First time silk screening

[Keystone Chuck 0]

This was my first attempt at silk screening. I did it VIA Vinyl negative over screen then squeegee. I did three different designs in one afternoon with the same screen. I highly recommend this method. FYI I used Royal Blue Plastasol w/ a heat gun for curring.

[Aaron636r 0]

Good job.  Would love to learn screen printing.

[Shmizzle 0]

Nice,

Been doing screenprinting for years and I have always printed on transparencies. I am new to the Vinyl, not sure about the costs...

Anyone know which method would be cheaper?

[wwpro 1]

Hey Chuck , where did you stick your vinyl ? Squeegee side or the bottom of the screen ?

[Guest kenya]

Great work Chuck........... love the little outfits.

[alexi 0]

Those jumpers are hilarious. Such a good idea! How did you learn how to do this? Was it hard to get the vinyl off of the screen when you wanted to reuse the screen?

[99v8miata 3]

Very nice job. I plan to learn to silk screen as soon as we move and I have my new shop all set up.

Dave

[wwpro 1]

Those jumpers are hilarious. Such a good idea! How did you learn how to do this? Was it hard to get the vinyl off of the screen when you wanted to reuse the screen?

Check THIS out http://forum.uscutter.com/index.php/topic,1773.0.html

[Shmizzle 0]

Wow! that's crazy...

I thought the vinyl was just a replacement for the "block out". But instead it is a replacement for the emulsion all together!

Interesting.

I'm still wondering if it is cheaper using the vinyl versus the emulsion method in the long run.

[wwpro 1]

Vinyl won't replace the emulsion, it just can't hold fine detail. MAYBE for 1 or 2 shirts, but it's cool to try at least 

[Guest oldthredz]

Those jumpers are hilarious. Such a good idea! How did you learn how to do this? Was it hard to get the vinyl off of the screen when you wanted to reuse the screen?

  I screen print all the time this method works fine for quick small jobs but is kind of hard to clean your screen at times if left in a hot space the glue from the vinyl will start to melt and clog your screen and also if your screen gets cloged  with ink during printing you can not use any screen opener cause it will too break down the vinyl and the you will find your self starting all over again.  when you place the vinyl on the screen it goes squeege side down i f you feel you are up to trying this make sure you use the right mesh count to wide and the vinyl will not stick or letters like  N M  W  OR ANYTHING pointy will start to lift of the screen and you will ruin some shirts

[midwaste 4]

I have used this method several times with cheap vinyl on basic designs.

I used a 110 mesh screen, put the vinyl on the squeegee side.  I was afraid the squeegee would move the "islands" in the letters, but they held pretty good.  I'm certain I could have got 10, maybe 20 shirts out of it before it was junk.  Maybe even more.  Not sure why you would have a problem with the screen clogging, but if it does, anything you would use to unclog it is going to take the vinyl off, as oldthredz says.

[Stratman224 0]

I use vinyl on my screens all the time for quick 1 color runs.

Example:

I just did a 150 shirt order with the vinyl applied to the "BOTTOM" (non squeegee side) of the screen.

The end result is a thicker print (If you do screen printing, you know what Im talking about) - but works just great.  Also this allows for some fairly descent detail in the print too.  Top side, or squeegee side tends to let the vinyl pull up over a couple of passes causing a degrading print.

The lesson I learned most from doing this is:  it works best with 110 mesh screens (or lower) - and with one color - else you're gonna have to flash the crap out of them before screening the next color.

I use union ink plastisols too by the way (if it matters?).

Off Topic - I just wanted to say thanks to everyone on these forums for the wealth of advice and help that it gives.  Its truely a great tool to advance your talents - and I have been using it now for a couple of months!

[kydj68 0]

Hey guys just checking out the topic and vinyl is all i use screenprinting. Yes it is true you can't clean out the screens if they get clogged. I use oracal 641 clear vinyl that way you can see through to line your work up. I have used this method on 4 colors jobs and don't have alot of trouble. Like some of you said it may lift the points of letters sometimes. I tried oracal 631 clear and it doesn't work to good but no trouble with the 641. I put it down on the squeege side them i take a roller and roll it it real good and it stick perfect. The reason i use it is i do this in the basement of my home and no room for darkrooms and no way to wash all the emulsion out. Hope this helps.

[Guest oldthredz]

I have used this method several times with cheap vinyl on basic designs.

I used a 110 mesh screen, put the vinyl on the squeegee side.  I was afraid the squeegee would move the "islands" in the letters, but they held pretty good.  I'm certain I could have got 10, maybe 20 shirts out of it before it was junk.  Maybe even more.  Not sure why you would have a problem with the screen clogging, but if it does, anything you would use to unclog it is going to take the vinyl off, as oldthredz says.

If you lay down another coat and there was a spot on your shirt not fully flashed  your screen  will clog  or if you are flashing on your platen and it gets too hot there is a chance some ink will gel up and clog your screen