TSB
screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: Frog on June 05, 2011, 04:19:02 PM
-
I've heard that Mr. Murphy loves screen printers.
-
I've been lucky and never printed an empty board, but I'm sure I've pulled more than my share of shirts early.
-
You have missed out on something truly special. :o The sound will live with you forever!
-
I've done all the above.
I have seen the ultimate though:
Years ago I worked at a shop that had a 6/10 American Centurian press. We used Polyken double sided tape on the pallets instead of smooth pallet mask. (very sticky stuff)
On the Centurian, the index table is fixed (does not lift) and the heads drop to the pallets to print. The index drive (chain and gear setup) is very, very strong.
The pres op, who I think was hung over, was cycling the press dry with both flash units on to warm up the pallets. (cold morning) He loaded up the pallets with shirts and started firing up the heads. (head 1 was white, then flash, the another white on 3, then flash, etc.) This press had no start up sequence, it was all manual.
He was turned away talking to someone on the other side of the dryer when an empty pallet went by him. An empty, hot, freshly covered with very sticky tape, pallet.
First head prints. Two strokes. The head does NOT lift up. The screen is pretty much permanently glued to the pallet.
BUT - the machine DID index. The owner heard it from outside in the parking lot.
Ever seen an aluminum static frame ripped apart at the welds?
:o
Needles to say the press need some "minor" adjustments after that.
-
I posted a pic of my fried board at the other place. Ugly. Don't have the pic anymore but it demonstrates a "teachable moment".
-
--Printed several empty pallets on the auto over the last 6 months... haven't wrecked a screen yet, but WOW.. do they make a POP if the pallet adhesive is fresh.
Never ruined a pallet... sunk a few up though.
-
Pulled a multicolor print too soon a couple of weeks ago. The last plate was not a tight registration one, so I loaded the shirt at the end of the run, pushed, pulled it until it looked pretty good, and pulled the squeegie. One small area was off enough to kind of bug me. I probably could have let it slide, but I had to run out the next day and pick up shirts for another job, so I left the job set up, bought an extra shirt and printed a good one. There were a few expletives uttered after I pulled the shirt off the press with a plate missing. I was enjoying tunes on my iPhone, and perhaps a cold homebrew at the moment, so that might have contributed to the screwup.
-
Back in my "early days" I ran a 10-color precision oval press (all heads print at the same time) and one early morning after a LOOOONGG night of drinking I fired up the press , applied pallet adhesive and fired up the flash dryer to get the pallets warmed up...the machine is like a living person in that you have to "warm it up" before cranking out production.
Needless to say, I was not paying attention and pressed the wrong button....all 8 screens printed blank pallets.. ???
Now that is not so bad and anyone who has operated an old precision oval will have most likely done the same....but my confession is that after I cleaned all the pallets and was about ready to actually begin printing...I did it again. Twice in less than an hour.. :o
I often tell my customers the best way to gauge the ability and trustworthiness of a new printer you are considering hiring is to ask them how many pallets they have burned....because there is not a single person who has printed for more than a year who has NOT burned a pallet.
The skill set lists as follows.
0 Burned Pallets = Do NOT hire...cannot be trusted , or has NO experience.
1-2 Burned Pallets = Nube, most likely does not have much experience.
3-4 Burned Pallets = Is honest, even when it makes him look bad..has enough years of printing to have skills.
5+ Burned Pallets = DO NOT HIRE...this guy is a FIRE hazard and will most likely make you regret dropping your insurance to save a few bucks!!
This is of course a joke, but in all honesty has some validity.
-
0 Burned Pallets = Do NOT hire...cannot be trusted , or has NO experience.
1-2 Burned Pallets = Nube, most likely does not have much experience.
3-4 Burned Pallets = Is honest, even when it makes him look bad..has enough years of printing to have skills.
5+ Burned Pallets = DO NOT HIRE...this guy is a FIRE hazard and will most likely make you regret dropping your insurance to save a few bucks!!
Yep, I'm shooting for that sweet spot of 3-4 burned pallets. I'll try harder ;D
-
How about printing 4CP on infant garments and ripping all the screens on the snaps not controlling the squeegee path. >:(
-
I (with utmost respect) have you all beat. Ever try to print a freshly tacked belt printer with no shirts loaded? Well lets just say that when the main head frame lifts with the belt still stuck to it and the index kicks in the sound of the entire frame literally shifting about 30 degrees will stick with me forever.
