Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1451379
4 6 G R A P H I C S P R O A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M A P P A R E L D E C O R A T I N G ONE-COLOR PRESS TABLETOP SCREEN-PRINTING PRESS OFFERS VALUABLE TRAINING EXPERIENCE 4 6 G R A P H I C S P R O A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M M A K I N G S H O P M O V E S | H O W A R D P O T T E R P ersonally, I think no matter the size of your shop, if you screen print then you should own a one-color/one-platen press. It is a highly underrated piece of equipment that carries a ton of value for any size shop. IT'S GOOD FOR TRAINING Even if you do not produce with this piece of equipment, simply using it as a training tool is priceless. We use the Workhorse tabletop press and all our new hires start out on that press. It even has micro registration for the print head. is press allows the new hire to learn all of the basics from registering a positive along with off contact. By using this press, they also can take the time to master loading a shirt onto the platen to make sure their prints are positioned correctly. From there, they learn about what squeegee to use and the amount of pres- sure to use, which can vary based on ink, screen mesh, and design style they are looking for. A press like this really builds an employee's knowledge about screen printing along with endurance of manually screen printing without throw- ing them into the deep end too quickly. We will typically have a new hire work with this press for a month to get them warmed up and prepped before they move to our 6-color/4-platen press. Lastly, we introduce them to our automated press. is whole training can take three to six months depending on our workflow along with how well the new hire is able to pick up the skill set. IT'S GOOD FOR REPRINTS Do you own several larger manual or automated presses? Why would you want a tabletop press in the first place? For most shops, over 60% of their work is simply a A one-color/one-platen press is a highly underrated piece of equipment that carries a ton of value for any size shop. (All images courtesy Howard Potter)