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General => General Discussion and ??? => Topic started by: inkbrigade on May 28, 2011, 05:00:06 AM
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I'd like to post my thoughts and frustrations here regarding getting an affordable quality screen rack / cart for our shop.
As we grow we i find we need more and more screen carts and racks. We're at a size where I don't want to waste my time building something out of wood or putting something jankey together to save money.
At the same time I don't want to spend more money on steel shelf than i did on my laptop just because i don't have the time to mess with it.
We've have/had all kinds of screen racks at the shop with different levels of success and frustration.
So let's start at the bottom.
The bakers rack / generic
This is the rack that every supplier seems to sell. Most of these don't actually fit newman roller frames. They are to wide. So if your not careful putting frames in you could have all your frames come crashing down on top of each other. With all the time i spend work hardening our mesh i don't feel like having a mass screen popa-palooza because of poor engineering of my screen rack manufacturer.
NRF can be heavy. Even the M3ULs. Sliding the aluminum on top of the aluminum isn't always the smoothest thing in he world.
They feel cheesy, again all those work hardened frames.. I don't want to trust it in that rack.
Middle of the road:
http://www.microperfect.net/CatalogFolder/PriceList5.htm (http://www.microperfect.net/CatalogFolder/PriceList5.htm)
These guys… They get it right in so many ways. The prices are perfect. Their stumbling point is a big one for us. They build racks for 23X31 so the front and rear of the frame are what slide on the rack. Not the sides of the frame. The problem with this at least for us is we can't put 23X31 and 23X33 frames on the same cart! This is really inconvenient. I talked to the guy over the phone a number of times and it's hard to communicate with him. Same story with email. It's really to bad.
High End:
Stretch Devices Screen Racks:
Perfect in every way. A screen printers dream. Fits 23X31 23X33 25X36 all in the same bullet proof rack. If there is an earthquake i will stand in that rack for safety. Problem. It's incredibly expensive.
In my opinion a screen rack should be:
Able to hold 23X33 - 25X36 Newman Roller Frames easily
Made from steel and be nice and rigid.
Powder coated, no sharp edges.
Decent casters - good load handling and rubber please, don't skimp on these it just makes us frustrated.
Shouldn't retail for more that a halfway decent flatscreen tv. Remember.. It's just a shelf!
$300 for 24 slots would be perfect.
Why is this so impossible to find?
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we got the adjustable aluminum screen drying rack from www.techsupportsps.com (http://www.techsupportsps.com) for 249.00 it holds 25 frames...this is what we use to put the "used" frames in for cleaning...then we have the super duper racks for storage and drying...check them out...
Sam
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Alloy America makes a great rack.
Adjustable aluminum screen printing frame rack. Adjustable screen rack holds 25 screens 14" to 25" wide. Sturdy and works with minimal contact to frames to protect coated emulsions. 3" rubber casters. Angled frame supports elimiate contact to the coated emulsion. 25 shelves spaced 2" apart. Built in handles.
I get them for about $180 used-$220 new with UPS shipping.
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I bought two of the Bakers carts at a restaurant supply for about $118 each with rollers.
These were the kind, like most, that have a threaded rod and box aluminum bars for (width) that you have to assemble.
I had already priced and went to a local steel yard and bought a 12 foot stick of 1" box aluminum (don't remember the price but not enough to be a show-stopper) and had found a place to buy 6 foot sticks of threaded rod (reasonable). Cut the rods and bars (chop saw) to what I needed (based on the size of the screens for each) and assembled (which I was going to have to do in the first place. Adjustable ones might be nicer but probably a lot more expensive - I never looked at those, unadjustable were pricey enough.
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Alloy America makes a great rack.
Adjustable aluminum screen printing frame rack. Adjustable screen rack holds 25 screens 14" to 25" wide. Sturdy and works with minimal contact to frames to protect coated emulsions. 3" rubber casters. Angled frame supports elimiate contact to the coated emulsion. 25 shelves spaced 2" apart. Built in handles.
