# Not Printa-WHY?



## khazzard (Feb 2, 2007)

Okay, I get the feeling some of you “regulars” are rolling your eyes when you see that 6 letter word (Printa)! But why?? I have read several posts where people advise against Printa. However, I cannot seem to find any solid advice as to WHY not to buy Printa. Is it just because they are overpriced or is there specific problems with their equipment? Thanks in advance for your help…and great forum! 

Kristi


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## Paul204 (Apr 21, 2007)

I have never printed on Printa equipment, so everything I'm about to say is just speculative...

For what you get, they seem overpriced. The "deluxe system" (which is what you would need to get to even be able to print shirts) is 7000$. That is for a press, exposure unit and flash dryer.

Their exposure unit is a cheapy. It doesn't have a vacuum sealing top to minimize light scatter on your screen, which will be heavy as there are multiple light sources (fluorescent tubes) in the unit, instead of one, powerful source.

The flash dryer looks cheap as well. Nothing too cheap about it, but nothing special. They are not expensive pieces of equipment, and I don't understand how they are the central part of the 2000$ jump between the "basic" package and the "deluxe."

The press is what worries me most. Your press needs to be your workhorse, it is the central part of the process. Most presses are obviously sturdily built, all metal, heavy duty pieces of equipment. This press looks flimsy. Can't say forsure, but it doesn't even look all metal.

The print heads are much too small to have a reliable and efficient micro-registration system, even thought they are advertised as having some sort of micro-registration.

I am also usually wary of "all in one" packages in general. In my experience, if one part of the package breaks, you have to replace everything as they want to make everything as integrated as possible.

My two cents are that you could get a much better set up for 7000$. Companies like M&R built systems that - even at the entry level - are designed to last, as well as being compatible and upgradeable for the future. Because really, if you end up developing a nice business, you don't want to be printing on a Printa package full time.

I set my shop up - Caps press, M&R flash, exposure unit, shelves, shirts, inks, squeegees, screens, shinks, pressure washer etc. - for 10000$ canadian. I think I'm printing on a nicer set up than that Printa package, and I doubt I would have been able to buy all the supplies I needed after spending 7000$US plus shipping on that set up.

again, just my two cents, i bet it would be nice to have an integrated set-up to learn on, and i'm sure they produce good results, but if you want great results and long term security, i would explore other options.


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## John S (Sep 9, 2006)

I looked at buying a new Printa and I also had a chance to buy a used printa that had been used only a few times. 

The positives: It had a small foot print. It seemed like a nice way to burn screens in register. It had many of the 'systems' of screen printing thought out. The hardware looked sturdy although the base of the cabnet seemed a little tippy. You couldn't stand to the sided and push on the screen without tipping the base. I would have been banging my feet on the end of the base while printing. 

Why I didn't buy a Printa:
You pay a premium for the hardware, and you have one source for the screens. The screens are also smaller than standard 20x24's. I wanted to have the option of printing corplast with oversized screens. With the screens in the up position, you don't have room for larger screens unless you put one on each side. 
The older models didn't have a good off contact tilt adjustment. Printa says they just added that important feature. 
After working with a few screen presses, and seeing how quickly you can bring screens into register, I wouldn't mess with the pre-burn registration that is a key to the Printa system.

When I looked at the used Printa, the owner quit because of the 'mess'. She hauled the screens out in the woods to clean them up. I also notice the starter kit had very little ink and capilary film. I would have burned through that amount in the first week of operation.

What did I buy? After contacting a lot of vendors, talking with several screen printing pro's, I went with a 6/4 Riley Hopkins from silkscreeningsupplies.com Check out youtube for 'Ryonet', they have over 40 training clips.

For a lot less money, I got a much larger exposure unit with a lid, a washout sink (I love it), the full chemical kit, live training, training DVD's, a Flash, Dryer, extra platens, more ink, extra screens, etc.
How much less? About $3000 less. 

