A Tour of My Home Office/Sweat SHOP

Sup folks. Well I just got just about everything hooked up now for silkscreening. I had to electrical box upgrade and outlets to for the heater and flash dryer. I had to build a Dark room for film/screen exposures..I still need to sheet rock,plaster and paint that area..
 
Here are some pics to share with you folks....
 
Starting out with the Work Station...This where the magic happens..all graphics and what not start here...
 
Sony 23" HIGH DEFF MONITOR, Dell Precision Work Station Dual Core Dual Xeon 3.8ghz Proccessors 4 Gigs of DDR2 Ram, 3 Hard Drives..1 x 15000 RPM SCSI 75G Seagate HD, 1 x 10000 RPM SCSI 150 Gig Seagate HD, 1 X 7500 IDE 150 GIG HD, Nvidia 3400FX Graphi Card, Sounblaster Audigy Sound Card..Wacom Intuos 2 12x12 Pen Tablet..hidden HP printer
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/23monitor.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/workstation.jpg[/IMG]
 
Printer 2 Epson C88 set up for Sublimation printing...
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/sublimationprinter.jpg[/IMG]
 
Printer 3 Wide Format Epson BlackMax System for Film Out put..6 black super opaque ink Cartridges with RIP software to print in Half Tones prints 8.5x11,8.5x14 and 13x19<<<=====BINGO
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/printer2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/printer.jpg[/IMG]

Roland Camm-1 Servo Vinyl Cutter (can load vinyl up to 27"W)
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/cutter.jpg[/IMG]
 
Hotronix Heat Press 16x16 All digital with auto lift..and Digital Pressure
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/heatpress.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/heatpress2.jpg[/IMG]
 
 
Dark Room
 
Exposure Unit with auto timer..25x36
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/exposureunit2.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/exposureunit.jpg[/IMG]
 
Wash Out Booth for reclaiming screens and washing/degreesing
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/washbooth.jpg[/IMG]
 
All Supplies need to print..squeeges,paint,chemicals, screens, pressure washer and more....
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/chemicals.jpg[/IMG]
 
Screen Press Area..
Riley Hopkins 6 color 4 station press..and 18x18 Black Flash( used to flash ink for multi color designs and white flash plates)
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/press.jpg[/IMG]
 
Little Buddy 5ft. 18x24 Conveyor Heater 240v 3000w (use to cure ink onto shirts) up to 100 per hour.
 
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/heater.jpg[/IMG]
 
 
 
And thats just about it....:biggthumpup:

veddy niiiice

Out of curiosity..are you using the 75gb SCSI as the boot drive?  That's what I do as well which is great for performance.  I then run two others (raptors) together as RAID with several large IDE drives for mass storage.  You should pick up a 1tb IDE for mass storage for video, they're very affordable now.  That's a nice new rig Rich...cool little sweatshop..haha, you bought some nice gear.

Now where are the workers?

Damn Rich, you're big business now!

Congrats on the setup, and I had no idea it was so expansive.

Best of luck in your ventures

[quote=elpresidente;176368]Out of curiosity..are you using the 75gb SCSI as the boot drive? That's what I do as well which is great for performance. I then run two others (raptors) together as RAID with several large IDE drives for mass storage. You should pick up a 1tb IDE for mass storage for video, they're very affordable now. That's a nice new rig Rich...cool little sweatshop..haha, you bought some nice gear.[/quote]
 
I am using the 15000rpm for video rendering..it really makes a big performance difference.
As far as storage is concernced I will be purchasing an external TB for client work..I like to keep my on board hard drives free as possible...you know windows....hahahah..mother board has an on board raid controler so my external mass storage most likely will be a raid storage device..I really like SCSI as they are more stable and when rendering video I really need somehting that will support and can handle the work load.
 
[quote=widebody_Q;176372]Now where are the workers?[/quote]
 
hahahah in Mexico right now...gots to find a coyote to bring  them over here...kekekkeke...
 
Na its just me right now..I am going to be hiring a few individuals on a commission basis to land me more bulk clients..I will pay them %25 of the profit..I know a few good sales reps that have shown interest but I am just tieing up loose ends right now. I need some really sexy ladies to get some contractors business:dance::biggthumpup:
 
I also have a few others that want to help run the press...However I may save $$$ and look for some interns..dont have to pay them...kekekkekekekke...
 
[quote=firelizard;176374]Damn Rich, you're big business now!
 
Congrats on the setup, and I had no idea it was so expansive.
 
Best of luck in your ventures[/quote]
 
 
Thanks mayng...I appreciate it...Yeah its started off small and each year I am growing..but I am not just ready to open a shop just yet (as in a store front) I save on overhead and that helps keep costs down..and its a blast working out of your home....I can wake up dont have to drive to work and if working late nights I can just shut down and walk to my bedroom and go to sleep....
 
