My name is Cory and I run a screen print shop called Floodway Print Company, up in Canada.
I’m obsessed with finding safer, simple, faster ways to produce the best quality, and I like to make these videos to share the headaches I’ve had and lock the lessons into my own brain by sharing them with others.
there is a button in the lower right, you can click that and edit the list! If it doesn’t seem to be saving, then you need to make sure the permissions for that folder you dragged the script into are set to read/write.
I love all the carts and things on wheels... People don't understand the need for carts. Did you build those "jobs que carts"? That are holding the screens and inks etc..
Yes they are the best! Those job carts could use a refresh but yes I built all that stuff. I am not much of a woodworking wizard. It’s a good example of how even a crappy solution will still help a ton and teach you a lot about what a good solution will eventually look like. Every great idea started with a good idea.
Getting into screen printing now. Messed up my first time coating emulsion on my screen today. I wish I knew your techniques beforehand. Going to re-try on multiple screens tonight using your methods and hopefully it helps! Thank you for this video. Highly informative!
Glad to hear! Seeing this old video makes me wanna make a fresh one but honestly not much has changed with the process or how I train people! There are lots of ways to do it but this method with two hands and a table seems to be the easiest to get a hang of. Don't be scared to rinse it out just to practice a couple times!
@@CoryFloodwayPrintCo thanks, Cory! That's what I'm going to do to practice. Place the emulsion on my screens. Rinse and repeat until I get it right every time.
Great vid! I checked out your site and wanted to know what designer software you're using? And as a prospective client, once select my merch, design it, and select quantities, what happens then? Did you set up an automation to get my info into Printavo? Or are you being notified of a new order on your site and populating all the info manually into Printavo? Thanks!
Thank you. I don't use this setup anymore, we are doing it all in Printavo Power Scheduler now. Using their Tasks for purchasing. I use Inksoft nowadays and there is a new feature to move everything into Printavo. It works but in typical Printavo fashion it launched pretty broken. Not sure if it will get improved.
@@CoryFloodwayPrintCo Haha! I stopped using Printavo a while ago. I like it but it was missing some functionality for me. Inksoft seems to be the go to for the online designer tool. I've been waiting for a mobile friendly, simple designer app to use. I'm surprised there aren't more apps being developed for the print/embellishment industry. Thanks for the reply and great content!
Thank you! I couldn't make a defect appear haha so I stopped worry about the lights in there so much! I think our past issues were probably from screens being in the darkroom too long and not rotating through our stock.
For the frame itself it's a non-issue. Some of the 'lite' frames flex more than a good static but we are running the heavier frames. For the mesh, I do think that this method for attaching mesh to a frame is way better than the glue. We've been running thin thread since 2015 almost day one, and when we had statics almost all the failures were related to glue. This was when we had Murakami doing the stretching and they are pretty reputable. On the Eco frames there is a thick layer of tape around the edge too. I think it helps protect the mesh better than a static and it definitely eliminates all the issues from glue.
Hey Cory. Love the video. Im also using home assistant in my shop to track and control automations. Anyway you could do a video on the screen frames report and how you are barcode scanning each frame to keep track? That looks really cool.
Thank you. Yes the reclaim data is a good one! I do it with the help of Zapier which not many people use. I'd love to figure out how to do it completely in Sheets. I'm sure it's possible. It's really just a Google Form that spits it into a Google Sheet. Zapier moves some stuff around and then that's it! Home Assistant is the best. I got into it for humidity tracking in the darkroom! Would love to hear about the automations you've set up for the shop.
@@CoryFloodwayPrintCo Thanks, I will look into it some more. My automations so far are basic and still a work in progress. Ive gotten most of my switches converted to smart switches. Heres a list of some things I’ve done. 1.) If the air compressor is left on. Turn off and send me an alert to my phone. 2.) Turn off the screen booth back light at 10 minutes of no motion. 3.)Apollo air-1 to monitor air quality in my print room. I plan to add another in my screen coating room or maybe just move this one around. 4.)Monitoring power of machines to calculate machine power usage using a iotawatt. So far it’s limited to one machine but I plan to expand this to everything so I can automatically run automations when a machine turns on or off. 5.) Once the machine turns on adjust the thermostat and turns on a dashboard. Same with turning it off. 6.) exhaust fan turns on in screen reclaim room based on humidity or button. 7.) exhaust fan turn on in print room based on temperature in room. Hope these give you some ideas like your video did for me! I have tons more planned but none of us have unlimited money so with time I will keep adding more. Its already saved me a ton of money because operators sometimes would leave the compressor on all weekend.Same with lights.
@@Afterburner262 love it! thats a crazy good list. I really wanna dig into the power monitoring more! It's hard to find a return in investment, I always try to think of it as my hobby haha but yes there are so many good savings. I have had people work here for months and not know where the light switch is for their area.