I get them for about $180 used-$220 new with UPS shipping.
I'll check them out. Hey did you get my email about the roller frames?
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Worth mentioning again I suppose........Used Restaurant Supply companies are your friend! Racks, sinks, carts,ink mixing stations etc. A lot of cheap stainless steel. Most major cities have one. In Charleston they had one where you can just go out back and poke around.
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Worth mentioning again I suppose........Used Restaurant Supply companies are your friend! Racks, sinks, carts,ink mixing stations etc. A lot of cheap stainless steel. Most major cities have one. In Charleston they had one where you can just go out back and poke around.
We got three sinks, four tables on wheels and a double door walk in freezer (made it into our screen dryer) from the used restaurant supply guy - all stainless. Even got to go out back roam around and pick out the pieces we wanted.
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Alloy America makes a great rack.
Adjustable aluminum screen printing frame rack. Adjustable screen rack holds 25 screens 14" to 25" wide. Sturdy and works with minimal contact to frames to protect coated emulsions. 3" rubber casters. Angled frame supports elimiate contact to the coated emulsion. 25 shelves spaced 2" apart. Built in handles.
I get them for about $180 used-$220 new with UPS shipping.
We use those as well, have 3 of those. Plus we have 2 Vastex Drying Cabinets, 1 10 screen and 1 24 screen. So when needed we can cycle screens pretty quick!
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Worth mentioning again I suppose........Used Restaurant Supply companies are your friend! Racks, sinks, carts,ink mixing stations etc. A lot of cheap stainless steel. Most major cities have one. In Charleston they had one where you can just go out back and poke around.
We got three sinks, four tables on wheels and a double door walk in freezer (made it into our screen dryer) from the used restaurant supply guy - all stainless. Even got to go out back roam around and pick out the pieces we wanted.
Thats awesome Steve any rough idea what you paid for all that?
tp
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I looked at restaurant racks too but they're often not adjustable and just not made for screens. With the number of restaurant rack models available, I'm sure some will suffice just fine though.
In my neck of the woods, they equal if not more than a screen rack anyway.
Plus, I'm a little uptight and like all of my racks to look the same.
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Worth mentioning again I suppose........Used Restaurant Supply companies are your friend! Racks, sinks, carts,ink mixing stations etc. A lot of cheap stainless steel. Most major cities have one. In Charleston they had one where you can just go out back and poke around.
We got three sinks, four tables on wheels and a double door walk in freezer (made it into our screen dryer) from the used restaurant supply guy - all stainless. Even got to go out back roam around and pick out the pieces we wanted.
Thats awesome Steve any rough idea what you paid for all that?
tp
Seems to me it was right around a thousand but that was eight years ago and I've killed a lot of brain cells since then.
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Simple, you have identified a market niche, go away and build a screenprinters dream 8)
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The problem is......you end up raising the prices because you have a specific market niche but you don't sell them hand over fist and inventory builds up, so the price bubbles up. That's why the "ideal" one posted above was expensive. It's called supply and demand. We all know about that, right?
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Well, let's look at the numbers. If somehow, a perfect screen rack could be obtained for $500 and saves five minutes a day, five days a week for fifty weeks. Figuring a shop operating cost of a mere $50 an hour, wouldn't it more than pay for itself in less than six months?
Projecting this for ten years, you would save way more than$10,000 not even figuring in inflation. How can you afford to not buy one at that price? ??? ;D
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Just imagine how many things you could apply that mathematics to.
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Just imagine how many things you could apply that mathematics to.
Using frogs logic I'm stupid for not buying a challenger III ;)
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Jamie, though this was a little tongue in cheek (since I'm a cheap SOB myself), it is pretty standard sales presentation, that usually ends with, how can you not afford to buy this?
The reason that your Challenger comparison doesn't work (if indeed it doesn't) is that you probably don't have the volume to justify it. If, however, in fact, you could pay for it in time savings in six months as in this example, how could you not afford to buy it?
