Riley Hopkins Press Review: The Good, The Bad, and the “Wow That Really Sucks”.

Not for the Faint of Heart. Not for the Start-Up, Newbie Screen Printer.

This is the first and only screen printing press I have ever owned. I have grown to love it, in spite of it’s many flaws. If I had it to do over again this is probably not the press I would have bought, nevertheless, since I invested deep, deep, deep into this particular machine, it became incumbent upon me to learn it’s many nuances, and flaws, and then workaround them.

Most of them, I eventually discovered, came from many of my own shortcomings, along with a few flawed misconceptions on my part. Some of the problems, however, reside solely in the heart of this machine, which in my opinion, while mechanically sound, could have undergone a few more years of R&D before it was sold with such hype, as it has been.

Perhaps the most damning of my mistaken beliefs was this one: Great (expensive) equipment can make even a novice printer (like me) excel in this business. What I have since learned is that there about 500 different variables in the screen printing process, any number of which can crop up and snake-bite you in the butt long before you ever press a single stroke of ink onto the shirt. No, the right equipment cannot make you a great printer. But over-hyped equipment (like the R&H line) can break your spirit right down the middle, and even make you hate the screen printing process.

Let’s start with the positives about the R&H printer line.

You Look Marvelous!

First off it’s pretty. I know that doesn’t sound like much of a benefit, but let’s own up to some human weaknesses. If it looks good, we tend to like it. I don’t know how much thought went into the overall design aesthetics of this machine, but my guess is there was a lot. Even though I am now aware of just how flawed this piece of machinery can be, it is still makes me feel good when I stand next to it ready to print. It has the feel of a much more expensive machine. It looks like a mechanical wonder, and when it works right, I believe it really is.

One of the problems though, is that R&H designed this printer to be a great entry-level rotary press, and maybe it is, for a savvy printer. It might just kill the novice printer though, as it almost did me.

Platens, Platens, Platens!!!

The platens are one of the single most important parts on any machine, and these are constructed with extraordinarily high quality in mind. I love - LOVE - the platens. They’re some of the best I’ve ever seen, and quite frankly one of the most expensive parts to replace on these machines. That doesn’t bother me. They’re high quality, and that does make up for a lot of problems with the press. The only downside to the platens is that you have to watch the base on the bottom to make sure the screws are tight. They tend to loosen every now and then, which can be detrimental to a job where tight registration is needed. I took all my screws out and injected epoxy into the screw-holes, and replaced the screws. That problem is solved for now.

Assembly? Snap Fingers. Done.

The machine is mechanically very simple to assemble, disassemble, and maintain, which is important. I put the entire machine together by myself in about an hour and a half. I only needed help lifting the spindle on top of the base.

Smooth, Baby

The screen hinges are extra-ordinarily smooth and easy to control. The motion when dropping the screens down between the registration pins is firm, but smooth, and I’ve had no problems with jerkiness that can come from overly tight springs. In fact, the entire spindle from rotary to screen clamps is very sound indeed.

The Ugly

Consistent Registration is for Losers – Business Losers That Is!

Bottom line on the dirt? This thing loses registration – a lot. And I still haven’t figured out exactly why. I’ve discovered that, if I spend more time on off contact it happens less. But not less enough.

I recently did a four color job which required extremely tight registration, with none of the colors touching, but were just outside of a 1/16 of an inch of one other. It took me about 45 minutes to get all four colors registered in, and I was ready to print. My first print went smoothly until the fourth color. On my first shirt the fourth color was now inexplicably off by almost 1/8 of an inch!

This whole process cost me about two hours of cleaning up the ink to re-registering the screen. It wouldn’t have taken that long, but when things like this happen it opens up the door to human error, so I made a few boneheaded mistakes, which cost me time, as well. I don’t know what your hours are worth, but mine are worth quite a bit to me. If this happens on more than one job it adds up pretty darn quickly.

Registration Guides are for Losers, too!