@@CoryFloodwayPrintCoDefinitely power monitoring is a good one. As an added benefit you get to see how productive your machine is and when it’s sitting idle.
Yo Brandan, thanks for watching. I'm not sure I'd recommend my setup, it's something I've been meaning to revamp for a while but not sure how I can approach it without spending a ton of cash. The racks in reclaim are basic wire shelving with wheels. The separators are pieces of PVC pipe with notches cut into the ends so they can wedge into the shelving. I would like to replace these with something wider so the screens don't hang out, even the same type of shelving but deeper. It would be nice if the screens could be angled and drip into a controlled spot. Inside the screen room where the screens dry after coating, those are 'bakers racks' that I got cheap from local Facebook marketplace. I replaced the horizontal supports with old screens to match the proper width. They're sitting on a big wheeled base. Eco Frames are super heavy so I'm not sure I'd recommend the baker's racks for them due to the weight. They are awesome for standard aluminum frames though.
Cory, I've seen most of your videos, and while I'm learning a lot, I'm also eager to learn more, what books would you recommend? Also: what's a shadow phone? Thanks for sharing, this is a huge deal for me. Today I implemented something quick that was really helpful, to have printer paper near the printer with a makeshift shelf.
Thanks for tuning in!!! The bible of all this stuff is ‘2 Second Lean’ by Paul Akers but I started first with his shop tours, and speaking gigs where he presents the book as a keynote presentation. For your second question I thinkkkkk I may have been talking about Fastcap’s Kaizen Foam. Also known as shadow foam and a couple other names!
Thanks a lot Corey for replying, means a lot to me. I will dig into all this. I think it's really awesome that you decided to share your improvements with everyone, I'm really into that mindset.
@@CoryFloodwayPrintCo You are one of a few, who actually explain how to clean the waste in the water and in a pretty economical way, no 3K or 5K filtration tanks etc. Keep up the great work !!
Hey, automation systems you have installed are quite impressive. Could you tell more about One-way automatic doorbell and cameras system. Is it a system of some brand or you custom made it?
Thank you. The camera system is called BlueIris. You can fine tune the motion really well, including AI detection to eliminate false alarms. It makes a sensor available for home automation, so when the camera is triggered it starts the doorbell automation.
Maybe would have liked to see you put a Newton Meter on the screen for comparison? In the past have used all types of the reusable frames from when there were no static glued aluminum frames just the adjustable, we always noticed lack of tension in the corners, more moray in the prints as the strips did not go all the way to the corners . Now many years later I have my own shop, I chose static as I have a person who rescreens and is my ink supplier ETC close, I will definitely look at the Eco frames and appreciate you rescreening one and not just saying how easy it is.
That's a really good point. The corners are cut. I don't see it as a lack of tension as much as I see it as a smaller printable area. Because you're right that roller frames have the same issues. Since the corners don't need as much room for the big chunky attachments on roller frames, the strips do seem to reach further into the corners. It would be worth testing what the total printable area is on one versus a good static. You just gotta do the math on what works for you! A good stretcher is a great thing to have. Still gotta compare it to a panel price plus five minutes. The big thing people miss is that you won't need x100 extra frames so that you can fill a skid and send them out. You break one, you fix one. We have 78 frames or whatever but they are ALL in production. As for the tension meter, mine is not calibrated! So I didn't want to quote any figures. I shoulda mentioned that.
For sure! They are miles ahead of the wet ink style machines. Generally less maintenance. I got a 'refurbished' unit that was really just inspected, not refurbished. So I might have more issues than the average owner. Nothing we couldn't solve with a process, though. So it's been running pretty smooth! CTS in general is a game changer though. Not sure I'd go back to film. I'd rather shut the company down if it came to that, ha!
thank you. the rolling doors can be hard to find around here sometimes, at least in the buildings i was looking at. gotta pay for easy access! But it wouldn't have been an issue if we got the right measurements haha.
Thanks for tuning in, glad to help. I'm still getting a lot of conflicting info on squeegees. Some reps even say you should never sharpen and just replace it! Of course though, they make a living selling this stuff. It seems to be agreed that no matter how a squeegee is installed it will always benefit from a quick slap on the sharpener to get it flat, even, and sharp.
Glad you enjoyed it. I've been pushing ROQ for this type of stuff lately and they seem to be working on it! I'm recalibrating our press soon and hope to document it too. All in all though, it was way easier to do than I expected!
Thanks for the video, I was wanting to add two more lasers to my P10. I wasn't sure the power supply had the capability for 4 laser, but apparently it does.
The OEM ones you can get direct from ROQ but they are expensive. You can hook up any 5v ‘line laser’ to the same power supply though and they can be found super cheap online.