Now, as I said, I am a cheap SOB, but I also understand the fallacy of being penny wise, and pound foolish. It just takes me some real effort sometimes to get over the initial hesitancy.
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I'm actually looking at welders right now. I am hopefully moving my shop in the next month or two and I will be setting up a welder in the new place. I've been looking into making a filter basin/sump for the washout booth, as well as new screen and squeegee racks and a few other shop do-dads. I'm pretty handy with a tig torch and I know a guy in town that does powder coating. Should be fun.
Probably won't be any aluminum racks, as I don't think I can afford a good AC/DC unit at first. It will just be a DC machine for stainless and mild steel.
I'll let y'all know how it goes.
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Holy Crap. Welding and all that stuff. Guess my earlier method of chop sawing boxed aluminum and threaded rods when assembling purchased low end bread racks was just too mundane, lololololol.
Not to mention. Once you weld it, you've finalized your size....for the most part, unless your pull out the torch again.
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Holy Crap. Welding and all that stuff. Guess my earlier method of chop sawing boxed aluminum and threaded rods when assembling purchased low end bread racks was just too mundane, lololololol.
Not to mention. Once you weld it, you've finalized your size....for the most part, unless your pull out the torch again.
I have a rack here that I am going to try to re-make. It has double stepped rails and fits 23" or 25" wide frames up to 36" long. It's kinda the perfect rack, and I've never found (or even seen) another like it.
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In the past, I have seen a solution for frames of many sizes.
"Shelves" that are "L" shaped and only hold two sides of multi-sized screens?
They were also angled slightly downward towards the back of the structure so that wicked gravity didn't play tricks.
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Here is an extremely crude drawing of what I'm talking about...
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I'm actually looking at welders right now. I am hopefully moving my shop in the next month or two and I will be setting up a welder in the new place. I've been looking into making a filter basin/sump for the washout booth, as well as new screen and squeegee racks and a few other shop do-dads. I'm pretty handy with a tig torch and I know a guy in town that does powder coating. Should be fun.
Probably won't be any aluminum racks, as I don't think I can afford a good AC/DC unit at first. It will just be a DC machine for stainless and mild steel.
I'll let y'all know how it goes.
It would be static what would be wrong with good quality rivets?
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It would be static what would be wrong with good quality rivets?
Once a jig is made, welding (tig or mig) is actually a much faster way to join metals, especially when it would be repeated fastening points like the shelf rails on a rack. (figure 24 screens, maybe 3 weld points per rail that's 144 points.
Rivets are the second step in fastening, after cutting and drilling. I'd rather so 144 small welds then 144 drilled holes then 144 rivets.
With welding you cut everything, drop it into a jig or clamp it up, then go to town.
If it were say a shipped piece that needed to be assembled on the other end at the corners, then yeah, rivets would be a great choice.
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I have one of the newman racks and a rusty-ass baking rack. I should take a picture of them sitting next to each other, it's ridiculous.
Got the newman rack used. Would I have paid retail for that thing?.... hard tellin, but man are they sweet and very fast to pull screens in/out.
I too, would get right in line for a handful of affordable "job carts" to rack screens on with ink and blades up top. One big issue is everyone's assuming you use 23" wide or narrower frames.
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Anyone tried these?
http://www.screeneez.com (http://www.screeneez.com)
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Anyone tried these?
[url]http://www.screeneez.com[/url] ([url]http://www.screeneez.com[/url])
I called and emailed these guys today.
I also came across these which look amazing!
http://www.benkoproducts.com/screen-drying-cabinet.html
(http://www.benkoproducts.com/screen-drying-cabinet.html)
(http://i.imgur.com/G9iaU.png)
I called and emailed them today. I'll let you know the price when i get one.
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Baker's racks that hold the pans sideways (Defunct Krispy Kremes in these parts) are perfect for 25x36.
Non-adjustable and hence very solid. Even when doing 25MPH around the press.