I can buy screens from anyone. The starter kit will last longer. I have a solid system that will allow for growth. Yes, my system takes up more space. I did have to build a drying cabnet that doubles as a bench for the exposure unit. 

I think Printa makes a nice product, it just didn't fit my needs or budget.


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## Liberty (Jul 18, 2006)

I will start by saying that I no longer have my Printa. We now have a 6/4 M&R Chameleon with air side clamps, larger conveyor, etc. ANd next year we are moving to a larger facility and will make the move to an auto. But...

I had a 770 Printa for several year and it worked exactly as advertised. We originally purchased it because we had severe space restrictions. We had three embroidery machines and all of our production equipment running in 800 sq. ft. so the 770's ability to roll into the corner when not in use was great. Once we expanded the shop and added another 900 ft., we traded up to a better system.

It is indeed all metal, the print head revolves on a huge steel shaft and tapered roller bearings.

For single color work you can use standard wood screens all day long and we even used wood frames for multi color work. Their taper pin registration system is OK as long as you use the micros. Without micros you'll have to trap all of your artwork to compensate for registration issues but that is true with any press.

Their micro registration is not quite as fast as others but it does work and it is a nice, fine thread micro, just a little hard to access since the heads are so compact.

The exposure unit is a little weak with no vacuum but we managed to do some pretty good halftone work with no problems.

Their system of registration on the light table is pretty darned good. They were using the clear carrier sheets to register multi color art long before others adopted it. Many times we would setup 4 or 6 color jobs and not need to turn a micro but that depends a lot upon your art and film output device.

We did use capillary film as it was much more consistent with the exposure times although it is significantly more expensive than traditional emulsion.

The flash unit is as good as a Black Body flash. We had the optional stand and used it as a tradition flash.

We had the small, 110V, conveyor which I consider to be a must have if you're going to screen print.

In the five years we had a Printa we had one problem, a bulb socket shorted in the exposure unit. They did not have parts so they shipped me a refurbished exposure unit and covered it as a warranty item and I only had to pay shipping. Their service and support is great but they are grossly overpriced on supplies so you'll want to find a local supply house.

Summary, if you are a one person operation with limited space doing mostly short run spot color work - the Printa is fine. If you have the space and the $$$ budget, your output will greatly increase with other alternatives.

If you buy Printa, get the 6 color and make sure it is the newer unit with micros. There are many, many used ones out there where you can save some serious money.

There is another all-in-one type unit on the market, the Universal, that I would never recommend to anyone under any circumstances.


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## khazzard (Feb 2, 2007)

Thanks for the detailed reply Mark! It really helps out.

I am just starting a home-based “hobby-with-income” type of business. If it turns into something more down the road, great! and if not, well then I can make myself some cool stuff whenever I want. That’s why I was attracted to the Printa. It seems to be a good fit for limited space and small runs. 

I appreciate your reply and welcome anyone else's comments before I drop the dough! .....


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## khazzard (Feb 2, 2007)

Paul & John, I just read your posts…somehow I was only notified of Marks reply post and didn’t see yours until after I replied to his…

Thank you both for your replies. I will be taking all your points into consideration and will look into the manufactures that you both mentioned. I am also going to try to go to the ISS Atlanta show and attend some seminars/workshops. Hopefully, I will be able to get some more insight as to which equipment will be the best fit for me at the best price.


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## John S (Sep 9, 2006)

khazzard said:


> I am also going to try to go to the ISS Atlanta show and attend some seminars/workshops. Hopefully, I will be able to get some more insight as to which equipment will be the best fit for me at the best price.


FYI Ryonet (silkscreeningsupplies.com) won't be at the Atlanta ISS. They will be in the Indy printwear that is on the same weekend.

Good luck with your decision, it is a tough one. Don't get in a hurry, you will find the right system for you.


