Screenprinting Store

Water based inks are suitable to silk print on fabric with the effect you need, I can suggest you Modatex ink. Modatex ink viscosity is suitable for 55 thread/cm frame but it`s really difficult planning the effect on the fabric without precise informations.

Holly good morning and thank you for writing.
With the screen two things get old: the emulsion and the fabric.
The emulsion gets old after about two thousand passes.
The fabric gets old after about twenty thousand passes.
When the emulsion gets old, you can remove it with a specific product called "stripper", wash very well, let it dry, and then recoat it with a new layer of emulsion.
When the fabric gets old, you must remove it, then stretch the frame with a new fabric.
When the frame gets old I suggest you throw it away.

The maximum size of a screen could be  3 m wide by 6 m long.
However the problem is not to make the screen and engrave it.
The real problem is to use it by hand and without a special machine.
For example, it would be very difficult to pull a 2 or 3 meter long squeegee by hand.
I would suggest that it would be better to print your 5 meter sheet in smaller sections on a smaller screen.

It is not important whether you have 5000w or less, what is important is that it must be a UV light.
For example, a fluorescent tube of 36 w is enough to engrave your screen (with whatever emulsion you decide to use) if it is a UV tube.
Screenprintingstore has in stock kits of fluorescent tubes UV lights.
An alternative is to use a special kind of emulsion, e.g.  the QLT Emulsion, which we have in stock. With this you can engrave your screen under a standard cold light (blue light 5000-6000 °K).
I hope this answers your question

Does the problem arises printing big and regular areas? It could depends on the permeability of the paper that soaks up the ink, so the ink itself goes into the fibre without remain on the paper surface. A frame of 120 thread it`s too much for big areas, maybe it`s better a thicker 77 thread frame that allows to a higher quantity of ink to pass and deposit on the paper. You should also try to change paper and silk screenprint using a less absorbent and more compact one so the ink will dry before go into the fibre.

A screenprinitng spatula is composed by an handle and the part to spread, usually made of flexi gum. It is very useful to apply sticky things as the lacquer to have to use but it`s really difficult to control the thickness of the lacquer layer.

It`s better use the screenprinting spatula for its specific purpose: apply the sticky material on the screenpriting frame, so it is the frame`s textture to screenprint that establishes the thickness of the layer which is regular on all the screenprinting area and indipendent from the way you use the spatula.

But there is another problem: the strictest frame texture (for example 200 thread/cm) have a 65 micron of thickness and not 6 micron. The thickness of the lacquer depends on the dry layer on the frame, so when water and thinner are evaporated: is important use the right quantity of water, thinner and lacquer so to reduce the intial thickness of 65 micron to 6 micron. Maybe it`s better using more technologies.

You do right using the red light during spreading emulsion: it just need a yellow light to ensure a good visibility. It`s absolutely right also to let dry the frame in the dark. The other operation of exposition and develop can be done using the same light you use to spread the emulsion. After the develop of the frame you can use the natural light or a more strong light to make the emulsion harder.

To screenprint on nylon we suggest you Nyloflex ink. This is a solvent based ink that dries with natural temperature or you can fasten the drying time by blowing warm air. If the screenprinting process is difficult you can add catalyst, it allows to improve the resistance of the ink without modifying the drying time.

After the screenprinting process the frame can be completely cleaned from the ink and stored for following printings or it`s also possible using a specific product to remore the emulsion and engrave again it. This is always possible with every kind of emulsion unless it has been catalized but this is really unusual.

The emulsion you are referring to is the Universal emulsion QLT ready to use, that doesn`t need a UV light but just a “cold” light as an alogen or neon. This emuslion lasts for about 100 water based ink printings, but with other inks (plastisol or solvent based) is the same as other emulsions. The frame engraved with the emulsion QLT can be recuperated and agraved again.

To choose the best ink for your purpose it`s important for me to know if you need colours for industrial or handmade screenprinting.
For industrial screenprinting you can use inks that after the screenprinting process need very high temperature, over 700 C, and then become a unique with porcelain or glass.
For handmade screenprinting you can use the bicomponent ink Epoxery. This kind of ink is suitable for up to 120 threads/cm screenprinting frames and it driesl at natural temperature, but it dries extremely better at 100-120 C for 30 minutes (you can use your kitchen oven).

To screenprint on polyester sheet the most suitable ink is the solvent based one Nyloflex, which you can find in different colours, but if you screenprint on a polyester foil it`s better to use the bicomponent ink Epoxery. If you`re not sure about the support where screenprint you can send us a sample and we`ll make the test in our lab.

