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4' x 8' Screen Printing

A

acothran

New Member
I was recently viewing this YouTube Video which show a large, automatic Thieme screen press. They are producing 4' x 8', two-color, coro political signs and I was amazed with this process and mainly the fact that each color is applied in less than 10 seconds. On top of the speed, these signs look really nice. I was wondering if any of you currently use, or have used, a press like this? I'm not looking for suggestions to sub-out signs like this but more interested in learning more about this machine, or one like it. Thanks.

Allen
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
We do 4x8 screen printed by hand. Exact same way, but a person pulls the squeegie (we have a one man pull system), we go ALMOST that fast, figure 2 signs per minute.
 
iSign

iSign

New Member
I wouldn't mind being the guy who spent 20 minutes designing the layout for $50, but I'll leave the 8 hours of factory assembly line work to some other robot
 
A

acothran

New Member
iSign said:
but I'll leave the 8 hours of factory assembly line work to some other robot
Click to expand...

So what if you owned the machine and paid two "robots" to man it. You design the sign and then pass it on to your laborers for production. You sell a 100 of those 2-color, 4' x 8' signs, even sell them a very competitive price and end up end up with more money in your pocket at the end of the day? I can understand not wanting to do that part of the job but are you against paying others to do it?

Allen
 
jiarby

jiarby

New Member
don't forget that you need to be able to coat, expose, burn, & washout 4x8 screens too, and have that UV conveyor dryer. Probably a forklift too, becuase you have to buy coro by the trailerload to be price competitive. Raw material storage, and finished goods storage. Packaging/Delivery. No shipping 4x8's very easily!

Pulling the squeegee is the easy part... logistics, purchasing, and sales is the hard part.
 
johnnysigns

johnnysigns

New Member
The place I'm at has this same press but a much older version. It's still very much in use w/ thousands upon thousands of hours on it.
 
A

acothran

New Member
jiarby said:
Pulling the squeegee is the easy part... logistics, purchasing, and sales is the hard part.
Click to expand...

I completely understand. Our parent company's main business is mattress manufacturing (our sign/print shop is a 1000 sq/ft room inside the 42,000 sq/ft mattress plant). We produce and ship over 2000 mattresses a week and own our tractors and trailers with full-time drivers. We get bulk containers of materials from China about once a month on top of all of our domestic materials. I don't say that stuff to boast (it is what it is) but to put in context.

My boss has been in manufacturing for over 20 years and understands purchasing and logistics. He is the one that sent me the YouTube video. He's always looking to make things bigger (quantity, not size), faster, and cheaper. I can hardly keep up with him and I have an idea that in the near future I'll walk into the plant and see a machine like this, it's just a matter of him finding a good deal. Trying to learn all I can and stay one step ahead. Thanks.

Allen
 
G-Artist

G-Artist

New Member
I am willing to bet some design firm charged an arm and a leg to design that sign (I know
we get ad agency crap in here a lot) designed one of the worst they could. Those firms
might do an awesome mailer but they are clueless when it comes to signage.

Red surrounded by blue just doesn't work.
 
sjm

sjm

New Member
Guys next door own one. We can go to print with our flatbed much quicker and offer four over 4 colour in register.

Needless to say they are looking at a flatbed to remain competitive.
 
P

parrott

New Member
We have a 4'x8' automatic press that we use to print TONS of political signs/banners. We can crank out about 120-140 hits per hour depending on the temperature/humidity and ink system that we use. In fact, we just received our largest political order of the year on Friday. 1,000 4'x8's-1 color-1 sided. We love political season! :smile:
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Guys next door own one. We can go to print with our flatbed much quicker and offer four over 4 colour in register.
Click to expand...

I would bet I could screen 100 4x8's faster than your flatbed could. About an hour per color to do 100 signs, this includes shooting a screen and claean up.
 
sjm

sjm

New Member
Mosh said:
I would bet I could screen 100 4x8's faster than your flatbed could. About an hour per color to do 100 signs, this includes shooting a screen and claean up.
Click to expand...

Yah, I don't doubt that want to compete on the 10 - 50 signs from 5 creatives?
 
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