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## hotshotgraphix (Sep 12, 2008)

I know this is an old thread, but I am new here and strongly considering a printa system myself, so I appreciate Liberty sharing his/her experience with owning one of these systems. I'm going to keep looking on other posts for more information, but we currently have a sign/printing and heat transfer shop that could really use a way to do screen printing in a limited space and I like the idea of a proven system that works out of the box. I have over 20 years background in conventional printing and prepress and I believe I should be able to have this thing making money and paying for itself in a reasonable amount of time. I currently outsource all my screen printing locally, but it is always more of a hassle, costs more, and sometimes doesn't get the results I would have expected or preferred. Thanks for all the input. There is no sense in every one of us reinventing the wheel on all of this stuff.


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## brushwizard (Oct 6, 2008)

I am currently using a print 6/4 and it works great the only problem I notice is after like 80-100 shirts it tends to get a little out of register, the registration on the exposure unit works well most of the time. I have done 4 color proccess jobs on it and they turned out awesome. I was able to purchase mine used at a great price if I had $10.000 to spend I would have went with the riley hopkins lowrider with a 6/4 press since I already have an exposure unit and flash cure but the printa fits nicely in a small space


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## missmandy (Feb 9, 2007)

I am extremely disappointed with the "micro-registration" system! It probably works fine if you don't ever have to move the screens up or down, but once you do.....plan on spending some valuable time trying to line everything back up! Plus, the parts are not even quality parts. The bushing push out fairly easy, they could've used a locking ring to hold the bushings in. This happened to us the 1st time we used the equipment. We called them and they acted like it was our fault and told us that we needed to replace the whole print head. We do like the all in one unit though and also agree the cost is way over priced. I wish I would've researched more. I've had my system for 3 years now, so maybe they make better quality equipment by now? And don't feel pressured into buying the whole system if you don't need it. The flasher I got from them is cheap also.


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## brushwizard (Oct 6, 2008)

well the screen stays in place to where it is fastened but it slips in all of the adjustment areas because the micro registration is designed poorly. and the way you burn the screens there is room for slight movement which allows your job to be out of rgester before you even start but it is rare. on an average trap job you never have to use the micros anyhow but a tight registration usually takes some mesing around and as far as it being like a hod dog cart not at all it is built well. and I have only had one bushing pop out but IO agree a clip would solve the problem


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## rwshirts (Dec 5, 2007)

We have the Printa number printing system for numbering. We use it on an old Hix 6/4. It uses it's own screen frame, and the numbers fit in a pin registration setting. It has served us well.


RW


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## brushwizard (Oct 6, 2008)

the pin registration on the numbering system is completely diferent than the pin registration we are refering to we are refering the the two black triangles on the screen frame but yes the numbering system does work well


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## hotshotgraphix (Sep 12, 2008)

I was running some of the questions by the my Printa Sales Rep. to see what he said in regard to the registration, etc. I'm pasting his response below. 

I've always had pretty good luck with all in one computers, tv/dvd's etc.so I'm not too afraid of jumping into a system built like this. More than anything, it's the up front costs that have had me more hesitant.


*The Printa response:*
*One thing I've noted about any equipment on the market...no matter what the brand name is...you always have people who complain. If you're looking at buying a Toyota, you can always find people who hate them. If you're looking at an Apple computer...you can find people who hate them...and tons that swear by them. The same is true in screen printing...we can research every company out there, and you WILL find someone who complains.*

*Now...regarding the specific issues you brought up (which were great issues by the way!), couple of things to note:*

*1. The 770 system has had a brand new upgrade about 8 months ago that added even more micro registrations. So yes...we've improved it even more.*

*2. I personally own the 770 series that's about 4-5 years old and my wife and I have NEVER had one problem with ours. I would venture to say that the person complaining did NOT come to training to learn how to properly do it. My wife and I just did a 3 color (multi) color job on BLACK t-shirts...the biggest pain of all...and they came our flawless. We didn't even have to do one small micro adjustment ever...and this is the same every time. Proper training is key.*

