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

eetherman

Would anyone mind sharing their Tri-loc template so I don't have to make one?

asecominc

Don't mean to resurrect this thread, but anyone know where I can print out a template I made for our shop?

5103Ventures

This is an interesting twist on the use of tri-loc. I'd like to point out that it is patented though, so I wouldn't brag about knocking it off or using it with other presses besides M&R when you do. M&R spends alot of money making their equipment do what it does and it does it well. I'm not very sure what patent covers for your own use.

As for a template, just call M&R and buy the plastic sheet that has the lineup grid on it.

My personal experience, in a past shop is that we made an alignment jig for our own use with a very old TUF Olympian and TAS R series. It was better than getting bit by a dog, but some days that was debateable. We made a alignment grid with a sharpie and straight edge and an old x-ray viewing box for a wall mounted light table. It was a simliar 3 point line up. We used a piece of 1/4 plexi for the on-press piece. It was designed to interface a pallet to a screen and replicate the 3 points. As we had two presses, we had two alignment jigs. The pallets on our press were not removable.

One thing to watch out for is making sure your screens are all the way down in the exposure unit piece. If they vacuum down and hit the glass it will eventually shatter.

We ran about 20-30 screens a day with two autos and mostly 1 to 2 color 1 to 2 location jobs in the 35 to 250 piece range.

My thoughts on this system:
- It's an interesting way to change how you use the carrier sheets, which are a nuisance level expense.
- It will eliminate pinholes from the inevitable gunk that winds up on the carrier sheets before you toss them or they become unusable because the holes enlarge.
- The primary purpose of the on-exposure piece is to register your screen to the carrier/artwork combo. With it on the wall you could do this pretty easily with gravity. So I'm not sure what value it adds... the spring clamps in it are something of a PITA.
- It's interesting that the Workhorse presses can use the same parts. When I looked at their presses earlier at a show I thought it looked like a copy of M&R.