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« Last post by blue moon on March 16, 2026, 03:49:18 PM »
Large scale screen printing production isn't going anywhere. However, the small shops that have a shelf life anyways, this is just speeding up the inevitable. Unless you are a massive online POD, no one has ever made money from doing low qty, one offs, etc. in the history of this industry. DTF is a tool. I visit 500 shops a year, some really massive places and lots of small shops. The sky is falling people don't leave their towns and listen to every thing on FB. I'm telling you, as a distributor, screen printing is alive and well. DTF is losing steam.
Antony, define Large Scale Shop
I would say mid scale, so 4 or more presses. BUT, here’s the part most forget. Right now all the digital shops are doing all their work digitally. But as they grow bigger they are seeing the value in the ability to screenprint and at least some of them will be getting the presses. We do have a 100% digital customer that is sending us printing work as it is faster and cheaper. I dont see that changing in the next 10 years. 20 maybe… We spend $2 on ink alone when doing DTG. Add the cost of labor and production rates, that will not change. The nozzles on those printheads would have to be gigantic to be able to print a shirt in 4 seconds. SP is not going anywhere permanently, but it will shrink. Add digital and keep on trucking. As a noted philosopher Jay said “do tomorrow what you are doing today and you will have tomorrow what you have today (or less)!” pj
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« Last post by blue moon on March 16, 2026, 03:35:43 PM »
If you got the Saati 450w unit with circular collimator and a bunch of led’s in the middle, thats what we run. Last i checked the only proper led unit on the market. Field is not set up right, has a rather harsh hot spot. You need about 3-4 feet of distance to get good coverage, ut that slows down the exposure times. We are just shy of a minute.
Pierre
Yes, that's the unit we are running. What emulsion are you using? We've tested a couple and we are around 2min on them. We are a little north of 3 feet away. Thanks!
UGH, no idea. We were on Saati phu2 for a while, but we just switched to something new. I’ll reach out to Matt to find out. It’s coming from Texsource via Antony Sharpeles. We have a new gig where all the stuff is in stock with us and we are not going to be ordering anything, just grabbing it out of the cage when needed. Still working out the kinks, ut should sVe few hours of ordering every week. I wanna get EVERYTHING in there, including office and cleaning supplies. pj
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« Last post by blue moon on March 16, 2026, 03:28:04 PM »
I have heard recently that printers are moving away from using Roller Frames. Can anyone chime in on this?
Good statics (if you can get them) are the way to go. We are getting rid of our shurlocs and have not used neumanns in years. The statics seem to last longer and a are about half price to remesh. We are going through about 100 screens per month so thats a savings of more than $2k! GSF seems to be the only one that does a good job with stretching. They use epoxy for glue and are in mid 20’s after few jobs and stay there… pj
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« Last post by blue moon on March 16, 2026, 03:24:20 PM »
we stopped remeshing our roller frames and have been switching to the Shur-Loc EZ frame system. we still have some roller frames (maybe 60 or so?) in circulation but they are getting sent to the recycler once they pop.
the shur loc system is faster for us to clean and remesh - but our roller frames were quite old and needed lots of maintenance every stretch.
We have about 200 shurlac we are looking to sell. Any interest? pj
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« Last post by balloonguy on March 16, 2026, 01:24:27 PM »
I have a bunch of shur loc and roller frames that I almost never use. They are too heavy. A majority of our work is 1 - 3 colors and pretty basic. Roller frames are overkill for our needs.
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« Last post by ericheartsu on March 16, 2026, 01:03:08 PM »
I have heard recently that printers are moving away from using Roller Frames. Can anyone chime in on this?
I'd say that's been the case for the past couple of years. Roller frames are amazing, but take a lot of time to properly clean and restretch, and most folks don't need the super high tension that they can offer. Also, my two cents, roller frames and thin thread aren't a great match.
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« Last post by Zelko-4-EVA on March 16, 2026, 11:15:14 AM »
we stopped remeshing our roller frames and have been switching to the Shur-Loc EZ frame system. we still have some roller frames (maybe 60 or so?) in circulation but they are getting sent to the recycler once they pop.
the shur loc system is faster for us to clean and remesh - but our roller frames were quite old and needed lots of maintenance every stretch.
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« Last post by Logoman on March 16, 2026, 10:09:56 AM »
I have heard recently that printers are moving away from using Roller Frames. Can anyone chime in on this?
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« Last post by mk162 on March 16, 2026, 08:36:47 AM »
If you got the Saati 450w unit with circular collimator and a bunch of led’s in the middle, thats what we run. Last i checked the only proper led unit on the market. Field is not set up right, has a rather harsh hot spot. You need about 3-4 feet of distance to get good coverage, ut that slows down the exposure times. We are just shy of a minute.
Pierre
Yes, that's the unit we are running. What emulsion are you using? We've tested a couple and we are around 2min on them. We are a little north of 3 feet away. Thanks!
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« Last post by blue moon on March 15, 2026, 01:49:27 AM »
Laser to screen is probably best however, we bought one two ys ago and it is awesome with no consumables. Downside, totally overkill for a two auto shop. ROI might never happen. On top of that it was part of a quarter of a million investment, auto coat, auto reclaim (they cant afford the chemicals). All three retail stores closed. They are in trouble. But at least they got the young kids running the shop. Upside is the larger contract owners are in contact and ready to move as soon as I land somewhere. Shows you where the loyalty and trust lie sorry for the rant. They are a great family, they just put family first rather than kids finding jobs of their own. Sorry for the rant but Douthett is my vote, I do not recommend
used units. Usually blanket, bulbuls and glass will cost you, thinking four or more autos, depending on volume might make better sense for an LSR
We are a one auto shop. the wax douthitt unit is probably overkill for us, but I wouldn't give it up.
The Saati unit seems to work well so far. We are testing new emulsions because the stuff we were using for a slower and wider latitude is taking forever on the new bulb. Like 5+ minutes.
If you got the Saati 450w unit with circular collimator and a bunch of led’s in the middle, thats what we run. Last i checked the only proper led unit on the market. Field is not set up right, has a rather harsh hot spot. You need about 3-4 feet of distance to get good coverage, ut that slows down the exposure times. We are just shy of a minute. Pierre
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