Chapter 2
Basic Rundown Of Equipment & Supplies
The basic equipment you will need to screen print can vary greatly depending on your budget, space available to work in, electrical requirements, and your goals. Your goals include what you have in mind for your business over the long run, as well as what type of artwork do you want to be able to print.
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A basic list:
Tee Shirt Press
Flash Cure Unit
Exposure Unit
Belt Dryer
Washout Booth
Pressure Washer
Screen Rack
Scoop Coater
Squeegees
Screens
Scrubby Pads
Spray Bottles
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You will also need chemicals for the screen making process. The following chemicals are needed for the entire process.
Mesh abrader - This product is used to abrade or rough up new mesh fibers so the liquid emulsions will adhere to the mesh well. Only use mesh abrader once on new screens to increase your ability to achieve high detail and halftones. Mesh fibers are smooth and slick when brand new so we need to rough them up just a bit so the emulsion has something to bite onto. Only do this with NEW screens once before you use them for the first time. Then follow with a standard de-greasing before proceeding to coat the screen with emulsion.
Mesh prep - This is used to de-grease and remove debris or dirt from screen mesh to increase emulsion to mesh adhesion and eliminate pinholes. Use this before you coat a screen with emulsion every time after you strip the emulsion of and remove any stains from the mesh.
Emulsion - This is used to make the stencil. It is a direct photosensitive liquid that is applied to the screen mesh. Dual cure emulsions have wider exposure latitudes and longer exposure times. Photopolymers emulsions have a narrower exposure range with shorter exposure times.
Press wash - This is a solvent for either plastisol or water-based screen printing inks. Please check the specifications for each product. It cleans the ink from screens, squeegees, ink scoops and other tools. This is designed to be used on press when the screen is to be reused and/or kept for future usage.
Ink wash - This is a solvent for either plastisol or water-based screen printing inks. Please check the specifications for each product. It cleans the ink from screens, squeegees, ink scoops and other tools. It tends to be more aggressive on finishes and emulsions. This ink solvent is excellent at removing stains and may often be used in the washout booth with water to rinse degraded inks off screens. Use this ink solvent before reclaiming screens for reuse.
Emulsion remover - This product removes the stencil without damaging the screen mesh. Use this product when you want to remove a stencil and reuse the screen. This is used during the screen making and reclaiming process.
Haze/stain remover - This is used to remove any stains in the screen mesh before degreasing and recoating with emulsion for stencil making. It will remove stubborn haze images and allow ink to pass freely through mesh openings eliminating printing problems with reused screens.
Spray tacks are needed to keep the shirt on the pallet during printing. Screen openers are used on and off press for difficult clogs or stains.
Spray adhesive mist - This is used for all knit fabrics that will not be flash cured on press. Any multi-color printing or jobs where you will print the design twice for any reason will require a pallet adhesive.
Spray adhesive flash mist - This is used for all knit fabrics that will be flash cured on press. Anytime you want to print a screen, flash, and print again you will need this pallet adhesive.
Spay adhesive web tack - This is used for all fleeces including but not limited to hoodies, sweat pants, and sweatshirts. Again, this product is intended for screen printing without using the flash cure on press.
Spray adhesive flash web tack - This is used for all fleeces including but not limited to hoodies, sweat pants, and sweatshirts. This product however is intended for screen printing when using the flash cure on press.
Screen opener - This is used to open bad stencil clogs on press. It may be aggressive on emulsions so make sure to test before you go all out. Excellent at removing ink stains, clogs, grease, and other blockages from mesh openings on and off press. A must have in any shop.
You will also need inks. Many people start with the basic colors. But you can get as many colors as you may need for the printing jobs you will take.
Black
White
Red
Green
Blue
Yellow
Inkjet film is needed to make film positives for screen making. It most commonly comes in boxes of 100 sheets in 3 sizes. Your inkjet printer must be able to feed “clear media” and fit the sheet size of the film.
8.5x11
11x17
13x19
Screens come in various mesh counts and 2 common sizes. 20x24 inches OD and 23x31 inches OD. These are the most common mesh counts and a general guide on usage for each.
Use a 28 to 30 mesh count for printing many brands glitter inks. Always check with the manufacturer of the ink about this. This mesh will print a very high volume of ink and have a thick coat of emulsion making it difficult to expose.
Use an 85 mesh count for athletic printing, opaque ink deposits, thick puff ink, and some shimmer inks. This mesh will print a very high volume of ink and have a thick coat of emulsion making it difficult to expose.
Use a 110 mesh count for heavy coverage on dark shirts, solid under base prints, puff, metallic, some shimmer inks, and for certain transfer printing. This is a great mesh count for high opacity inks on any dark garments.
Use a 155 or 160 mesh count for general printing on white tee shirts & under basing on dark shirts, prints on nylon jackets, and thinner silver shimmer inks. Many thinner plastisol inks will print well with this mesh count.
Use a 195 or 200 mesh count for printing on light colored T-shirts with fine detail, line work or halftones of around 35 LPI.
Use a 230 mesh count for printing on light colored tee shirts with fine detail, line work or halftones of around 45 LPI.
Use a 305 to 355 mesh count for process color on light shirts, or for overprinting a halftone on a white under base on dark shirts. You should be able to pull of halftones of up to 65 LPI but a 55 LPI is most common.
Most lower mesh counts will always be colored white. Dyed or yellow mesh starts at about 200 mesh and higher. If you have been using a 156 or 160 mesh count or lower that is yellow or amber in color that is a specially dyed mesh and is not normal to find.
Squeegees, come in different durometers and are chosen based on inks being used, the mesh count, and the artwork. The desired print result is also a consideration.
60 durometer squeegees - These are commonly used in situations where a higher volume of ink is desired. Softer squeegees blades will generally print more ink than harder ones. This enables the printer to print more ink for higher opacity and coverage. Use this durometer for printing white on black tee shirts or printing any high opacity color ink on dark garments.
70 durometer squeegees - These are the most commonly used squeegees for textiles and are often thought of as the default. But that is not always the case. This is the median squeegee for textiles and is soft with a firm feel. Use this squeegee for printing on whites, light colored garments or when printing finer line work than your average spot color.
80 durometer squeegee - These are the hardest of the 3 choices for textiles. Any harder is unnecessary for fabrics. Use this durometer in combination with higher mesh counts for halftones, four color process, and fine line details.
There will also be other various items you may need like masking tape, rulers, markers, paper towels or rags, scotch tape, Exacto blade, red or yellow lights for darkroom screen making, a heat gun for test printing, an infrared temperature gun for curing inks, a spot cleaning gun for removing unwanted spots of ink from garments, pellon for test printing, pallet tape for easy cleaning of pallets, and more.
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