*3. The exposure unit is perfect...and if it's not, (let's say it goes down), who else offers lifetime warranty on the item? No one...except us since we're a direct manufacturer. Vacuum tables are the mainline way of doing exposing of screens for decades...our exposure unit works exactly the same. Period. But without the vacuum needed and the beauty of having it on-board is so huge I can't even tell you! It saves me 15-45 minutes PER JOB by not having to align my screens by hand like everyone else has to.*

*4. Regarding the costly price tag for what you get...keep in mind we do not just sell the equipment in the price. Your price includes things that no one else offers automatically included: lifetime warranty, lifetime help line, lifetime tech support, customer care, blank product sourcing, training for 2 included (and you can come back again and again over and over for free the rest of your life)...and all at no extra charge. You get it all the first time. And with us, you're not dealing with a middle man who just marks up the equipment, sells it on behalf of a manufacturer, and then hopes they never hear from you again. We partner with you for life. That's peace of mind.*

*5. Finally...I would love to have you talk directly with people who own our systems and use them everyday...and swear by them. The problem with forums is that they don't show all the good talk...usually just problems. But the 4000 systems we've sold worldwide should be confirmation to you that we've got a lot of happy customers. *


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## brushwizard (Oct 6, 2008)

just to clarify I am not complaining about the press i am just telling the very few issues I have and bear in mind I am very fussy. and do a lot of tight registration jobs that have to be dead on and only have to use the micros on occasion. and when I do they work very well I do a lot of 4-5 color jobs on black all the time and have a ton of luck. we have the conveyor dryer as well which is a must for any production . when we do a 4 color job with flashing in between we are able to do up to 40 shirts per hour and on single color jobs we can do up tp 85 per hour so this machine does perform!! I would like to attend training but since I bought it used I called them and they wouldn't hardly give me the time if day


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## threestrands (Feb 13, 2010)

I am very new to screen printing. I recently purchased a printa 770 and I really like it. I can tell you that the support and training from Printa is awesome. Anytime I have a question, it gets answered immediately. This company really seems to want their customers to be successful. The equipment is very sturdy and sets up in a small space. I am working out of my garage and for now and am having no problems.


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## jazsed (Apr 3, 2012)

Just a quick response about Printa system. RUN. I've had it for a year and it has never worked right. It will not stay in register. The excellent support they claim they have is virtually non existent...."You must be doing it wrong" doesn't count as support to me. The rip driver they push, no one at Printa has a clue how it works and they send you to the manufacturer of the software for support. Sorry I'm kind of rambling but I just returned from my shop where I threw away, once again, about two hundred dollars worth of sweatshirts because the press goes out of register about every other shirt.

I guess I knew I was in trouble when I drove three hundred miles to attend their "Training" and the instructor couldn't get the press into register after about an hour of messing with it.

Good luck......sorry for the rambling.


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## ironhog (Mar 24, 2009)

If you are looking for an entry level setup and can find one used this is not a bad way to go. We paid 1K for a 4/4 that had been used a couple times. Came with everything needed to get started. Press, Flash, Epson Printer and ink and supplies. This paid for itself in 2 months. Then we started upgrading as the budget allowed. We have no complaints with the press.


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## cornpopps (Jan 8, 2010)

I purchased a PRINTA brand new, for the money, looking back I could have purchased a better used M&R, Hopkins, or other major brand. It was a decent machine. I printed thousands of shirts and made my money back on my investment, but at the end of the day I needed something a little sturdier. 
For the garage it is great, all compact, small footprint. Registration was easy using the pin registration. 

My advice if your looking at PRINTA, go used. They sell for less then half of asking price sometimes. People who sell their PRINTA's have outgrown it or looking to get out completely.

Keep in mind this is a good starter press, but I would consider it a hobby press. When you start to grow you will always look to the M&R's of the world.


