum where ever he goes.
It works pretty good except we only have 37 days of sunlight here in beautiful New York so sometimes the exposure time is weeks depending on weather pattern.
When I upgrade I am going to use Sam, he is always telling folks how to suck it up, he is totally focused and he is really really bright, and i hear he is also pretty fast or at least half-fast. ::) A I & O
Ok, greatest exposure unit of them all, puts the Richmond to shame.
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Beautifully stated Gilligan. I've seen some folks have their light on a track, if they expose one frame, they can get closer for a faster exposure, if they want to expose more than one frame, they have to be further back, so they move it to a pre-determined spot and shoot away. You can double your distance and shoot 4 screens at once, depending on the size of your vacuum frame of course...
Yeah! Thank you Professors Gilligan and Sbrem. Only caveat is the reflector is presumably designed for best resolution (light angle is most actnic across the image area) at the stated distance but I had fine resolution shooting "too close" in my homebrewed vac frame for years so it should be a non-issue.
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we have an old tracking device from a surplus radio telescope that we mounted on my neighbors house. It has a computer program that tracks the sun here in NY and shoots it at the reflector unit from an old solar cooking oven I bought off ebay.
We concentrate the beam using a 340 pound hand blown lens from an old lighthouse, the focal distance is about 20 miles so I have to bring my screens over to the next county.
For vaccuum unit I have my neighbor come with me when I take the screens on the road trip, he is an extreme left wing loon that seems to create the perfect vaccuum where ever he goes.
It works pretty good except we only have 37 days of sunlight here in beautiful New York so sometimes the exposure time is weeks depending on weather pattern.
When I upgrade I am going to use Sam, he is always telling folks how to suck it up, he is totally focused and he is really really bright, and i hear he is also pretty fast or at least half-fast. ::) A I & O
Damn you could contract out to all print shops in a twenty mile radius, they call up give exact time screen will be in their predetermined position you rotate your light house lens and flash expose there screen for them, you could make a killing! Franchise it!
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Beautifully stated Gilligan. I've seen some folks have their light on a track, if they expose one frame, they can get closer for a faster exposure, if they want to expose more than one frame, they have to be further back, so they move it to a pre-determined spot and shoot away. You can double your distance and shoot 4 screens at once, depending on the size of your vacuum frame of course...
Yeah! Thank you Professors Gilligan and Sbrem. Only caveat is the reflector is presumably designed for best resolution (light angle is most actnic across the image area) at the stated distance but I had fine resolution shooting "too close" in my homebrewed vac frame for years so it should be a non-issue.
I knew I left a door open for that, sorry for the wind. It's only for discussion, geeky stuff for sure. Not all reflectors are the same, many broadcast at an angle; ours can be removed, but we don't. Our lamp stays in one place, and we have a wall mounted vacuum frame, and keep a chart for the exposure times.
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we have an old tracking device from a surplus radio telescope that we mounted on my neighbors house. It has a computer program that tracks the sun here in NY and shoots it at the reflector unit from an old solar cooking oven I bought off ebay.
We concentrate the beam using a 340 pound hand blown lens from an old lighthouse, the focal distance is about 20 miles so I have to bring my screens over to the next county.
For vaccuum unit I have my neighbor come with me when I take the screens on the road trip, he is an extreme left wing loon that seems to create the perfect vaccuum where ever he goes.
It works pretty good except we only have 37 days of sunlight here in beautiful New York so sometimes the exposure time is weeks depending on weather pattern.
When I upgrade I am going to use Sam, he is always telling folks how to suck it up, he is totally focused and he is really really bright, and i hear he is also pretty fast or at least half-fast. ::) A I & O
Damn you could contract out to all print shops in a twenty mile radius, they call up give exact time screen will be in their predetermined position you rotate your light house lens and flash expose there screen for them, you could make a killing! Franchise it!
I am selling franchise packages at this very moment, your chance to get in on the ground level...but waite, for today and today only get two, thats two franchise packages for the price of one. Just pay seperate shipping & handling.
can i put you down for a couple?
mooseman