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screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: Nick Bane on August 15, 2013, 12:15:58 PM
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So im trying to help a friend who hasnt had much of any experience in other shops. He wants to start stepping up his game and moving his business forward and not just be another "guy down the street who prints shirts". So im posting this pic to see what would happen in other shops if any of you guys were to find this in your shop. thanks for chiming in.
This is the white and black plastisol by the press.
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would this fly in your shop? what would you do if you were to find this in your shop? thanks.
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I called my guy in to see this. He has only been printing for a year and is admittedly sloppy and feels like if he LOOKS at plastisol, even from across the room, it will be on him. He walked in my office and admittedly blurted out "HOLY CRAP!" which was followed up with "Who's shop is that?!" and "I thought I was bad!" He ended it with walking away saying "That is disgusting".
Let me also remind you that I just talked to him about our possible new shop and how it will be kept UBER clean and his reaction was "That is why we have Amber" She was a friend of theirs that came in and did some house keeping stuff every day for a while but hasn't had the time to do it any more. So he's certainly NOT a neat freak and our ink area isn't that great... granted we are in a TIGHT spot here, but to me, all the more reason!
I had to spot out a HUGE 3"x3" smudge of black in on a white shirt that was in a stack the other day... we both still don't know how it happened and can't find the source. :(
Hopefully that answers your question in a round about way. ;)
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I also agree that this is disgraceful. I also wondered if you had sneaked in to my place and snapped that pic especially since my new dog seems very dedicated to his security position.
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I've seen huge shops that were filthy gross. Like "how do you get a single shirt in here, printed, and back out without
covering it in ink" gross. But they pumped product out all day every day. Not that it's right, just that it happens.
But yeah, that wouldn't fly here. We're not "eat off the ink room floor" clean but somewhere in between.
To be fair, we're working with highly pigmented and viscous thermoplastics that don't dry.
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You can look at that two ways this guy is F'ing busy and ain't got time to clean or he just don't give a rip and rolls with it...my shop isn't the cleanest but I try to curve the mess I make.
D
I'll also learn to always close or put a cap on your ink buckets unless you let it full of lint and dust, and there ain't a screen print shop in the world that do not have to control lint and dust
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I own and paid for everything at my shop, so there is NO WAY I would let this fly. We run a pretty tight ship over here.
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I hate to admit it but we have been there, maybe worse... I have started a clean as you policy because it was out of control. We just get so slammed sometimes. I have a small crew and we have some months that are 25+ days that are 18 hours or more in a row. Sometimes that half hour of sleep is too valuable.
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You can look at that two ways this guy is F'ing busy and ain't got time to clean or he just don't give a rip and rolls with it...my shop isn't the cleanest but I try to curve the mess I make.
D
Reminds me of my old man's offset shop when I was in college. It got cleaned when it got moved. I asked him why his was such a mess when quick-print operations had nice places, and he said the clean shops weren't so busy.
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I've been there, but it wouldn't be there for long. Sometimes you gotta do something else, but I wouldn't go home with that there.
Steve
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Thanks for the comments. Now we'll see if they make a difference. Keep em comin too, thanks!
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the problem with messy shops is they slow you down. when you have to stop and clean your hands before you touch shirts, how much time is that saving over keeping the ink knives clean in the first place? Same with buckets? I get livid when the outsides of my buckets are inked up. It's carelessness, pure and simple.
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I'm slowly, slowly getting my half of the shop clean at my new job. Well new as in 4 months. It was a lint and ink covered hell hole when I started.
If it were up to me, the place would be German laboratory clean. I use to mop my entire shop every month. The screen room once a week.
That pic...well if it were my shop and someone treated it like that: fired. Instantly.
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Not gonna fly in my shop. We've been extremely busy the last few months so our shop is not very clean compared to the past, lot's of lint on heads 1 and 10, lint everywhere really . We usually have an hour or so on Friday afternoon once a month to mop the floor and wipe down the press but those opportunities are getting fewer. Ink messes get cleaned up as we go. Nothing worse than getting ink contamination in the white bucket...furiousness.
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I'm with Alan, no amount of busy could excuse that mess.
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Here's a tip for ink handling:
NEVER touch the ink knife with gloves on. The ink knife handle should stay clean. Keep a clean rag on the bucket handle or one big easy on/easy off left hand glove to pick the bucket up. You should be able to scoop ink and not get a speck on your hands. This keeps you from having to stop and clean up yourself. Add it up multiple times a day and over the course of a week you might have an extra hour of printing instead of noodling at the ink bucket.
And for all that is holy, clean up the ink area.
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Went in a shop to see a press before buying. There wasn't a single surface in the shop that wasn't covered in ink. The floor all around the shop, and even worse at the press. The dryer even had it on top, sides, belts and everything. The sink was basically all ink. It was everywhere.
After I left I almost cleaned my shoes before getting in my truck.
Wouldn't fly in my shop. Even our ink areas are clean.
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This has been a constant battle for me over the past two or three years with my business partner. I understand being busy as we always are but I don't understand how people cannot relate cleanliness and organization with profitability. If you are spending 10 minutes trying to find ink or something and another 5 minutes washing your hands becuase the last person didn't clean up the press area or ink area you are wasting time which is money. So, so, soooooo tired of hearing the excuse, "It's a print shop, who cares if its dirty." Well I care but in another two weeks I will not have to carry that burden anymore. And they can throw away all the time and money they want to. Sad.
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Work clean. Pay attention to your ink handling skills and try to avoid spilling in the first place. If you spill, wipe it up right away. It's not rocket science.
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It's weird. I have discovered some people no matter what just cannot help but make a mess. I have seen one guy go from reclaim to pulling shirts to printing to office work and in all situations he was either soaking wet, miss counting shirts and pulling wrong PO's, covered in ink, and just totally screwing up schedules due to not being organized. Some people just cannot handle our line of work. Doesn't mean they are a bad person it just means they need to find another career. Not sure what that would be but not this one. And it also seems to me they seem to be the only people that do not recognize their own situation.
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10 years ago I had a guy start and he was always up to his elbows in plastisol, then he'd wash off in the varsol parts washer. After 3 days he quit because he didn't like the smell. Lol, I was happy to see him go.
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It's weird. I have discovered some people no matter what just cannot help but make a mess. I have seen one guy go from reclaim to pulling shirts to printing to office work and in all situations he was either soaking wet, miss counting shirts and pulling wrong PO's, covered in ink, and just totally screwing up schedules due to not being organized. Some people just cannot handle our line of work. Doesn't mean they are a bad person it just means they need to find another career. Not sure what that would be but not this one. And it also seems to me they seem to be the only people that do not recognize their own situation.
YEP.
We have that guy in the shop I work at right now. And he does all the screens. Badly.
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Then theres this.........an actual ink dept in a real prod setting
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Beautiful, is that your shop?
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No, but our plastisols our kept pretty much the same way, only in qts with the formulas laminated on the containers and organized by Pantone #. We have app 80% of all colors in the book. Printers don't dare deliver a dirty container to the ink dept. All hell breaks loose.
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Then theres this.........an actual ink dept in a real prod setting
Just the pic alone makes me calm and happy. Its almost like those zen sand/rock garden things with the little rakes, it just looks like everything is in place and calm. That would make me want to spend more time in the ink room! hahaha.
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Its generally only possible if you have the luxury of having ink staff. Its in their job descripiton to keep their work station clean at all times. Traffic is also limited to just me and the ink dept