# How much time does screenprinting take, on average for each shirt?



## tshirtshack (Feb 4, 2008)

I would like to know how much time it takes for screen printing. How long to set up a screen? If the screen is ready and your just making shirts how much time for each shirt? Is it per a color, lets say just one color.


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## marcelolopez (Jul 16, 2007)

Well, I just started doing my first screen printed shirts.. so I am very new to this, but I think much of it depend on your equipment.
To burn the screen I have to wait 12 to 13 mins. to expose it under my halogen light, under a metal halide light it will burn in about 3 mins. 
As for printing the shirt itself, well I did it pretty quick. And I don't have a flash dryer yet.
How quick? Well I think under a minute for a single color.
hope it helps.


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## darwinchristian (Aug 24, 2007)

definitely depends on what you have. 

i burn a 110 mesh screen in 1min 50sec,
takes 45 sec or so to wash out,
45 sec or so to wet vac excess water from the screen,
15 min or so to fully dry it in a home-built cabinet equipped with a dehumidifier,
less than 2 min to set up for a one color job including centering screen to platen, taping, and running a test print. 

p/f/p on darks- probably 60 shirts per hour, printed and folded.

one pass to the dryer- maybe 80. on a riley hopkins 6-4 press.

completely guessing on those numbers but they seem about right.


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## rwshirts (Dec 5, 2007)

Man, that's a far reaching question. We just completed 1000 shirts, 4 color process, white cotton t's. We were using a 6 color, 4 station Hix press, 2 people, and I think we completed the run in 12 hours. 2 passes of each color, remove and run through oven. We just stacked in piles of 12 and re-boxed them. We spent more time spraying the pallets every 30-40 shirts. The adhesive now a days is crap!

Tomorrow, we will run 100 black 50/50 t's, 2 color....red on white....which will require p-f-p-f-p, 2 whites, 2 flashes, with the same on the back. THEN, 2 colors on 1 sleeve....a flag.

It will take a while, so I will time it and see what the time is.


RW


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## ftnclothing (Dec 16, 2007)

it takes me 35 sec to print one shirt and have it cured.

i'll print one shirt while the others curing. I could get about 100 shirts done in an hour


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## jeffie (Jan 30, 2008)

Hey, one person loading&unloading I did 288 in 45mins, if you had loader and unloader 600+/hr print flash takes 3sec longer/shirt,..automatic press ...jeff


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## staned (Feb 25, 2007)

it takes me one minute to burn all 8- 25"x33" newmans. 5-10 minutes to wash design. full eight color, water/base on whites around six seconds a shirt with three people. setting up the job is what kills me. i'm thinking about getting a newman pin system to get setup down to ten minutes so smaller jobs are not such a pain in the asp. stan


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## cvreeland (Jan 31, 2008)

If you're considering an automatic press, cast a jaundiced eye upon manufacturer's total possible throughput numbers. They don't account for time spent loading ink, taping out pinholes, etc. Here's what I've found to hold true after 15 years of running Challengers:

light shirt, single-stroke 600 shirts per hour, without killing yourself. 800 is possible, but it's like sprinting. I did do 1000 1-color left chest prints in an hour, once. Once. I liked to died when we got done.

Dark shirts, requiring a double-stroke, & flash cure 350-400 per hour, max.

My general rule of thumb is that a fully-staffed press (lead printer, helper, belt person) can set an easy to register job in around 10 minutes per color. Tight reg, you're looking at more like 15. you've got to figure in time spent gathering ink cans, spatulas, laying out shirts, taping out reg. marks, etc. -- not just the time spent aligning the screens, which should only take a minute or two each. 

My tactic is get all the screens in their heads, unaligned. Lead printer prints whatever screen he wants to register to, flashes it, then goes around the press registering each other screen. Helper follows, and puts in squeegees and ink, as they get clamped down.


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

Loading, unloading by myself on a manual press, one color on white shirts, about 60 in 40 minutes, not exactly busting my azz, and I tend to take a lot of time making sure the shirt is loaded straight. I have a light above the spot where I stand so I can see the "grain" of the shirt and make sure it's straight on the platen, in addition to checking the sleeves and centering the neck. Slows things down quite a bit, but I want the shirts to look good. I also flood, then push print.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

I can do normally between 30 and 150 prints an hour, depending how complex/simple they are. I have a conveyor oven so with dark or discharge prints I load on my 6/6, print and put it right on the belt, which is close enough that I don't move, just turn a little bit as I pull off the shirt and fold the sleeves under... I can do 4 short sleeves a minute using just one platen, one at a time. It takes me a while to pull all the shirts out of the catch bins after the print run and fold them, but that will be one of my assistant's tasks when I hire someone this year, hopefully in the next month as I get busier.


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## studog79 (Jul 13, 2006)

For us to set up a 6 to 8 color jobs usually 10 minutes. The number of shirts is between 300 - 600 per hour depending on the print and if a flash is needed.


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## h3lx (Mar 21, 2008)

At best an 8 color, 1-2 hours for seps, shoot it direct to screen, burn each at 160secs, wash out is 15-20 minutes, block it out & set it on the dryer for 5-20 minutes, tape it up and send it the press in 10 minutes, tri-lock set up at less than 15 minutes, tweak and perfect inks- 20-30 minutes. 8 colors, two flashes, 500-1200pcs/hr depending on the image, meshes, stackers, the loader and puller, It can all run smoothly, but screen blow outs, bleeds, sometimes it's a complete wash and goes back to art, back to screen... if you're in a hurry, expect issues. If it has to go out by 4PM, anything that can go wrong will go wrong and stress compounds every exaggerated issue into a T-shirt emergency. Jobs waiting for PAs and customers on site complicate everything else...


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## scubadog (Jan 5, 2008)

I run an Anatol manual and run about 100 per hour single color.


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