# Hopkins 6 Colour 4 Station Screenpress



## megaloprintiac (Sep 8, 2007)

Any of you guys using a Hopkins manual screenpress?, are they a quality, reputable manufacturer of these manual machines?

Im thinking about importing from the States so I thought I would ask this forum for any reviews, or personal experience with these unit since Ive noticed a majority of you appear to be from America.

Any thoughts whether I should go forth with the purchase?

And is Hopkins/BWM in any way associated with Riley Hopkins?


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## darwinchristian (Aug 24, 2007)

Anthony-

I have a Riley Hopkins 6 - 4 and absolutely love it. it's a solid machine and i've had no problems with holding registration, though i haven't yet gotten into process printing so am hoping it holds true for that. 

the way i understand it hopkins/bwm split a while back and thus there was riley hopkins and some other company... maybe still bwm?


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## megaloprintiac (Sep 8, 2007)

Thanks for the feedback, from research ive conducted since posting this thread, you are correct I think. Riley Hopkins and Hopkin/BWM split from Hopkins International many years ago. But I have heard some bad press about Riley Hopkins and some good reports on Hopkins/BWM. I assume they don't produce the same units.

The manual press im looking at has micro-registration, so the whole x-y axis adjustment, does the unit you're working with have this feature? What do you make of it.
I won't be printing halftones that often because im an Illustrator so many of the effects that can be achieved digitally using photo realist techniques Im quite confident I can achieve in a vector stencil like procedure. Plus if I wanted to print photos I would get a heat press.

Any body else have any positive/negative vibes/experience with Hopkins/BWM


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## ozzteee (Oct 12, 2007)

Hopkins is a solid machine and been around for ever.There should be some body in other parts of world selling them though. new and used.good luck


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## n.signia (Nov 21, 2007)

I also run the Riley hopkins 6\4 manual press, I am very pleased with its performance. I would recommend it.


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## marlo45 (Oct 4, 2007)

I have a Riley Hopkins 4/4 press and it has been flawless so far. I've never done simulated process printing but i've done multicolor printing and the registration is superb (i have the joystick registration).

The only thing i hate about it (and this may be consistent across screen presses) is the relative difficulty in achieving an even, precise amount of off contact. I just wish that had a micro registration type knob to adjust it. Life would be much easier.

Overall, the unit is solid and i don't think that you can beat its quality for the price of it.


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## txjake (Dec 2, 2008)

Mine is a Hopkins/BWM 6/4 and I love the thing. I've used several brands over the years, and it's been my favorite so far.


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## Smalzstein (Jul 22, 2008)

Wonderfull piece of equipment, got it from silkscreensupplies. 

But if you want to import it be sure to check if they have a CE ceftifificate for it already. When I was importing some screen printing equipment I had a lot of problems with the customs office, becuase it didnt had one. In the end I've manage to push it through the border by making a written statment that the press was an integrated part of a conveyor dryer (which fortunetly had CE), which was on the same invoice. Little white lie, but without it they wouldn't allow the machine to enter the EU. Don from silkscreensupplies helped me a lot with getting the nessesary paper work and everything was fine in the end.

Apart of that little problem, this is a really good machine and I recommend it.


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## tdigital (Sep 14, 2008)

I fixed the problem with off contact by tightening re screen clamps with GIJoe Kung Fu grip. Seriously, if you fully tighten the screen clamps, the front of the screen (opposite from the clamp) will raise and maintain off contact. If you use tightly meshed screens and aren't using the squeegee as your mesh tensioning device, you shouldn't have much of a problem. I noticed that with new screens and less off contact, the problems with off contact went away. 

Btw I have a Riley Hopkins 6/4 with Joystick registration. Only features I'd like to have would be optional micro registration in addition to the joystick as well as tool free off contact adjustment. The press holds registration very, very well and I'd reccomend it in a heartbeat. Once you get used to the joystick registration, it's extremely fast and accurate.


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## Matto (Sep 28, 2007)

I have a hopkins 8/4 and love it. I do print process color shirts and it has yet to lose registration on me. I have the joystick registration which is ok. I really liked it at first but once I got to registering process screens I realized that the micros were the way to go. you can get way more acurate with the micros.
Either way I have nothing bad to say about this piece of equipment, works consistently every time.


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