THis allows me to spend more time with my kidos BUT it is also hard because of the kids..really takes a lot of motivation and seperation...I do have a short term goal to land as many clients as possible in the next few years. Then I will open a store front when My little one is in school...most likely in the 2-3 years. I have had to remodle and build areas for this equipent and the next on the list is an embroidery machine but I am not in a rush for that it will come in time...
 
Thanks again fellas...

Nice set up you have there!

[QUOTE=AutofashionFred;176393]Nice set up you have there![/QUOTE]

my words exactly +1

looks like u doin big things man!

[quote=AutofashionFred;176393]Nice set up you have there![/quote]
 
[quote=RaCinStylez;176405]my words exactly +1[/quote]
 
[quote=volkgt7;176434]looks like u doin big things man![/quote]
 
 
Thanks fellas..yeah I am trying to get my flow on....:biggthumpup: Also doing what I love for a living is cherryies on top of the cake..
 
I am very very excited about this and where I vinyl is really cool and crisp there are things that I would not be able to do with vinyl that I can do with silkscreening...
 
ex..
this photo below is printed using halftones. You need RIP software and a special printer to be able to print halftones. For all of you that are familiar with photoshop..when using the texturizer and selecting sketch/ half tone...you can get any image and make it dots. to create a pattern that will make up your image. But a printer can not print halftone dots unless you have RIP software and a printer such as an Higher End epsons that will allow you to print in half tones...
 
Now this is cool because you can take any image saturate it send it to the RIP and it will print out only black dots..in this case I am using ellipses..there are about 5 different patterns to choose from that will give you different looks. With half tones you can create the illusion of depth AND grey tones without needing more than one screen if you are only using one color inked shirts..It gives you more of an actual black and white photo look..Now you would not use this all the time but when you do want it its awesome....I will be able to print multicolor shirts with only 4 screens using this method..I would use CMYK colors and special transparent inks to create millions of colors just with 4 screens...saves the customer money on screen fees...
 
here is an image I test printed showing the halftone print..one on top has more dots per inch which will allow for more detail one on bottom is less dots less detail and a little brighter..
 
oh and this print is only 2.5"x3" in size so you can imagine on a bigger print the detail you would get...
 
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/halftones.jpg[/IMG]
 
 
Whos cars is this???????? He is on this forum can you guess who?????
 
I know this was not a question but I do like to pass on knowledge when I have it incase someone else maybe interested in this process..

Big Steve's LS, innit?

I like half-tones, I recently modified one of my vexel pieces to a half-tone wallpaper, it just has so much character.

I didn't know that you needed special software to print it though, that's really neat

Well you can print halftones through just about any printer but they will not be black and white..it will be gray tones as well..using less black in in areas..Now when burning in images to a screen every color needs to be very dark opaque black. So with the rip software it actually prints in black and white no greys but gives the illusion of grey with the size,spacing and angle of the dots...
 
here is a sample of an image using the PS filter...
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/halftonesample2.jpg[/IMG]
 
Top picture is with the half tone filter over it..OK looks good right...BUT when printing it will look the same..it actually is just and overlay on top of the image that converts greys,blacks and whites to a half tone pattern. Now in this you will have different shades of greys not just one..
So you would have to color separate the image and print all different colors in all black..leaving you with a less detailed image and more screens..
 
Now the lower pic printing the same picture but using the threshold tool to make it black..WOOPS where is all the detail...bye bye ..Still a cool image and not to say it would not look cool on a shirt with the right graphics to complement however it prints in a square shaped pattern because of the printer..and the threshold tool how it makes the image separate...
 
With the Epson printer with the rip software all you do is desaturate the image making it a greyscale and it does all the work for you....you do have control of how fine you want the halftones which is nice and what angles you want them at.
 
now here is the previous image I posted....see its black and white...no grey tones what so ever..
[IMG]http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j298/q45t07/halftones.jpg[/IMG]
 
 
Keep in mind these are pics from a printed piece of paper from my digital camera...
 
Anyways I hope this helps you understand better....Its not that you can do it but how much better you can do it with the right software, hardware and tools...And the biggest thing is doing a four color process printing...you NEED rip software and color separation software to do that..and like I said before it basically makes your press print the way a printer prints..Most printers only use 4 colors...or CMYK just like offset printers...when you look at news paper adds or magazines you see dots of color and depending on the angle and how much ink is applied will make many many different shades of colors...Its more of an advance process for screen printers..
 
Oh yeah and your right Big steves VIP LS..

Very nice equipment!  Good luck in your business venture and in capturing the American dream!

Chris