# Easyscreen Press



## RAHchills (Aug 28, 2005)

I'm thinking of taking the plunge and was wondering if anybody had heard of/used an EasyScreen Press before:

http://www.easyscreenpress.com/press_onecolor.html

It looks really easy, but I'm wondering if its really that much easier then something like this:

http://www.livingstonsystems.com/page3.html

-chris


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## triplebtees (Jun 3, 2005)

How would you burn your screens? what about this equipment, a lot more expensive, but may be alot cheaper in the long run.... www.printa.com If anyone has this sprinta system, i would be very interested in knowing if it is as easy as they say.


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## RAHchills (Aug 28, 2005)

triplebtees said:


> How would you burn your screens? what about this equipment, a lot more expensive, but may be alot cheaper in the long run.... www.printa.com If anyone has this sprinta system, i would be very interested in knowing if it is as easy as they say.


I was planning on outsourcing the actual screen burning capability until I get some experience together. I plan to start small, with a limited number of shirt designs, so its not a big deal. The printa system looks nice, most definitely... But I would like to know if anybody has any experience with the "Easy Screen Press."

More specifically, I'd like to know if its any easier then a regular screen press, for the money.

-chris


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## ironhead (Dec 28, 2005)

I can't help you with the easyscreen press but I do own the Livingston press.

I'm an amateur and have only done one job with the press but it worked fine.
The ability to add more arms and micros as your business grows is why I bought it. I didn't have enough money up front to buy a 4 color press.


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## identityburn (Feb 24, 2006)

triplebtees said:


> How would you burn your screens? what about this equipment, a lot more expensive, but may be alot cheaper in the long run.... www.printa.com If anyone has this sprinta system, i would be very interested in knowing if it is as easy as they say.


I don't have one personally, but I did see a demo of it at the ISS show in long beach. Great machine, but very pricey. What it seems to do is eliminate setup time (registration, screen burning, etc.) It does have a hefty price tag of about $5k just for the most basic setup.

I was really interested in it until I found out I can get all the equipment at half the price without all the fancy features. Since I'm starting out and doubt will have heavy volume and most of my shirts are 1-2 colors anyway I'm not worried about having to eliminate setup time as the printa system does.

But if you have the cash and have some volume coming it you might want to go for it. You can also use normal screens on it too, but the special screens they have with the registration pins in them will run you about $30 per screen.


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## JuneWilliams (May 15, 2006)

RAHchills said:


> I'm thinking of taking the plunge and was wondering if anybody had heard of/used an EasyScreen Press before:
> 
> http://www.easyscreenpress.com/press_onecolor.html
> 
> ...


Hi Chris,

Whatever you do , do not give Gary Ford at easyscreen your money. I made a
 $ 3,000 mistake .Why should anyone else have that same awful experience. This company purports to be a simple and easy solution for the entry level person in screen printing. The thing is if you are at entry level you would understand how important it is to have ink cure at a certain temperature and guess what, they aren't about to tell you ? The dryer that they sell doesn't have a temperature gauge or even an ON OFF switch. That's right, the on off is done by plugging and unplugging the dryer. I attached it to a power strip so at least I could turn it on and off by flipping the button on the power strip. 

They sent their product to me months after I paid for them . It was chipped , broken and missing things to screw it together. There was no guide. The ONE squeegee that was included was the wrong size. You just know I phoned and emailed and was given the runaround of a lifetime. I was so discouraged that I went to a class to find out what I was doing wrong. What I found out was that I had been taken for a ride.

BTW, Mr Ford finaly said he would refund the money if I sent back the equipment.
I did. No check came in the mail. I called. Was told to expect a check at the begining of the month. That would be this month, May '06. I called twice last week and today ( May 15th ). He was very angry at being interrupted. Said I'll have to wait another month for a check, and hung up on me. Very nice. So buyer beware !!!!


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

That's a terrible story and I'm sorry you had to go through such an ordeal.

The bottom line is, the all in one machines usually aren't that great. I've seen a couple that have rotating heads. That's a bit better than the unit your are looking at. The problem with these printers is, they are a nightmare to print more than one color, no matter how easy they tell you they are.

The all-in-one's are almost all a waist of money. You can start a business for the price you would pay for this machine. Using equipment that will get your foot in the door and still give you far greater printing capabilities than what this one has to offer you.

Good luck...


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## RAHchills (Aug 28, 2005)

Thanks all. Sorry to hear about your troubles, June. Hopefully it'll work out in the end.


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## Sampler (Jun 14, 2006)

*Printa*

Do your research on the Printa. I've heard firsthand that they don't hold good registration in the long run, and you're limited to smaller screen size. Pin registration is not the beesnees, so if yoou're really looking into that one, do some research first: http://boards.screenprinters.net/


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## printchic (Apr 3, 2006)

Hi Rahchills

There is a book sold at http://www.usscreen.com entitled *"how to print t-shirts" for fun and profit* that gives "directions" on building your own printing press. I think you'll be better off "testing the waters" with something like that than what you are considering. It also gives good incide on screenprinting in general.