Oh and it was a brand new press with zero impressions on the ticker.
-
you guys all got me beat. . I once printed a few dozen polos breaking all the top buttons with the screen frame. . . I set a pallet on fire after scolding someone about doing it a few hours before. . .once with a shirt on it soaked in lacquer thinner, set the damn flash on fire - we used to clean platens with lacquer and mineral spirits, (the owner of the shop I worked at was an idiot). . .I shot a fresh can of spray adhesive with my pellet gun. . .on accident of coarse ;). . .that was pretty awesome. . .I opened the oil valve on the auto to add more oil without realizing the air was on. . .that was a nice mess. . . I washed my face with stencil remover thinking it was simple green -I'm a bald guy so any oil remover/soap works just fine. . .stencil not so much. . .
-
you guys all got me beat. . I once printed a few dozen polos breaking all the top buttons with the screen frame. . . I set a pallet on fire after scolding someone about doing it a few hours before. . .once with a shirt on it soaked in lacquer thinner, set the damn flash on fire - we used to clean platens with lacquer and mineral spirits, (the owner of the shop I worked at was an idiot). . .I shot a fresh can of spray adhesive with my pellet gun. . .on accident of coarse ;). . .that was pretty awesome. . .I opened the oil valve on the auto to add more oil without realizing the air was on. . .that was a nice mess. . . I washed my face with stencil remover thinking it was simple green -I'm a bald guy so any oil remover/soap works just fine. . .stencil not so much. . .
Damn Homer, thanx for sharing. You just brightened up my day! It's mon morning and the customers are already calling with demands.
-
Its funny how we all have very similar stories going here, mine is in that group...in '94, I worked at a place that did a lot of oversize contract printing on a 12/14 Challenger, and we had on the big oversize pallets. The print was a 4-color process with two spots and a white. Fresh glued EMPTY pallets+printstart=seven printed pallets. When the cycle finished, and the tables dropped, the screens stayed entirely stuck to the pallets,,,stretched downward about threee inches. We all tried to gingerly finesse the screen mesh to release, but it wasnt happening. We had to cut out the mesh from the frames while still on the press, make all new screens and recover all the printed pallets.
At the same place, we would usually take a five of white ink, add a bit of reducer, and let it stir on the ink mixer for awhile before going to press with it. One day I put on a fiver and forgot about it, leaving it running and spinning ALL NIGHT. The stirring action built up enough heat in the ink to gel it and clump it, which pushed the mixing blade hard to the outside of the bucket and wore right thru it. THAT was a mess that i dont think ever got fully cleaned up.
-
A note on the object of Homer's pellet attack.
If we hadn't all, almost universally, changed to mostly water based adhesives, there would have been a fourth goof-up listed.
Have you ever dropped a spray can on the belt to have it explode inside the dryer?
-
Have you ever dropped a spray can on the belt to have it explode inside the dryer?
I've been in the room when it happens. (not my fault)
BOOM!!! WACK!!! ssss..........
The girl catching shirts that day pissed her pants.
-
The worst I ever did was during set up at a show in California. We had just completed tacking a six color Predator belt printer and with all six 50X60 Newman roller frames loaded with ink I indexed the belt with the heads on. The screens came down, squeegee printed entire area of screens and then the heads lifted leaving the screens stuck to the belt,for a few seconds. All the mesh let loose from the belt at the same time and threw about three gallons of water base ink about 100 feet into the air and completely covered the ceiling in mostly blue(M&R blue of course)! We had one hell of a mess to clean up that night as it was the night before the show started. Bought a lot of cheap show carpet at that show for some reason!!
-
Thats pretty much what happened to me ........except the belt actually tried to index with the heads half up. The main frame got twisted up real good. That tack is sticky stuff!
