Coaster printing and idling

[technick]

I am about to take delivery of a new 40x50 coaster press (dino galaxy) and have been told there is no idling temperature, it sits only at its operating temp.

For the best results on my current machine I have always swapped the cooked coasters with new coasters as soon as the timer hits zero, clamp down, let the press cool down to around 170oc with the new coasters inside before then bringing the temp up again. If I was to hit the start button straight after inserting the new coasters I would most likely end up with undercooked coasters.

So my question is... How do those of you with the larger and better quality build presses print your larger batches of coasters? Do you start the timer countdown at 60/70 seconds as soon as the coasters are clamped down (cold) and generate perfect results every time? If this is the case then I am going to saving myself a lot of time! Cheers:)

[Justin]

A decent press will maintain its temp, you shouldn't need to be waiting.

[technick]

Perfect, i was always under the assumption that coasters had to be preheated first and 60/70 seconds wasn't enough time to give perfect prints.

[JMugs]

In my A4 cheap no name press or my large Pressmech coasters are 60 sec's at 200 degrees, no preheat, no pre-press or anything of that nature.

Janners

[technick]

Interesting! My BMS press had an idle temp, it is the same control box as their mug presses which probably explains why.

Will be putting the new rig to the test later, got a couple of hundred on back order and would be a godsend if I can smash through these in a couple of hours!

[UK Printed Mugs]

I agree with Justin. If using a decent press, Sawgrass ink, true pix paper and Unisub coasters then 75 seconds at 190c should give perfect results everytime.

[technick]

Cheers folks!

Went for the Dino Galaxy 40x50 in the end, which although is overpriced and not a Adkins - i bagged a great deal on it new and looks like an absolute beast of a machine! I've been using small 6 coaster swing presses which rocket from 0-200 in 2 minutes, lost a considerable amount of coasters in the process due to cloudyness or undercooking.

Do any of you press 20 coasters at a time using large machines? Will let you know how I get on later when I try it out for the first time:)

[bubbleimages]

How you getting on with the Galaxy, Nick?

Been looking at that press for next year, seems to be good on the reviews and has no cold spots all over the plate.

We are currently printing 4 coasters on A4 then cutting them to A5, then in half again, sticking coaster down with two pieces of 1cm heat tape then pressing putting them onto the press. Does anyone else have a quicker way, our way seems a nightmare when it comes to doing 100 at a time.

[UK Printed Mugs]

Firstly stop cutting the paper. Just lay the coasters on top of the paper and tape three sides down on each coaster. You should then be able to turn the whole lot over and press in one go. In the old days we very quickly migrated from 3110 to 7100 so we could print more coasters in one go. Thanks to a recent tip then we can print 12 per A3 sheet rather than 8 so maybe you can go from 4 to 6 (in print settings go EDIT and change printable area to maximum). Just smaller margin between coaster templates (with about 3mm bleed around each coaster). Also we find 20mm heat tape works better for sticking coasters down and stopping them moving around when turning paper over.

[technick]

I've yet to try it out but will be going through a couple of hundred coasters later on today so will give you a full update"

There are a couple of methods i have tried out to speed things up....

One method - I currently cut 6 coasters to a4 and use three bits of tape (a dispenser is a MUST) to each. It takes me approx 20 minutes to print, cut and stick a box of 40 coasters. Once i have these tape i go to the press and run them off all at once.

The second method which i have been doing (up until now) is running 6 coasters through the press whilst cutting and taping the next six, lay them out on the second mat and swap them over as soon as they are cooked. Can get through roughly 80 an hour with an a4 size press hammer and tongs. Now that i have the A3 size its going to allow me to turnaround the same amount using method one in about 25 minutes per 40 coasters:)