Will technology kill the squeegee?
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:56 am
Went to an auction this past weekend, everything inside, outside and the real estate. Watched a decent looking one arm vac table capable of printing 4x8's, screen stretching tools (accustretch system) and 4 aluminum frames with 230 in them sell for 200 bucks. Shame I don't have the space, vac/blanket exposure table to burn screens 5x10 (solarbeam) nobody would even bid on it. Will go to scrap metal. Automated sandblast unit plus dust collecter for a little under a grand. Place did scoreboards and hole signs for golf courses. Full welding, fabricating, really set up nice. I've been screenprinting a looooong time and it just keeps getting more and more a lost art on the large side. I have a couple solvent printers myself. After I bought the first, my big table just didn't having work to do so I got rid of it and turned the warehouse space into something that made money rather than give me a nice nostalgic feeling just to look at it. After seeing that I have to wonder how much longer before the two clamshells I'm running this morning fall beneath the wheels of technology? How long before digital t-shirts get cheap enough, good enough in quality on all colors and productive enough for all textile applications? We may be the last of the squeegee monkeys boys and girls. I hope not. 