Tri-Loc Registration !!!!!!!!!!!!!

screenprintguy · October 19th, 2012, 09:16 AM

WOW, well, I'd be interested in giving it a try. I can see how Alan flipping his master jig upside down would elminate the issue I mentioned when inserting the screen frame. I did a couple 8 color jobs yesterday that on a couple screens from each job, there must have been some slipage of film, or carrier sheet in the exposure unit, the image ended up exposed 1/2 inch out of wack, not a huge deal, but a bit of a time sucker. Using the Richmond screen maker to expose, Alan knows this, the blanket sucks down to negative 20psi, lots of pull on the frame, and if anything is going to move, that super strong draw down, will make it move. I'm going to try this!!!, I see a couple new custom alignment grids and light tables in the works. Not to mention, I'll be able to burn two screens at one shot if I can get this working.

Thanks for the pics and elaboration guys!!

Mike

srimonogramming · October 19th, 2012, 11:56 AM

I flipped it upside down and raised it up so that the exact same point of the frame would touch the stop blocks at the same place on the FPU and pallet jig. If those differ, your results could get very sketchy. For example, if corner 1 is on the stop blocks touching the top notch of the newman frame but the bottom notch of the roller frame is touching the pallet jig stop blocks then you will see registration issues. The FPU and pallet jig need to be identical in every way where they touch the frame.

chris205 · September 20th, 2013, 03:22 PM

srimonogramming
I really like what you did with the Tri lock system so I am working on mine. I will post pics when finished and write a review about it. Thanks for sharing that I would have never thought of it myself.

srimonogramming · September 25th, 2013, 12:54 PM

No problem Chris. Let me know if you run into any problems or have any questions.

chris205 · January 27th, 2014, 08:59 PM

Ok so I have had this done for a while now and been putting it to use. Time to write my review. The whole idea behind this was to be able to use the M&R Tri-lock system to line up art work on my screens in the same place without using the pin system with carrier sheets and set them up on press with little to no registering. All of that being said I have a 06 Javelin! The M&R style pallet brackets will fit if you have the Quick release setup so I didn’t need to change that on the tri-lock pallet. Although I did need to make a few adjustment to it as you can see in the pics below. I cut about a 1-1/2 or so off the back side and had to get a little more technical on the front as you can see in the pics. After I was sure that part was going to work I started on the light table jig. I bought some aluminum square tubing from my local fab shop and made the outside frame and then used an old static frame for my art board. I did need to shorten the width by a few inches to make it fit correctly. I also used a flat sheet of 1/4in aluminum plate for the bottom. After making all of the necessary cuts using a jig saw, metabo, files and air dermal I had my brother tig weld everything. The jig itself is made of stainless steel so I used some gorilla glue that I bought at Lowes and glued it down which has worked fine so far. I used a peace of 1/4in yellow plexiglass that I ordered on Ebay for the top of my art board and put some led strip lights in it. Total cost for materials was around $250.
The light table jig works great!!! Love it... I can put a screen in it and tape down my art work in the same place every time no problem! The jig on the press works great also but here’s the problem! When I hit my air locks it will shift the screen some times more than a ¼ inch. Some heads are better than other. After locking the screen you can adjust it with the micros so that it makes the three points of contact needed. After doing a test print it will still need to be fine-tuned with the micros. This is due to a few things. 1. Not all my M3 rollers are perfectly square because I stretch them on a old wooden table. 2. The C channel were the frame is being held on press is not perfectly square which will make it shift when the air locks are engaged. 3. You can clearly see the head shift when it starts to pull on the print stroke. Believe me when say everything is tight. It just flex’s that much and no I’m not printing with too much presser. Solution, buy a M&R Lol. After the money and time spent I would say it was worth it just for the light table jig. I do use the jig on the press for jobs were registration is not so important.
Forgot to mention that I made a adjustable arm for the pallets, pic explains it don’t think I need to say much about it other than if you change pallets a lot this thing is great!!! Big time saver!

Suggestions, thoughts and criticisms are all welcome! Let me know what you all think!

chris205 · January 27th, 2014, 09:54 PM

chris205 · January 27th, 2014, 10:00 PM

chris205 · January 27th, 2014, 10:48 PM

Pics

Hurricane Printing · February 1st, 2014, 05:53 PM

i created this in coreldraw x5..its the exact layout of my light table lines; pallet, screen & carrier sheets.....helps me see where my designs line up if i need to group images...i have the tri loc...the centerlines and marks are arranged to where i can group images...once eveything is in correct spot i delete the light table layout design and all that is showing is my actual design with reg marks and i sep and print.

hoogie · February 17th, 2014, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris205

Ok so I have had this done for a while now and been putting it to use. Time to write my review. The whole idea behind this was to be able to use the M&R Tri-lock system to line up art work on my screens in the same place without using the pin system with carrier sheets and set them up on press with little to no registering. All of that being said I have a 06 Javelin! The M&R style pallet brackets will fit if you have the Quick release setup so I didn’t need to change that on the tri-lock pallet. Although I did need to make a few adjustment to it as you can see in the pics below. I cut about a 1-1/2 or so off the back side and had to get a little more technical on the front as you can see in the pics. After I was sure that part was going to work I started on the light table jig. I bought some aluminum square tubing from my local fab shop and made the outside frame and then used an old static frame for my art board. I did need to shorten the width by a few inches to make it fit correctly. I also used a flat sheet of 1/4in aluminum plate for the bottom. After making all of the necessary cuts using a jig saw, metabo, files and air dermal I had my brother tig weld everything. The jig itself is made of stainless steel so I used some gorilla glue that I bought at Lowes and glued it down which has worked fine so far. I used a peace of 1/4in yellow plexiglass that I ordered on Ebay for the top of my art board and put some led strip lights in it. Total cost for materials was around $250.
The light table jig works great!!! Love it... I can put a screen in it and tape down my art work in the same place every time no problem! The jig on the press works great also but here’s the problem! When I hit my air locks it will shift the screen some times more than a ¼ inch. Some heads are better than other. After locking the screen you can adjust it with the micros so that it makes the three points of contact needed. After doing a test print it will still need to be fine-tuned with the micros. This is due to a few things. 1. Not all my M3 rollers are perfectly square because I stretch them on a old wooden table. 2. The C channel were the frame is being held on press is not perfectly square which will make it shift when the air locks are engaged. 3. You can clearly see the head shift when it starts to pull on the print stroke. Believe me when say everything is tight. It just flex’s that much and no I’m not printing with too much presser. Solution, buy a M&R Lol. After the money and time spent I would say it was worth it just for the light table jig. I do use the jig on the press for jobs were registration is not so important.
Forgot to mention that I made a adjustable arm for the pallets, pic explains it don’t think I need to say much about it other than if you change pallets a lot this thing is great!!! Big time saver!

Suggestions, thoughts and criticisms are all welcome! Let me know what you all think!

Chris i'm running a javie with tri-loc also...this flex that you speak of, i ran into the same problem with mine. what i did to fix this...i shimmed the rear clamps on one side so that way when they engaged it would put back pressure on the screen pushing it tight up against the tri-loc. it works great...very little deflection an almost perfect reg. on the first try. just a suggestion

hoogie