Hey all ...
Whelp, I finally broke down and bought a tried and true screen press. I bought a Vastex, thanks to all of you for your input and reccomendations on presses.
When it comes to embroidering I feel confident in answering any question, or tackling any job. Not the case with screen printing, I'm sure I'll be asking LOTS of questions in the near future, with that said :
Here's my first batch of questions (lol):
What RIP software should I buy to do the color seperations??? There are a million of them out there ranging from $100 - $1000. I am not planning on getting fancy with automatic press and 12 colors and all that. I bought a 6 color / 6 station standard every day press. Mainly everything I do is one color, white ink on black shirts.
He also said to just run to staples and buy a standard every day epson printer, but to change the ink? What ink do I need to change to? He said something about positive to negative ink? I didn't really get what he meant.
I just paid for my press this morning, and I will be going for training late next week, but these are my initial "what are your opinion" questions.
Thanks again for all your help!
:D
Re: RIP Software.
The printer is actually very important. We had an Epson 3000 that I accidentally killed so we got an Epson R1800 that blew through cartridges in a few days because they were tiny and cost $20 a piece and it took all 5 to be full to print anything. Since we needed more ink volume we got this bulk ink system that was intended to go along with RIP software (that we were thinking of buying), it essentially tricks your printer into only using all black for art output....it was messy and clogged the print heads alot. With the new printer came new film to output art on (recommended by the people who sell the RIP and bulk ink system), both the ink and the coating on the film would stick to the screens after being exposed. In the end we got a refurbished Epson 3000 on Ebay. So no, I don't think it would be a good idea to just run to your local office supply and pick a random Epson printer, who knows what kind of nightmare you could get yourself into.
In regards to the RIP software: If the majority of your business consists of 1 or 2 color jobs why would you want to invest in software that you won't see a return on anytime soon? If you use CorelDraw you could create all your halftones and underbases as well as separate process art and up to 4 spot colors within Corel Photo Paint. If you already have the program you might as well let it work for you.
Re: RIP Software.
I use Illustrator ... but thats a good point.
Re: RIP Software.
If you are only planning on 1 color jobs you are doomed! you must be able to satisfy your customers need and thats not always one color art. I am a coel fan it is easy to use for the money I would sugesst corel, an epson 3000, and fast rip for halftones, and fast films for raster art I have had very good luck with this combination but everyone is different.
Re: RIP Software.
we have a xante screen writer 3. seems to do all we need. we separate in 4 color proscess @ 35 DPI. A bit grainy but no one complains.
Re: RIP Software.
I use Wasatch, it's VERY good at producing good separations.
BUT it depends what printer you are using.
Epson are the only realistic printers above A2, I wouldn't use HP at all!
Dave UK imagesetters and Wasatch RIP
Re: RIP Software.
Epson Photo 1400 ($200), Black Max Ink Cartridge System ($150), accurip software ($500), WP Film ($130 100 sheets), VueRite seperation software ($695)
Try it free before you buy at softwareforscreenprinters.com
and the supplies from your local dealer or these guys are very good and reliable
http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com
Xante is ok but expensive (a large chunk of the price is the rip software anyways) If you want to go laser use a HP 5100 with toner aid. You can find one for under $1,000 and it prints in wide format (I generally use 11x17) It has a script emulator which works the exact same for printing half tones just make sure you download the 5100ps driver. Also you'll need a can of toner aid to darken the image. I also use Illustrator and Photoshop for output (obviously you dont need accurip if you go this route).
The only down side to the Epson 1400 is it's not for high volume. It takes a few minutes to output a page but you can make it faster by selecting bidirectional in the rip software settings.
The epson with blackmax is the very best and least expensive way to output film on par with anything out there. I've spent a lot of time on this issue and this is what I've found to work the best. Hope this post helps.
Eric