Choosing the right frame to screenprint on fabrics depends on the ink you`ll use: for water based ink you`d better use a frame`s texture up to 77 threads/cm, but if you`ll use Plastisol inks you can use a 120 threads/cm frame`s texture, and this is the thickest frame`s texture to screenprint on paper using solvent based inks.
Generally if you use solvent based ink to screenprint on paper and plastisol inks to screenprint on fabrics it`s enough using a medium thickness frame`s texture of 90 threads/cm, but if you use water based inks instead of Plastisol to screenprint on fabrisc the frame`s texture can`t be thicker of 77 threads/cm, but remember that the thickest frame texture to screenprint with water based ink is 55 threads/cm.

The draw that you want to print must be printed on the tracing paper using a black covering ink. For first it`s necessary to make the frame light sensitive using the specific screen printing emulsion and scoop coater. Then you have to leave the frame horizontally in the darkness until the emulsion will be completely dry. When the emulsion on the frame is dry it`s the moment to apply the tracing paper on the frame on the drawing side to make the ink touching the emulsion. After having fixed the tracing paper on the frame using some adhesive tape it`s the moment to expone the frame under a UV light, the exposition time depends on the emulsion used but generally after 5 or 6 minutes it`s possible to remove the tracing paper from the frame and rinsing out the frame with water at low pressure the drawing engraved will appear. Before using the frame to screenprint is important to dry it and then screenprinting using the appropriate material and ink.

Modatex inks are extremely suitable for printing on fabric, no matter if the martix is made of linoleum. I think it`s more importat that you think about how to spread the ink: with a slice, a paint brush or a roller? Each tool you`ll decide to use remember to add water to the ink to make it dull enough.

Modatex inks are mixable to each other and it`s better to remove them from linoleum untile they are totally dry.

Modatex inks are also good enough to print on paper but it`s really important to use the right kind of paper: if you use a blotting paper the colour perfuses along the fibre and the result is an unclear printing. So the most suitable inks for paper is the solvent based Serimat ink.

Of course it's possible, lots of screenprinters do it for economical reasons, but I think that it will be difficult to centre the frame and to the printing process. Indeed for professional screenprinters it become also difficult to keep stored frames from different customers. Anyway the distance among drawing must allow to encircle every drawing with adhesive tape, 3-4 cm are enough.

Goodmorning Joan, the washing temperature is the same for every water based and plastisol inks: the standard temperature for every screenprinting ink is 60°C. In particular for plastisol inks composed by metal powders, as gold or silver, it's important suggesting to turn inside out the tshirts before washing it.

For plastisol inks you haven't to wait: you can wash it as the ink is cold. For water based inks ypu have to wait 96 hours: during this time ink continues drying. Adding a catalyst or drying it into the oven could shorten the waiting time, but it's hard to say how, so I think that write on the label to wait 96 hours it's a very careful advise.

Your question is really interesting. Firstly I can say that the technique depends on your purpose: if you want to make lots of printings very quickly there's no doubt: screenprinting on frame is the best choice. In contrary, if you have to make just few unique printings, not an exact copy of one another, with lots of shadows the best technique is the airbrush. But in this case you have to pay attention to use a very diluted ink that could loose its coating. With screenprinting you use dense colours with a higher coating.
Preparing a screenprinting frame is expensive but you have to think about of the material of the stencil and so even to how many time you can use it before it will get ruined. I think that you can try both, evaluate the printing results...and let us know!

Goodmorning, one of the service that we provide is the engraving of the frame, so you can send us the vectorial file and we prepare the frame for you. We can suggest you two inks suitable fot plyurethane surface: Nyloflex (even without catalist) or Epoxery with catalist. If you'll send us a sample of the surface to screenprint we'll make some test to veryfy the resistance of the ink to suggest you the best ink. On our website you'll find all the colours available and for particulat Pantone's shade we can give you the recipe to prepare by yourself the colour wanted.

I've no specific suggestions for you, this purpose is really difficult to reach. As every good screenprinter you have to try and make your own experience. Anyway I can suggest to try using a transparent mat vinylic ink like Serimat and add some pearly powder. Varying the number of the thread of the frame and the thickness oth the emulsion is possible varying also the thickness of the pearly ink and the visibility against the light. But this is a kind os screenprinting research, so you have just to try.

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All the steps you've made are right: the emulsion dissolves inside water. The problem is that beetween the 4^th and the 5^th steps there's one missing: exposing the frame at UV light to transfert the draw from the film to the frame. It's just the UV light that dries the emulsion exposed to it. The areas protect by the black draw (so not exposed to uv light) the emuslion melt down and you'll get the negative of the draw engrave on the frame. I suggest you our handbook where you'll find all you have to know about screenprinting.