Video: Talking Screen-print Setups at Impressions Expo Shop Talk
T-shirt screen-printing veterans Danny Gruninger, of DayBirds Printing, and Rick Roth, founder of New England’s Mirror Image Screenprinting & Embroidery and Ink Kitchen, discuss fast, efficient setups as part of the Shop Talk education series at the 2022 Impressions Expo in Fort Worth, Texas
By Ink Kitchen
Danny Gruninger (left), of Denver, Colorado, based DayBirds Printing, and Rick Roth, founder of New England’s Mirror Image Screenprinting & Embroidery and Ink Kitchen, talk screen-printing setups
In examining a topic that according to Roth was probably among “the most dear” to him at the show the former frenemies (who first got to know each other arguing about the ins and outs of their craft on Facebook) discuss the importance of quick changeovers to profitability and making sure you have the right tools to make this happen by: 1) setting up and calibrating your presses correctly; 2) ensuring your screens are sufficiently tensioned; and 3) making sure your squeegees are up to the task.
Other topics include having the right shop-management software, pre-loading screens with ink and freeing up your operators to do their thing by having separate crews break down the setups at the end of each run to “keep the presses spinning.”
As is the case with flash units and dryers, screen exposure units, computer-to-screen-systems and washout booths are critical to successful screen printing of T-shirts and other apparel
Go to any industry trade show or visit an actual custom apparel screen-printing shop, and your eyes will naturally be drawn to the press, or presses there. This is true whether the shop in question employs a single manual press or is running multiple autos.