A screen press prints one colour per screen. Add one on the Presses tab of Equipment: pick Add press, then the Screen filter, or set Technology to Screen on a custom press. Each screen press also gets a Screen press machine on the schedule when you add it there or in the Set up your shop wizard. Screen presses are their own default group.
Quotes don't price screen printing on the press yet: quote screen work as an item with your own price (the Screen-printed T-shirts starter product is one).
Settings#
| Setting | What it is |
|---|---|
| Screen press type | Automatic carousel (garments), Manual carousel, Flatbed, Cylinder (stop-cylinder) or Roll to roll. A roll-to-roll line is web-fed; the others print sheets, panels or garments. |
| Printing units | The print heads: the colours one pass prints. A one-head flatbed or cylinder press prints each colour in a pass of its own. |
| Pallets | A carousel's pallets (stations) the garments ride on. |
| Max print width (mm) and Max print length (mm) | The print area under Print area. |
| Min / Max sheet width and height (mm) | The substrate a flatbed or cylinder press takes. |
| Speed (sheets/h) | Prints per hour. |
| Makeready per pass (min) | The setup of each side of a job. |
| Makeready per plate (min) | The time to mount, register and flood one screen. |
| Makeready sheets per plate | Test prints per screen. |
| Plate cost | One screen: mesh, emulsion and exposure. |
Hourly cost, Hourly rate and Minimum charge work as on any press (see Presses: offset, digital and label presses).
How a screen run is estimated#
For a run of prints with so many colours on the front and the back:
- Screens = front colours + back colours.
- Passes = each printed side's colours ÷ the heads, rounded up.
- Prints = pieces × passes + screens × the test prints per screen.
- Setup = printed sides × the setup per side + screens × the setup per screen.
- Running = prints ÷ prints per hour.
- Cost = hours × hourly cost + screens × the screen cost. Price = the larger of the minimum charge and hours × hourly rate + the screens.
Example: 144 T-shirts with 4 colours on the front and 1 on the back, on a 6-head carousel at 600 prints an hour, with 20 minutes a side, 8 minutes and 3 test prints a screen, and $15 screens. That is 5 screens, 2 passes and 303 prints: 80 minutes of setup and 30 minutes of running. At $45 an hour the press costs $82.73 + $75 of screens = $157.73.
Test estimate on the press's page runs this with prints and the front and back colours.
Presets#
Add press on the Screen filter lists 33 screen presses: automatic and manual garment carousels (M&R, ROQ, Anatol, MHM, Workhorse, Riley Hopkins), flatbed and cylinder presses for graphics (Thieme, Sakurai, SPS, M&R, ATMA) and roll-to-roll units. They fill in the press type, heads, pallets, print area and sheet sizes the maker publishes, each with its source; a substrate thickness limit is in the preset's notes. A maker's top speed is shown as Rated up to and never copied, so set the prints per hour you run. Setup times and costs start empty.