Press and Flash Dryer info

"Affordable" is a relative term. Do you have a max budget?

The press is just one tiny part. Sure for a hobby you could screw a hinge to a screen and print on anything, but to be remotely, commercial for basic machine, squeegees, ink stocks, drier etc you would need a budget of maybe closer to $10k minimum or you are likely wasting your time IMHO. If you haven't got that then I would recommend you farm out and contract a company to print for you, they will do it cheaper, better, faster, less seconds, etc with all the proper gear. Not only that, printing regularly they will have better rhythm and technique to produce better quality for you also.

Even then I think $20k is closer to the capital for entry level setup....

For a start up shop yes 20K is about where you will be to have quality equipment to work with. If you just want to dabble in printing your own shirts get a $999 Ryonet kit and have at it but realize that this equipment will only allow you to do so much and will actually be harder to work with than quality equipment.

http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/1008

One upgrade I would suggest is the exposure unit upgrade. It will work much better than the halogen light. The other thing to think about is how are you going to design? CorelDraw is the least expensive and will do what you need. Also how will you print films? Epson 1100 will work but you will want to get refillable cartridges because film printing takes quite a bit of ink and genuine Epson carts are expensive.

So all in you are looking at closer to 2K

If you want to take it further than dabbling then do your research alot more before investing alot of money. Fell free to contact me before spending money for an honest review.

No problem.

I'd also say you could cut that 10k in half if you go used on press, exposure, dryer, flash and be set up really nicely.

I paid $1500 for an Antec Legend 6/4 with every platen attachment you could want (adult, youth, sleeve, pants) a few squeegees, screens and more importantly came with Antec's top of the line flash (forced air and rotating base).

Then I picked up a Chaparrel 12' long 24" wide dryer for $1300 bucks.

That's under 3k for a very nice setup, this doesn't include an exposure unit but you could get away with a few hundred bucks for that as well. Also need a few odds and ends and a place to wash out screens and such (can be built for under $100 if resourceful).

But also realize that Printwizard wasn't talking about a porche. You should more so equate it to transportation in general.

You are looking at bicycles, what I am talking about is a slightly used Civic. It is at least a car and you can get stuff done. With the bike you will constantly peddling uphill and not really talking about "serious" transportation. ;)

The Porche would be more like getting an Automatic screen press. At that point you are looking at spending a MINIMUM of about 50k. And really that only gets you a BMW.

Honestly, you could almost translate this transportation metaphor DIRECTLY even when comparing to money.

What kind of transportation could you buy for $300 bucks? What could you get for $1k (not that rare find, but on any given day... rare finds will happen in this business too but that's not what you are looking at online, that stuff is also new!) So what could you get NEW for those prices? Now what could you get for $5k? A decent used car. Now for 10k you could get a kia rio brand new and it would be good. If you want something nicer NEW you would be at about 20k.

Ironic how that actually almost translates dollar for dollar... glad we had this post. ;)

I started under a house with a $7500 second hand gear, and didn't take a cent out for the next four years, not a wage, worked 60 plus hours every week after a full time job, and every cent plowed back in. There is always an upgrade, something faster, more commercial, things that make life easier and quicker. In hindsight I would have been much better off saving and working overtime for longer and going into business with more capital. It's not the big items, but the spray glue, squeegees, spotting gun, heat gun, heat press, fan, heater, ink, emulsion, stripper, degreaser, screen frames, light, buying shirts, wasting shirts, washup, tape, tools, water blaster, washout, shelving, smoke alarm..........

20k I still maintain would be commercial enough to generate a wage from.

Then again, you could go the way of a vacuum table, heat gun, guillotine, transfer paper, crystals and heat press. Print transfers that you apply to garments as you need rather than direct printing.

To add to what Brian said about frames.

If you are serious about printing, it didn't take me long before I did the math and realized that Statics will cost you MUCH more money then those "expensive" newmans.

Again, something that if you take your time you can find a good deal on and pick up newmans for almost the cost of statics... not only will you be getting a much better screen, the first time you have to remesh due to loss of tension and you would have spent more money on the statics.

But in the grand scheme of things, you probably should get a few statics to start with so you have less variables to f' with when learning all that you have to learn to begin with.

This is also one more reason to get "quality" equipment... like Brian said, you don't want to be fighting the equipment and not know why "you" can't print. ;)

Also you could get the Epson WF1100 for a printer and save a few dollars.

Inkjetcarts.us has a CISS system for it that would save you even more money.

But it all adds up... you will most likely need a RIP if you want halftones. I tried going the ghostscript "free" way and fought it over and over. Some people can do it, but this computer consultant gave up!

So with all that said, you have to ask yourself what do you want to do in screen printing?
Do you want to do it as a hobby? If so there are many ways to save money.
Do you want to make money and grow into something that you can live on? Then you have ALOT more research to do.
Either way ask ask , and ask questions BEFORE you buy anything. That is my biggest piece of advice for anyone that has never pulled or pushed a squeegee.

If that is the case you might want to just look at making a DIY single color station with hinge clamps. You can TECHNICALLY do multicolor stuff if you figure it right... but it's not worth the hassle. You also get to learn the art of this business without much commitment and you have a piece of gear that you can always use later if you really wanted.