As someone else suggested the all in one systems are usually not as efficient.

Also in the info it tells you how to "burn your own screens". We did it using a "camera light", "some glass and using callipar (not spelled right) film (didn't have a exposure unit).

The investment in the book and materials are probably less than $500. If you find it's not for you then you are not out much.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

printchic said:


> "some glass and using callipar (not spelled right) film (didn't have a exposure unit).


You probably mean capillary film?

(haven't tried using it myself yet, heard mixed things about it)


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## printchic (Apr 3, 2006)

Yeap that the correct spelling.

We chose that rather than the goop scoop aproach. The only problem we found was trying to lay it on the screen in "dark" as we used a yellow light so it was hard to see what we were doing.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

printchic said:


> We chose that rather than the goop scoop aproach. The only problem we found was trying to lay it on the screen in "dark" as we used a yellow light so it was hard to see what we were doing.


Goop scoop  I haven't heard that term before, I like it.

I don't know about capillary film, but with photosensitive emulsion you can have a shocking amount of (yellow) light in the room without affecting it - certainly plenty enough to clearly see what you're doing by.

How cost effective was the film for you?


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## printchic (Apr 3, 2006)

Solmu said:


> Goop scoop  I haven't heard that term before, I like it.


I couldn't think of the name of the chemical so i just called it by the "tool" they use to scoop the chemical on the screen  and called it the "goop scoop" method... 



> I don't know about capillary film, but with photosensitive emulsion you can have a shocking amount of (yellow) light in the room without affecting it - certainly plenty enough to clearly see what you're doing by.


We were being cautious. Our yellow light was "way across the room", "behind boxes" not over head so we "couldn't see" as we tried putting down the film. We were beginners so we didn't know what we were doing. They said light may "cause the film to start processing" so we were afraid to let any light near it. Our first shirt came our really nice. I still have one in the closet.  



> How cost effective was the film for you?


It ran about $53 for a large roll. Cost effective ? I don't know we never used a whole roll. We found a company that we outsourced too. Later down the line we invested in a xpresscreen machine and tried doing screens that way. Didn't go so well mainly because my better half who was supposed to be doing the screening never really practice using the machine and how to squeeque across the screen without breaking them down too soon. We finally just gave up. We did eventually decide to use screen but didn't have an exposure unit and they were costly then we've since heard one can be had for less than $500 so we may "re-visit" screenprinting for "dark shirts" printing. My garage is "full of screenprinting equipment, a dryer, flash curer and capillary film so who knows. I just don't like mess so I preferred the "film" to the "chemical". I know the chemical way is probably "more cost effective"


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

printchic said:


> I couldn't think of the name of the chemical so i just called it by the "tool" they use to scoop the chemical on the screen  and called it the "goop scoop" method...


It's goopy and scoopy, so it fits 



printchic said:


> We were being cautious. Our yellow light was "way across the room", "behind boxes" not over head so we "couldn't see" as we tried putting down the film. We were beginners so we didn't know what we were doing. They said light may "cause the film to start processing" so we were afraid to let any light near it.


Too much unwanted light will ruin the film, so it's entirely fair to be cautious. I've only used emulsion before (and one brand - I dare say it varies from brand to brand), so I don't know if film is more sensitive. With the emulsion though... even some exposure to actual daylight won't necessarily cause you a problem (though you certainly wouldn't want to toy with that).



printchic said:


> we may "re-visit" screenprinting for "dark shirts" printing. My garage is "full of screenprinting equipment, a dryer, flash curer and capillary film so who knows.


Eep! That's a lot of useful equipment just lying around. In that case it definitely seems worthwhile.



printchic said:


> I just don't like mess so I preferred the "film" to the "chemical". I know the chemical way is probably "more cost effective"


I think the emulsion is considered more cost effective with an experienced operator, but if the user was prone to spilling it, making mistakes, etc. it could easily become a liability.

There's also health to consider. I don't know what the health risks of capillary film are, but I can't see how it could be anything but better than using photosensitive emulsion (not a great chemical).


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## printchic (Apr 3, 2006)

> I think the emulsion is considered more cost effective with an experienced operator, but if the user was prone to spilling it, making mistakes, etc. it could easily become a liability.
> 
> There's also health to consider. I don't know what the health risks of capillary film are, but I can't see how it could be anything but better than using photosensitive emulsion (not a great chemical).


That was a major concern for us as far as using chemicals and why we opted for an xpresscreen setup that didn't use chemical we could just never get it to work the way we wanted. I'm sure practice makes perfect. 

