My new job is at a clothing printing company that uses small heat presses to print vinyl stickers to hoodies and shirts etc. But the way it’s done right now, with rulers and estimation, is slow and imprecise.
So my plan is to implement some kind of simple frame to bolt on that will have sliding rulers and guides to make work go faster. My initial idea is to use extruded aluminium rods, the square slotted kind, and a nylon plate to slide along it for the ruler guides to be attached to.
Anyway, my question is if anyone knows of a site that has an extensive range of add ons and bits and pieces to make the modular system easy for me to pick-and-mix from, like a constructor set or Lego. Or maybe a better system I could use instead.
Yes. The moving parts will be a plate sliding along a guide rail, supporting rulers folding from the left and right. I am confident the design will work, I just want to assemble it using parts, rather than some kind of expensive bespoke build.
I don’t have a total solution but people into serious woodworking make jigs that involve similar concepts and you might be able to put something together using jig components:
I have seen modular linear guide rails used for small-scale CNC machining. Surely parts like that (maybe aluminium?) can be ordered rather than requiring expensive custom-engineered parts.
Thingiverse would also be your friend there, if you either have a 3D printer, or can get things printed locally. I’m using some thingiverse-sourced brackets, hinges and the like in building a heat enclosure for my 3D-printer/CNC out of extrusions. The basic frame and t-nuts etc are all from a local site similar to 8020, but the rest are prints.
Also, i have a buddy who presses shirts as you describe, small scale, like a side business. He may have some “tricks of the trade” to share.
Feel free to PM me, but no telling if/when I’ll get back with info.
I’m gonna show my buddy your design above
