Got an email from an old friend Liam that worked at Scuderia West motorcycles in
SF. Our shop was upstairs.  Still the best shop in Cali  - http://www.scuderiawest.com/

 Same day found an old flash drive with some pics to remind me of the characters....

Donny at RoadsterDude.com had us work up some tees for his new company.  He already had some cool art...check out his dad behind the wheel. That's family....

Coming soon!! -  www.roadsterdude.com

New addition to the shop! Thanks for the donation of a 1965 Full House pinball from Toro Remodelers. It went to a good home. With the help of our friend Jim at JT Amusements it is as good as new.  Check him out...http://jtamusements.com/  It is amazing the people you meet in the t-shirt game.

The new Vastex dryer is awesome. Not only is it fully digital and keeps the temp within +/-1 degree of the setting, it has a great exhaust system to pipe the stink right out of your shop.  It is only a 30" wide belt but we can set it to run a ton more shirts than the last one that was twice the size. This is a real plus because it is fully portable to use on each press we have and even 2 jobs at a time. We looked into the bigger 54" but with the pillars down the middle of the room it would have been too tight. 

Using the built in fan system we vented it right through the wall. And with the flexible piping the whole unit can spin 360 degrees. In the old days the shop would have a haze...and it wasn't vitamins.  With a few added pedestal fans it makes a way better printing environment.

Last couple designs for the spring 2013 tour - It starts off on a boat - creepy........

Another example of depth through color choice. This is actually only a 3 color print on white (black/red/grey). Cool 3d effect.

New style flood bars from the guys at Martin Supply in Baltimore.
  http://www.martinsignandscreen.com/ 
These are great due to the  little wings on the sides. These keep the ink in the image area a lot  better than the standard bars.  If you ever need tech or sales help give  Jon Meller a holler at Martin.  He is the master of tech with all screen  machines and dryers from manual to autos. Plus he knows about all the  available products from one end to the other.

Check out this crazy one!!  I believe it was for a smooth jazz band  from
Oakland  - 6 color simulated

Most printers seem to be from one school (manual) or the other (automatic) and think the
other is not the way to go.

Until the last six months Hi-Voltage was manual only. We figured auto was out of reach financially.  Human nature says “if you can't afford it.... it's stupid”.

Well, after a week of 3AM printing on some huge orders we saw a place for a small M&R auto
that a friend hooked up at a great price. Instantly we saw the need for both types of printing.  Printers are always asking which is better so here is our two cents:

Manual– super fast setup especially for sampling (Vastex HD2000)
Auto– getting faster but still 2-3 times the setup

Manual– orders under 75 pieces still go on these
Auto– you can do 500 4-5 color prints and still move your arms

Manual– slick when doing more “art” style prints with lots of halftones
Auto-  simple 1-2 color prints fly at 250-350  an hour

Manual-tight registration is awesome on a good press
Auto– same thing if you originally calibrate the press correctly

In short a good shop should have both.  Each has a place. In the past we talked about the lo-fi
method of saving money building your own equipment.  We have had some real turkeys in that world from our first welded up homemade press to 35 year old dryers......so many swears...

Save your 3AM print dough and focus on a modern press and dryer combo. We recommend something in the 5 year or newer era. If you are serious about printing you won't regret it.

We took the plunge . . . It's really just our way of getting in touch with a certain demographic that I would otherwise never reach.

www.facebook.com/HiVoltagePA

There. Are you happy?