Most of this presses problems seem to come in the area of registration, which ain’t good. I’ll be printing along, and getting into a good groove, only to discover that one of my screens will no longer drop down between the registration pins! It just hovers above the platen and you can’t even force it down. It seems that, for some reason the off contact has changed so drastically that it will not let the screen fall where it should. Agh!! This *&$## machine!!

I have since discovered that two of my screen clamps seem to be slightly damaged - they were delivered that way, as I have babied this thing. The bottom part of the c-clamp seems to be angled downward by a little less than an 1/8 of an inch. There is nothing I can do to adjust for this. This keeps me from having a consistent off-contact with the platen, which is especially important when printing light ink on dark garments. It has a similar effect to using a warped, wooden screen. The screen never quite engages the platen the same way twice, which eventually causes an inconsistent shift in registration. In fact, you may lose registration on one print, only to get it back on the next. That’s bad. What’s worse is that you may find that your screen will suddenly not even go down between the registration guides, which means you have to readjust your off-contact bolts, which means you have to re-register at least one color. That’s terrible. For a machine that costs $2000 (after shipping) that’s unacceptable.

By using extra-straight, aluminum screens (spend the extra cash on roller frames, you won’t regret it) and spending a lot of extra time on the off contact, especially on the bad print heads I’ve helped to negate this problem. But I can’t promise you that you’ll be able to do the same. It has taken a lot of trial and error to figure this out. A friend of mine has the exact same press, and the exact same problem, and we still haven’t figured out why his does the exact same thing.

Joysticks are for Video Games.

I love and hate the Joystick registration. I love it because it’s so simple to setup simple registration jobs, and I hate it because it is so difficult to set for tightly registered jobs. The joystick is basically a flat slab of steel set between two other slabs, with a range of motion covering about two inches. The problem is the precision movement of the platens depends almost exclusively on the amount of personal muscle control which you may, or may not be in possession of.

If you need to move a 32nd of an inch in any direction to get the job into registration then good luck. That kind of control just isn’t possible without some extra hacking. The best way I’ve discovered to do this is to do this: fiddle with the joystick until you’re as close as you can get it, then tighten down the registration knobs just to the point of where they are snug against the primary slab. Then use a small tack hammer to tap the slab in any direction you need it to go. This is only necessary with ultra-tight registration, and is by no means ideal.

The joystick is much better for simple registration jobs, but it’s a beast where real micro tuning is required. Personally I would like to see a combination of the two.

My Final Thoughts

Here is the blurb for R&H’s web site:

Generally, a press that is inexpensive enough for someone on a budget…doesn’t work well, and usually winds up killing a shop. We’ve decided to end this NOW! The Win Series is a line of presses that have too much quality, and too little price. They are made to be purchased once, and its designed to be used for many years. They are truly a wonderful piece of work. They feature fully cast and machined arms, with Joy Stick Registration. The wheels are CNC laser cut, CNC bent, and welded. They have a 2″ solid center shaft, and similar oversized, low-drag bearings like its Aero Series brothers. Featuring a sturdy round tube base, with solid, adjustable feet, these presses will give both you, and your pocketbook the grins!

The copy writing on this equipment should tell you something. Typically, ad copy should “sell the sizzle not the steak”. In other words, sell how good the steak will taste on your taste buds, show how it looks flamed up on the grill. Make mouths water. Few people actually care what kind of cow the steak actually comes from. The sizzle in this ad, is that it’s inexpensive, and sturdy. The rest is all details about how the machine is built, and what is used to build it – all steak and no sizzle. The part that kills me though is the “grinning” part. You won’t be grinning much with this press if you’re a newb, like I was. If that’s the case make sure you’ve boned up on God, or alcohol, which ever you use most to calm your nerves.

I recommend God. He’s a lot less expensive, has better benefits, and there’s no hangover.

I can’t, however, completely recommend the R&H Win Series press for new printers. It’s just not worth the hassle. Experienced printers will love most likely love it. But not new printers. Buyers use caution.