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## indyprinter (Sep 25, 2009)

These are old posts but after owning a Printa 770 6 color, 4 platen for almost 5 years I wanted to offer input for those considering Printa. I must say that this is as well built and duarable as any machine on the market. Like others I bought mine used because I had 30 years offset printing experience prior to starting a screen printing shop and didn't feel I needed the training which is part of the Printa price and may be a good value to newbies. We did our homework and bought Printa for 2 primary reasons. 
First, we needed the small footprint since we started in our garage. You can fit everything you need within about a 12' x 12' square. A little more with folding and ink tables. 
Second, the onboard registration. With onboard screen imaging we are able to hit 6 colors with little or no registration movement. One secret, you must print on the same unit you burned the screen on or it will not register but if you print on the same unit you burn the screen on it is highly possible that you can print 6 colors with little or no need for micro moves. We have done this on 4 color process printing with white underbase and a 5th color. This will save a lot of set up time on multi color jobs. Don't worry about the vacuum. You simply need to ensure that there is no space between the film and the screen and this unit has a clamp system that ensures good film to screen contact. 
Although we bought our system used we have found very good customer service from Printa when ordering some parts and supplies. 
As for speed. We have printed thousands of shirts on this press and speeds vary depending on material and how hot the platens get. We have a tunnel dryer but have never used it, even on runs of 1,000 shirts. The platens get hot with time and after 40 - 50 shirts we reach a point that we can fully flash cure in the time it takes to print. Probably 5 - 8 seconds. While I cannot recommend flash only printing I can comfortably say you can print 1 color t-shirts at 50 - 75/hr. We have hit 150/hr printing 50/50 hoodies that heat up and flash cure very fast with one pressman and one hanger/puller.
Overall, this has been a great machine for us, understanding that we would want to be able to produce multi-color, tight register jobs, with reasonable production speed and in a small space. This machine has met and exceeded those expectations.


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

We have a 4/4, it was assembled by a guy who had malice towards his employer .. everything that could be wrong with it was.. i patched it together and I do like it.. tho it was too expensive. the 110v conveyor oven is nice .. the exposre unit uses a clamp system and I am able to get good halftones. My big gripe with them is they never have the supplies we need and dont find out until the part order is delivered with a sheet of paper explaining everything else will be back ordered, I live in Canada but we're still getting supplies ordered 2 months ago, We're getting our supplies closer to home now and have no need to deal with printa again  .. except screens for the mug press. All in all there are better suppliers/equipment for way less cost.


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## PrintaSupport (Nov 19, 2015)

“Lifetime warranty, patented registration system and one stop shop for all your screen printing needs. Full training facility in Idaho for beginners and seasoned decorators. Ease of use for production capabilities.”


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## jaxtell (Jun 25, 2012)

We have an older Printa 770 Delux 6/4 that we bought used. It doesn't have micro registration and we don't use the pin register system, just regular 20x24 screens. It holds registration great, but I do wish it had micro registration. I didn't get the small exposure unit either, but the large on works great. It has a small foot print and can print two heads down. We had to take the head off and re-grease the bearings. We have the conveyor, but I had to replace the controller and motor and do some minor wiring, as it self-destructed (works great now though). We use the Printa flash also, it is on the separate stand. I like it because of the timer that beeps, as sometimes I tend to get in a bit of a hurry.

All-in-all it is a great machine for us! It has never let us down. 

Would I buy a new one? I guess the question for me would be experience level and ease of use. The registration from the exposure unit and pin-register frames, would eliminate a major issue for many newbies. The small foot print is very nice. I am at a level in my experience now, that I would feel comfortable using more conventional screen printing systems. But like anything else the level of support would be a key issue in a new venture, if I had little or no experience. 

Screen printing has so many variables, eliminating as many of them as possible is extremely valuable and must be considered when purchasing new equipment on a new venture.


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