Final project proposal¶
Music is my life. I’m a strong believer that life without music would be a mistake. And how I’ve missed the live performances during these pandemic times… It’s hard to grasp that it’s been almost 15 months without shows, concerts and festivals. I’m hopeful they will return, and in the meantime I’m working on making merch more ecological and DIY!
Meet the Pink-to-matic!
Kurt and I will divide the workload for the setup. I will focus on the machine with the timer and Kurt will focus on the device that tells a printer when the print has dried and is ready for pick-up at the merch.
The Pink-to-matic: why and what?¶
We’re punkers, DIY’s, makers. We make stuff, hands-on. We like to get our hands dirty. We don’t like waste.
Merch is important. It’s the place at a gig where people come together with the band and have a chat. But merch is expensive, it’s pricy for small bands to produce a couple of shirts or tote bags. Or even offer limited prints on their new records. And let’s be honest, pre-printed shirts in bulk aren’t very DIY.
The Pink-to-matic will allow bands to print their own merch, as well as offer DIY printing of their designs on merch stalls. Say I have a shirt and I want to have the logo of a band I just saw on it. The Pink-to-matic would be the solution! For a small fee for ink and the design, your fans can print their own merch. Or, of course, you could print it for them if they ask you to.
To be able to offer a bunch of merch related stuff, we need to be able to print on different surfaces with different materials.
| Substrates | Inputs |
|---|---|
| - 7”, 10” & 12” record covers - stickers to put on the records - CD covers - tote bags - shirts - post cards - … |
- siff for screen printing - linoleum stamp - etch - 3D-printed stamps - laser cutted stamps - … All from different materials such as biobased plastic, eco rubber, … |
How it’s made¶
The machine itself is a mix of a screen printing machine as well as a printing machine for linoleum prints. The base should therefore be flat and the paper of linoleum should stick properly to the ground plate.
We’re investigating whether we should use a small vacuumtable for this or if it’s okay to simply use clamps. Time will tell!
What to do¶
Building a machine asks for careful planning. There are numerous of things to be done.
Machine parts
- System for screen printing
- System for lino printing
- ground plate
- electronics
- siffs
- stamps
extra options:
- cupboard
- biobased stamps
We made a first division of work based on the different parts. This is were our paths will differ. Kurt will work on the messaging system and I will focus on the machine building itself.
Of course we keep a close eye on each other to make sure that in the end everything works.