Tier 2: side hustle

Regular paid orders, multi-color jobs, and 24–144-piece orders.

• Press: a 4-color/4-station or 6-color/4-station manual. Micro-registration matters at this level.
• Curing: a small tabletop or 5-ft conveyor dryer. Many run on 120V; check the amps (see the power table). A dryer makes cure repeatable, which is the point.
• Exposure: a larger LED unit, often with a vacuum lid for halftones.
• Screen drying: a drying cabinet or a clean, dehumidified rack.

Trade-off: small dryers have short heat chambers. ScreenPrinting.com compares a short tunnel to a smaller bullseye: harder to hit, so you’ll slow the belt. Many small dryers have no forced air, which matters for water-based ink (Avient says small hobby conveyors aren’t enough for it).