Definitely gonna check mine. I just got a next and it’s pretty much new but I’m noticing stuff is off like in your video. I have the PRU and I’ve already noticed that’s everything seems to be off to the left by 2-3 mm. Not sure how to fix that.
Thanks Ryan! Lately I have been working to keep things a lot simpler, so I've been moving a lot of it back into Printavo and trying to do it in Power Scheduler. It's working so far!
@@davidwaldman1725 Yes, power scheduler covers almost everything I need. We haven't touched trello in a couple months now. The biggest challenge so far is still purchasing/receiving. I'm currently doing it with Tasks in Printavo. Keeping track of everything else.
Hi Cory, i love your videos ! I do not understand why you expose it after printing the stencil on it. You should first put the aluminium on it. Expose 5 min, Then printing the stencil, then flashing. Then test print. (For me it s sounds obvious that it will not change anything the way you do it because your already print the black stencil on it)
That is an excellent observation! I see exactly what you mean and yes, in retrospect it seems obvious. I’m surprised no one really saw it that way. I think my logic was to recreate the regular shop flow. And I lost sight of the test. I’m going to have to get back in the lab. Thank you!
I have found them on sale! I also have found the 1/2 gal to be cheaper than the 1/4 gal ones too. So poke around a bit more, there’s deals to be had. It’s a good alert to set on your local classifieds too.
@@CoryFloodwayPrintCo thanks man, im going to search for the 1/2 gal ones. I really enjoy your videos, they are very informative, especially those improvement montages. Waiting on the next one !!
Great testing! I like it this sort of thing. The one thing that I commonly hear people talk about that I think is exaggerated is the length of time these screens are or can be left out in the shop light. For example, your test of determining any exposure differences was a period of 5 minutes. Some shops claim they keep all of their coated screens on a rack in the shop and the exposure unit is out in the shop as well. Not a dark room. So based on some people's statements, a rack of screens waiting to be burned can possibly be sitting out in the UV light for an hour or maybe even 4 hrs and not be affected. Not sure. But I think this longer length of time (left out in the shop) is what maybe some say can be done. Your test is a time example of someone walking from a screen burn room, stopping to talk to a co worker, and then across the shop to another wash out room for example. You completed a good test. This covers one part of the claims. It would be great content to see you doing another test at 30 min intervals up to 3 hrs. The test would be one solid (consistent) coverage of 3-4% dots in a 65lpi on a 305 mesh. This range size of dots is where you will notice any impact on the screens IMO. And that (would) impact print quality. Imagine trying to print a pastel color using tints of 3-4% dots in 2-4 different colors. (I've needed to do this many times myself). Mathmatically, you should be able to hold a 3% dot on a 305 mesh in a 65lpi. Considering the true dot size of a 3% dot at 65lpi, mathematically, and in comparison to the standard mesh thread, it should print clearly across the board without getting blocked by mesh thread itself. Now, a Wax dot and a wet ink (cts) dot will typically not be the true size of a true 3% dot. Those will be larger. This is similar to low end digital film printers as well. The benchmark or true side is one that is output at a resolution in dpi that can form a true circle at 1%. You would need a 2400dpi printer for that. Most of us don't have those. The SAATI laser can actually be changed to rip at 1200dpi. Most don't run it on that setting because it runs much slower in production to do so. For most if not all Wax and Wet ink 600 dpi printers, the dot gain curves are adjusted to print just a little larger due to those machines being 600dpi printers and they just don't put out a well shaped circle at that low % (small dot) at 600dpi. The 3% is more like 6-8% dots. So those should hold/print for sure. You might try using your 2% dot or smallest you can hold. This test (similar to what you did), is Kind of like an old school manual exposure test where you take your length of coated area and divide by 6. Cover most and leave 1/6th uncovered and leave it exposed at 30 min intervals, reveal another 1/6th for another 30 minutes and repeat. This should give you 3 hrs total. I've always believed that doing this, (for these periods of time is where you will see a difference. This area of difference is in the 3-5% range. So the test should be at 3-4% fill of a 20" area in length, across the board. Each area of (1/6th) exposure would be 3.33" deep. Once done, the first one, will be fully exposed for 3 hrs. I may try this myself. You may get various results with different emulsions and coating methods.
Thanks Dan. I’m glad it got you thinking about it too. Right after I did the test I was already itching to answer those follow up questions like - how long until the shop lights actually make a difference in the print? And the other emulsions, because we are using Saati PHU with Diazo which is relatively slower to expose than a lot of other options. I would love if I had more resources and time to dig deeper but at the end of the day it’s a print shop first so I had to stop at what mattered to my shop and customers. As soon as I have a compelling reason to dig deeper I certainly will because our industry needs someone to do it who isn’t sponsored by what they are testing.
