Screen Printers Open - A Forum for Screen Printing and Embroidery

I don't have an actual event that this is for. I am going from past requests. Printing dark shirts in my trailer has been a thought of mine for several years.

the thought moved up on the to do list this morning is all...

I have done some distressed one color prints on black shirts out of my trailer using a light grey ink with no flashing and the bikers went nuts over them. A good one color design and a black shirt will have those biker wallets flying open.

I might look into a way to flash... it can't add more time than 4 minutes+ in the dryer...

One abstract idea would be to use a propane infrared heater.

One of the more unusual things i did was powder coat the exterior of a car with propane infrared heaters. Powder coat is typically sprayed as a powder, then put into a oven to cure. Rather than using an oven, i used propane heaters positioned about a foot from the car, then slowly moved the heaters across the body of the car.

Propane heaters function just fine in a vertical orientation. Since the heater is infrared, you'd want to place a box fan right next to the flash station. If you need to park a platen under the flash for any period of time, just place a stack of aluminum foil to reflect the heat off the platen.

fred

Duke
That is one hell of an idea.
I have one of those heaters I use in the green house. It would be the perfect flash and at times maybe even the cure of site.
And I could cut in on and off as needed.
Thanks
Johnny

Welcome to the forum Brian.

Down in this thread is Preston's trailer printing at an event. He also has more picts of his trailer, but I could not find them.

http://www.screenprintersopen.com/index.php?topic=3412.msg70208#msg70208

Ralph, I'm not getting it. If it's clamped to the print head do u have to pull it down everytime when you do a print stroke. How does it work when you're turning the platens?

The flash unit has to be pulled down just like a frame. I have an analog clock on the wall that I face while printing. I also have a temp gun. I use the temp gun to make sure I'm getting the temp I want. About 240 degrees and I also do the finger touch to see if I can break the gel. Once I have run a few test shirts I know what the time is and I watch the clock and then move on to the next shirt. 

Okay. I start with 3 shirts on the press. I print all three then come back and flash all three. This flash time (between 14 and 19 seconds depending on colors) is enough for the first one to cool enough to do the follow up printing. My pricing includes cost to flash so I don't mind the time to do the flash. It's paid for. Just as any under base printing. It's in the item cost. I do not break down costing. I quote items as finished product.

The flash panel is mounted on a square tubing with angle iron. It clamps in just like any frame. The height off the garment is adjustable with the frame adjusting knobs. I like about 2" off contact. I also built an aluminum shield that covers it all and goes down past the shirt board about 2" to stop the fan draft over the garment being flashed. It lifts with the same effort as the standard Newman rollers I use. I did add two more springs. The Workhorse uses two springs on each head. There are attachment points for a total of four springs, so I ordered more springs and the flash unit works well with four. I could add more but there was no need.

If I need the sixth head to print I can just remove the flash unit by unclamping like any other frame. Since starting in 1984 I have not printed a six color image. Very few 5 color. I like setting up to where I use three colors for main image and two for pocket image. That way I can have all screens lined up when I start. No break down to go from front to back or the other way around.

I go after specific customers. I have no walk ins at all. I don't even have a phone or online computer in my shop which is 17 miles from home office. No interruptions. I control the images and the scheduling to a point. I usually have a minimum of 6 months to produce a job and deliver. I don't like to be rushed.

If interested, I will measure everything I used to make the flash unit frame and a drawing next time I'm in the shop. That should be the week of August 9th or sooner if I have to go in to town for anything. I'll take more photos as well.