# Your best/smartest equipment purchase?



## mvwise1 (Mar 4, 2016)

I just purchased a medium-sized screen printer so I'm looking to streamline & update the business. I've got a good handle on the business/books side of the business but was looking for a little bit of operational feedback.

A question for all you established printers, what has been your best equipment purchase to help your business & increase productivity? There's a fairly new M&R auto press & conveyer dryer but the screen & exposure and film printing seems a little outdated. Would be on your short list of equipment? 

Appreciate any insight!


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## MidwestTees (Jan 28, 2015)

I'm so sad that this hasn't gotten replies! It would be great to learn from others about this.

Our best equipment purchase was a cutter/press for making buttons. They cost almost nothing to make and have become our second best selling item behind the t-shirts within a year. We've otherwise had some pretty bad luck. We got a great heat press but it blew a fuse two weeks after it was out of warranty. How does it know?! Another good purchase we made was buying two photo printers so we'd have a back-up if they went out of stock. We print onto transfer paper and press images so the second printer was a good investment also.


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## ProArtShirts (May 3, 2010)

Buttons hmmmm.
Been thinking about doing these for awhile.
Stickers have sold really well for me so why not.


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## Full Moon (May 13, 2015)

Since I didn't know what a good press was, I fell victim to the buy nice or buy twice program. I cant say I'm an established printer, just working my way through the process.
I struggled with making a good quality product until buying nice. The used equipment I bought helped me learn and...waist money. Lol
I've since upgraded to a Vastex V2000 6-color press and a M&R Starlight exposure unit. Really enjoying these two units, money well spent!

Still working on getting a new drier.


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## natthansimpson (Mar 26, 2014)

Sad to see no replies - seems like unless the reply is an advertisement or promotional opportunity the replies roll on in but when printers are asked what they did to improve their business - crickets chirp - ... ha..


I'd say you would need to purchase whatever you need to recycle your screens... Metal screens... A screen stretcher is nice and a nice set up so that you can wash and flash them with ease... This is probably the area with most opportunity and also one you can spend as much as you like or get creative but as long as you improve your current set up you will increase productivity...

Other than that - I'd say purchase flash unit... Where you can burn - perfect screens and burn multiple at one time...


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Embroidery for club patches is king in our world. We do a lot of other embroidered items but getting a 4 head machine was a great move. I could keep 3 or 4 of them busy 24/7.


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## MadeDesigns (Feb 19, 2013)

I must say it was the Expert 24 lx. Contour cutting takes opaque transfer to a whole new level.


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## georgiagirl9 (Jan 5, 2017)

My Hotronix Auto Clamshell press and Graphtec CE-60000 vinyl cutter are my fav. They were both upgrades to my previous heat press and vinyl cutter. So much time savings!


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## ssmedia7 (Sep 26, 2013)

We purchased the Epson 6070 Wide format sublimation printer. Hands down it was our best investments. That was 3 years ago. Last month we pickup up the upgrade, 6200, and doubled our output. Sublimation has added a lot of different products to our shop. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## PatWibble (Mar 7, 2014)

Upgrading from my 1 station, 2 colour press to my first professional press 6/6 press. To be fair, I had a 4/4 sidewinder ( liked it, but regretted having only four colours from the start) for a short time in between, but I flipped it for a 6/6 Weiss press from Denmark.

Found it for £1200 on ebay ( £6500 new), and I hit the buy button straight away. Love it. The only thing I don't like is the tubular back bar the side clamps are mounted onto. It makes screen levelling a bit imprecise, but not the end of the world.

The next best buy was the Graphtec CE6000-60, allowing me to add low volume garment and sign printing.

The _worst_ buy has got to be the Stahls Basic Clam Shell. Electrical/thermostat problems, fell apart, and no decent UK based customer service.


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## reximages (Apr 3, 2010)

I have been printing shirts for 14 years and I started from scratch. Last year January I bought a new Vastex Econo Red 1 (30 inch belt) conveyor dryer and a new Vastex F-1000 18x18 flash dryer with the Auto-Flash. This replaced old used equipment that I had and I have been so happy! Sales increase this year 14% over the previous year. The new equipment has made "my life less miserable". October of this year we bought a new Vastex Dri Cab with E-200 Led exposure unit. These also are no doubt fabulous upgrades and we are so glad we got them. This exposure unit has saved valuable time! Now I am contemplating buying a new M&R Kruzer (thinking that might be a very smart move) to replace my 20+ year old equipment. We also bought an Epson 1430 for making film and we just use the Epson ink and this was a very good purchase saving headache we dealt with our previous method of films. These purchases that we (my wife and I ) have made are our best/smartest equipment purchases so far.


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## bpfohler (Jun 7, 2009)

2 single head Barudan Embroidery machines. They really are workhorses.


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## SilvaSix (Nov 29, 2014)

I have only been in the business for a few years. I switch from a clam-shell press to a swing arm press. It has made placing and positioning my shirts much less stressful. I was always trying to peak into my press to see the top of my placement. Now I can move my press head to the side, place shirt, position, press, repeat. It is so much easier. I also switched to a servo motor driven cutter back when I first started. I had a silhouette, then switched to a servo motor driven 28 inch cutter. The noise level reduction itself was worth every penny. These were my most effective upgrades. I could not originally justify purchasing these when I first started. Now that I have them, I could never go back.


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## reximages (Apr 3, 2010)

Full Moon said:


> Since I didn't know what a good press was, I fell victim to the buy nice or buy twice program. I cant say I'm an established printer, just working my way through the process.
> I struggled with making a good quality product until buying nice. The used equipment I bought helped me learn and...waist money. Lol
> I've since upgraded to a Vastex V2000 6-color press and a M&R Starlight exposure unit. Really enjoying these two units, money well spent!
> 
> Still working on getting a new drier.


Did you get a four station six color V2000 or a six station six color V2000?


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## Full Moon (May 13, 2015)

reximages said:


> Did you get a four station six color V2000 or a six station six color V2000?


 I bought a six color, four platen press. The press is upgradable so I can add more platen locations later if I want.


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## FatboyGraphics (Sep 20, 2009)

4 head Barudan to compliment are 2 head and 3 single heads
but on a smaller scale.... a 2nd heat press and purchased stands for each instead of having them on a table.


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## porkchopharry (Mar 4, 2012)

Someone once told me "Your shop is only as good as your dryer". And boy were they right. Getting a "real" conveyor dryer was the best investment I ever made.


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