Images Magazine Digital Edition February 2019

www.images-magazine.com FEBRUARY 2019 images 81 PF SCREEN PRINTING This month, we talk to three garment decorators about how their screen printing presses are working out for them Telling it like it is: screen printing presses Peter Conway, director and printer Tell us a bit about your business I Dress Myself is a screen printing company that has specialised in using eco-friendly, water-based inks and sourcing organic/eco-friendly garments, packaging and other complementary materials for garment decoration for more than 12 years. What is the latest screen print press you bought, and when did you buy it? We bought the RoqPrint You P10 automatic press in September 2018 to complement our existing hand presses, two M&R Sidewinders. We were experiencing a greater demand for our services and it was time to bite the bullet and invest in a machine that could deliver a higher volume. Why did you choose the Roq? What do you think are its main advantages? It’s important for us to listen to people who use the machines. We spoke to a few people directly and read lots of reviews and comments online. Of the two machines that had consistently good reviews, we chose the Roq because it came in at a much better price, it appeared simpler to use, the flashes were easier to move around, the control panel was integrated and the safety bars seemed better. The other machine had lots of extra programmes that we felt we wouldn’t ever use as we only use one type of ink and aren’t looking to print onto lots of different materials. Is there anything you’d like to see in a upgrade or don’t particularly like about it? At the moment the ’star’ only rotates one way during printing. It would be useful to have this rotating both ways in case we would like to reposition the machine in future. What’s it like to use? It’s easy to use and easy to train others in the use of the machine. Obviously it helps if they have screen printing experience. What sort of work is it used for? I use it for lots of things: it’s best for high volume, multicolour work, but can be easily and quickly utilised for short runs of single-colour prints if necessary. What other equipment do you use? The other machines we have here aside from the manual presses are two Brother GTX DTG printers. They work together well, eg for small runs of full-colour designs on the DTG printer, with a logo print across all garments on the Roq. We have the very small amounts of full-colour etc covered by the DTG printer, small runs of one to four colours on the manual presses and everything else on the Roq. What is your advice to others thinking of buying a screen printing press? My advice would be to shop around, do your homework and get the press that’s right for your needs. Look into lease loaning and other payment options. Also, make sure you have your prep and dispatch departments organised as an automatic press will eat through jobs much quicker than you are used to and this will have a knock-on effect. www.idressmyself.co.uk Peter bought the RoqPrint You P10 auto last year I Dress Myself: RoqPrint You P10 automatic press