Then there was the time when we indexed a person on the allover press but thats another story
tp
-
you guys all got me beat. . I once printed a few dozen polos breaking all the top buttons with the screen frame. . . I set a pallet on fire after scolding someone about doing it a few hours before. . .once with a shirt on it soaked in lacquer thinner, set the damn flash on fire - we used to clean platens with lacquer and mineral spirits, (the owner of the shop I worked at was an idiot). . .I shot a fresh can of spray adhesive with my pellet gun. . .on accident of coarse ;). . .that was pretty awesome. . .I opened the oil valve on the auto to add more oil without realizing the air was on. . .that was a nice mess. . . I washed my face with stencil remover thinking it was simple green -I'm a bald guy so any oil remover/soap works just fine. . .stencil not so much. . .
Best post ever.
-
The worst I ever did was during set up at a show in California. We had just completed tacking a six color Predator belt printer and with all six 50X60 Newman roller frames loaded with ink I indexed the belt with the heads on. The screens came down, squeegee printed entire area of screens and then the heads lifted leaving the screens stuck to the belt,for a few seconds. All the mesh let loose from the belt at the same time and threw about three gallons of water base ink about 100 feet into the air and completely covered the ceiling in mostly blue(M&R blue of course)! We had one hell of a mess to clean up that night as it was the night before the show started. Bought a lot of cheap show carpet at that show for some reason!!
The M&R Inkapult
-
A note on the object of Homer's pellet attack.
If we hadn't all, almost universally, changed to mostly water based adhesives, there would have been a fourth goof-up listed.
Have you ever dropped a spray can on the belt to have it explode inside the dryer?
Do you know what it sounds like to have a can of “screen opener” go into a 40 foot gas dryer?
I did not do either one, but it happened twice in two months!
-
Do you know what it sounds like to have a can of “screen opener” go into a 40 foot gas dryer?
It probably goes in quite silently, it's what it does 10 feet or so later that matters
-
I printed a fly that landed on a pallet once. That count for anything?
-
I printed a fly that landed on a pallet once. That count for anything?
I had a pigeon egg drop in a screen once.
-
I had a pigeon egg drop in a screen once.
Black Widow on the corner of a screen on my manual. I guess that's one reason to be
glad to be out of the garage.
-
I remember many years ago on the old old forum someone printed a mouse with pictures to prove it.
Worse i ever did was back when we still printed hats i sent the last one in the oven then as habit started to lower the oven height to t-shirt height. Hat caught on fire and started all the build up on fire as well that was between the two banks of ovens. I actually seen flames licking out of the center section of the double oven. Makes you more proactive about keeping the oven clean after that.
-
this seems to be a battle of "who pays attention the least" haha. . .good stories. . .I really don't want to add more. . .
-
I printed a fly that landed on a pallet once. That count for anything?
I had a pigeon egg drop in a screen once.
Speaking of pigeons they used to like roosting in the warm dryer vents in the winter after they cooled down a bit. Unfortunately they often could'nt find their way out. They make a funny popping sound when we fired up the dryer in the morning when they came into contact with the exhaust blower motor.
Seriously though we addressed the issue immediately of course.......poor little guys never knew what hit 'em
-
You wouldn't beleive how many 1-legged pigeons there are in the Budapest train station. I think they chose to land on the wrong lines...ZZAP..and now they look like captain peg leg.
-
You guys are actually making me feel good about my frequent brain farts. Keep it up!
-
You have missed out on something truly special. :o The sound will live with you forever!
Whenever my wife does that i can hear it across the shop. I always scream "Amateur Hour!" she really hates that.
-
I bake a shirt board at least once a week, mainly because my shop is so small the press has become a turn style to get from one end to the other.
-
On a 1000 pc run I printed a couple empty boards trying to hustle.
-
Once and only once I almost burnt my house down. Printing one afternoon, phone rings and i ran inside to get it, was talking for about 10mins and then I heard the noise of a crackling bonfire and I remember thinking to my self "I know that sound, who is having a bonfire at this hour of day." As I spinted to the garage the noise got louder. Opened the garage door and found that the pallet board was not locked in position and had turned where one board was under the flash which caught the shirt, rubber pad on the platten, and the screen above it with red ink which I just reloaded. The intire garage was full of black smoke and was pouring out of both car garage doors for the intire neighbor hood to see. I put out the fire with a water hose, aired it out and cleaned up all the ash all before my wife got home from her day job. To this day she has no idea how close we came to losing our house and I'm still super paranoid of the flash unit.
