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The Basics of Screen-Printing
Screen-printing can be a complicated and frustrating process. It is similar in many ways to the screen-printing most of us did in high school art class. Many of the products that are used in screen-printing today are high tech materials that we use to produce an image onto a garment the same way it has been done for many years.
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Step 1: The Artwork.
All screen printing starts with the artwork that will be put onto a shirt. Much of the artwork today is done with the help of a computer. Hand-drawn artwork is now usually scanned in the computer and then printed out from the computer.
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Step 2: The Screen
The screens used in this type of printing are commonly made of aluminum or wood frame in the shape of a square or rectangle. It is covered on one side with a tightly stretched and tightly woven mesh fabric. This mesh consists of many different thread counts that range anywhere from 100 to 400 threads per inch. The screen must then be coated with a light sensitive emulsion that will accept the artwork image.
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Step 3: Exposing the Screen
In order to expose a screen, your artwork must be printed onto a clear or translucent film. The artwork is then put onto an exposure system. This is a large machine with a glass top and a light source at the bottom. The light is activated and shines upward toward the glass. The artwork is placed on the glass and the screen is placed on top of the artwork. The light is then turned on for a controlled amount of time and the screen is exposed.
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Step 4: Washout
After the screen is exposed, it is then washed out with high-pressure water. The areas of the artwork that were not exposed to the light wash out with water. It is these areas that the ink will pass through and onto the garment. After, the screen has dried, it is then taped around the edges to prevent ink from leaking onto the shirt.
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Step 5: Setting up the printer
After the screen is prepared for ink, it is then loaded into the printer. It is aligned and squared to the shirt board and adjusted for height. It is then clamped in place and ready to print.
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Step 6: Load the Shirt and the Ink
After the screen is clamped, the garment ink is placed in the screen. Along with the ink, a squeegee is placed in the screen to press the ink onto the shirt. After this, a shirt is placed on the board. The shirt is aligned on the board to ensure the design will be square on the shirt when it is completed. The shirt board is first sprayed with and adhesive to hold the shirt in place while it is being printed. Shirt movement is critical when doing multi-color printing. The shirt must not move.
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Step 7: Printing the Shirt
With the shirt in place, the screen is then lowered onto the shirt. The squeegee is then drug across the screen in a "flood stroke" to distribute the ink. The squeegee is then pulled across the screen wile applying pressure to push the ink through the screen and onto the shirt. The pressure and angle the position the squeegee can be varied to adjust for different garments or inks.
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Step 8: Off the Printer into the Dryer
After the image is printed, the shirt is carefully removed from the board and placed onto the dryer. A conveyor dryer is used in most shops. The shirt travels on a belt under heating elements to cure the ink on the shirt. The surface of the shirt will reach over 300 degrees fir a short period to set the ink. If the ink isn't cured to the right temperature, the ink may crack or come off the shirt. This is a critical part of printed to ensure the customer a long lasting product.
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Step 9: Finished Product
When the shirt leaves the dryer it is hung on a rack to allow it to cool. After the shirt cools it is ready to wear. It can also be folded or placed individually into poly bags and place into boxed for shipping to the customer.
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Step 10: Not as easy as it sounds
The steps above are just a brief overview of the printing process. They are provided to give our customers insight into what it takes to produce a garment for them. There are many other steps of smaller scale, but not less important to getting our customer a quality shirt.
Thanks for you interest in Dynamic Designs!!
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