You are right it's a lot of equipment just sitting. We just keep it as never know when hubby could get laid off and he could do screenprinting 

We've just got a DTG machine so we do most jobs on it. But our machine doesn't do "dark shirts" which is why we have been pondering the idea of "re-visiting" doing some screenprinting for "dark shirt" orders. Just have not dust off the equipment yet.


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## RAHchills (Aug 28, 2005)

Hey thanks for the info, Angela. Since I wrote the original post I brokered with a local screenprinter and am able to use his equipment to print my shirts.  My goal, however, is to sell enough shirts over the next year and a half to get a DTG printer.

Out of curiosity, which brand did you go with? Are you happy with it?


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## printchic (Apr 3, 2006)

RAHchills said:


> My goal, however, is to sell enough shirts over the next year and a half to get a DTG printer.


You'll really love it. I love not having to use digital transfers. Not that transfers are a bad thing. I just prefer the feel of "nothing stuck" on my shirt but the design so when i saw DTG printers being offered i jumped and got the first one i saw. (The T-jet table top model).



> Out of curiosity, which brand did you go with?


Again we originally started off with a t-jet desktop model back in March 2005. We were pleased for a while but we eventually found it wasn't a good fit for our business. Even though we work from home we require more speed, more guarunteed results and an easier printing system.

So we opted for a Brother GT-541 and it has been a perfect fit for us. We can't do "white ink" like we had available on the t-jet but "we never did" get that perfected anyway and it was so wasteful testing how to do it we just cut out loses and sold the t-jet. We also had major problem printing a lot of our clients files without doing a lot of tweaking to colors, etc.



> Are you happy with it?


We sure are pleased with the Brother GT-541. It's more costly than most machines but it's faster and the color vibrancy is awesome without the need to do "double pass" printing. Since having it installed last month we've printed a few jobs for locals and was amazed that our mess up ratio is averaging 0 per job. That's a great saving in my book as I used to order "extra shirts" due to the fact we usually had a few mess ups per quantity job. Now that we own a Brother we order only what we plan to print.

There are a lot of hidden features in the Brother that are not mentioned so unless you are actually running the machine in production mode you'll never come across them.

Seeing it "demo'd" these features are not mentioned but I love them.

Now one they do mention (but not nearly enough in my book is) that the printer tells you "how much ink" the design will use "BEFORE" i print it. That's a very important feature in my opinion and should be "an included feature" for ANY DTG printer being sold. Most "DTG Printers" don't offer you the ability to tell how much ink the design cost you. Some other machines you have to "PRINT IT FIRST" to find out how much ink to me that's a waste especially if you don't end up "getting the job".

I also love the fact i can stick in a "compact flash card" with files on it and send it to my printer. I don't have to be connected to a computer.

The major benefits are;

- I've had "0" head cloggings
- I can turn the printer off for days 
- I am not worry about cloggings
- I don't have to worry about having to wipe down the printheads daily, or clean inside the machine weekly, etc. 
- I don't have to worry about wiping off encoder stripes every few days

Which are a lot of issue many t-jet owners are going through. These things to me made it "costly" timewise) to operate my t-jet. 

Now that I own the Brother I just come down in the morning, turn on my Brother and send a file to it. I hardly ever have to do anything to the design I plan to print (other than maybe lighten it a bit)

The only cleaning I have to do is when i change the yellow ink and it takes about 5 minutes. All the parts are easily assessible.

So while others are busy fiddling with maintenance issues, on the phone with tech support due to cloggings, machine issues, etc. I am printing.

To me that's worth the "higher" price tag.

Anyway, here's some shirts printed off my new Brother GT-541 machine;

http://www.rureadysports.com/dsouthweb2.jpg

http://www.inkjetgarmentprinters.com/forums/userpix/360_mysamples_1.jpg

http://www.rureadysports.com/yourshirts.jpg (first shirt is not an actual shirt it's a picture of a t-shirt with the actual design on it. I just shared this link for you to see the middle set of shirts and the towel.)

I also have a very "beautify" shirt of a young girl laying in water with her hands across her chest holding flowers (it looks like a painting). It's very beautiful (note she's fully clothe). It's just breath taking. It was done by an artist that does fantasy shots where they take you out of one photo and put you in a fantasy scene. He did an awesome job with it and it looks just like a 'professional painting'.

NOTE: Because the artist did the design for his client but wanted us to print it on a shirt I don't want to show it publicly (without the customer's permission) but I will PM it to you so you can see it. I would love to use it in my biz advertising.


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## RAHchills (Aug 28, 2005)

printchic said:


> You'll really love it. I love not having to use digital transfers.


Thanks again, Angela... I really think it will be the way to go for me once I raise the cash. The benefits you listed are what makes DTG really attractive to me. I'm hoping that the "white ink" dilemma is solved by the time I raise the money. It looks promising


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