-
you guys all got me beat. . I once printed a few dozen polos breaking all the top buttons with the screen frame. . . I set a pallet on fire after scolding someone about doing it a few hours before. . .once with a shirt on it soaked in lacquer thinner, set the damn flash on fire - we used to clean platens with lacquer and mineral spirits, (the owner of the shop I worked at was an idiot). . .I shot a fresh can of spray adhesive with my pellet gun. . .on accident of coarse ;). . .that was pretty awesome. . .I opened the oil valve on the auto to add more oil without realizing the air was on. . .that was a nice mess. . . I washed my face with stencil remover thinking it was simple green -I'm a bald guy so any oil remover/soap works just fine. . .stencil not so much. . .
Best post ever.
Holy hell... worst thing I have ever done was print a 300 last minute rush order for a Chili HS homecoming but spelled it Chile. Followed by some beeotch screaming at me for an hour seemed like over the screw up like no one has ever screamed at me before with zero time for a reprint. I screamed back "well don't send me shitty artwork then!" after I had enough. They ended up with 300 free shirts needless to say and lost the customer. Why customers think we are 24 hour photo is beyond me. Most embarassing is that they sent over another printer to pick them up so they could fix them with vinyl letters with hours to left before the event. This was back when I only had a table top press and flash curing (fun times).
-
Three words... Home Cash Business
Whew...felt good to let that out.
-
Three words... Home Cash Business
Whew...felt good to let that out.
Ouch.
-
OOOOh, time to dust off an old image
.
-
I have a friend figuring how much the piece of junk is worth. In scrap metal that is.
-
in the begining i was one phone call away from buying that crap but instead i made a call to a good frien in the industry.....very close!
-
Come on guys -you all have honest mistakes -none of them are as stupid as mine. . .anyone!? . . . .breaking 3 cases of florescent light bulbs in the dumpster = good times. . .drinking four loko at 8am on a Friday = bad news. . .couldn't speak to answer the phone. . .one guys puked all over himself in the washout booth. . .sick for days. . . no wonder they banned it in NY state. . .
-
Come on guys -you all have honest mistakes -none of them are as stupid as mine. . .anyone!? . . . .breaking 3 cases of florescent light bulbs in the dumpster = good times. . .drinking four loko at 8am on a Friday = bad news. . .couldn't speak to answer the phone. . .one guys puked all over himself in the washout booth. . .sick for days. . . no wonder they banned it in NY state. . .
So, did you end up with fat girl or donkey girl?
See#3 (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=four+loko)
-
The worst I ever did was during set up at a show in California. We had just completed tacking a six color Predator belt printer and with all six 50X60 Newman roller frames loaded with ink I indexed the belt with the heads on. The screens came down, squeegee printed entire area of screens and then the heads lifted leaving the screens stuck to the belt,for a few seconds. All the mesh let loose from the belt at the same time and threw about three gallons of water base ink about 100 feet into the air and completely covered the ceiling in mostly blue(M&R blue of course)! We had one hell of a mess to clean up that night as it was the night before the show started. Bought a lot of cheap show carpet at that show for some reason!!
Rich I just remembered that happened to me at a Charlotte show. Precision booth. We were right there at the entrance. Opening day. We were belt printing an allover and the throwing a spot left chest on a Premier. Within 20 minutes of opening with huge crowd that had never seen a belt before and asking tons of questions when.....snapthe allover screen took a dump. Ink every where! It took about an hour to recover. We were so stressed out I think everyone was afraid to make a comment.
-
Oh one more trade show confession. I was doing a hands on seminar in Indianappolis. The people who were supplying me with the flash had issues and I was left empty handed. Thankfully the Late Great Karl Krumsic was on hand for the assist. We "persuaded" one of the security guards to let us in early to get in the Ray Paul booth and snatch a flash and bring it down to the room. I went to cut the tie back with my knife and sliced my index finger. Bad. Karl raced me to the E-room and 12 stiches and two hours later made it back in time for the seminar. Turns out manual printing directly after minor surgery not so good of an idea. After we cleaned up the blood a friend of mine took over while I was cleaned up and eventually reduced to the speaking part.
Good times