Andy, I had to go pro to get the buttons done for the comm project, they are also going to do iso chips for me as well as the tng door pads i just have to get them the artwork and they take care of the rest. If your interested let me know maybe we can throw your stuff in with mine and make it cheaper for you.
How hard is it to silk screen stuff?
- Thread starter Sulla
- Start date
Folks,
I've been a screenprinter for a "Mom & Pop" shop in Indiana for 8 years now (t-shirts mostly, 4 station manual). I've found that it is about equal parts chemistry and alchemy. When I started, they would take ANYTHING to print on, since then, we have become WAY more selective.
Certain substrates (the stuff you print on) take to certain inks (just like paints). Certain Inks don't take well to certain substrates, and vice versa. Some substrates accept inks that have to cure (NOT dry...CURE, so that they become permanent) at temperatures the substrate REALLY doesn't like (maybe eating thru the substrate or MELTING!).
Some inks (IF they are guaranteed to work on the substrate) don't play well with the material the screen is made of, and, either, or both, your stencil material.
So it's all kind of a 3 Card Monte game. I found out the hard way, as I mentioned earlier. We are limited to what we can "flush down a septic system" so there are soy based cleaners & things we use exclusively to deactivate plastisol. We tried to do some pad printing experiments and some stuff that didn't work with our "green" screen system, & I had to leave the shop. Some of the solvents involved smell like something you would find in Hell itself!
If one is doing a small run of transparencies, there are computer printer solutions that should work. I would not invest in all the screen printing paraphenalia (speedball is geared toward t-shirts- transparencies and cotton tees are "apples and oranges"), unless I was in it for the long term, and then there might be toxic waste issues to worry about. Basically, screenprinting, as with anything, is going to be MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE for some small run stuff. You are much better off paying that, however, that buying all the stuff & trying to do it at home.
As I tell one-piece customers..You can live with a computer printed transfer if you need it that bad. Very rarely does someone want to pay the price for one screen/artwork/shirt/printing (around $100) for one shirt.
Plastisol TRANSFERS, as I think another member mentioned earlier, are another matter entirely. We use it for hats and such that are difficult to print on a regular platen. The powder is an additional adhesive, the image is printed backwards onto a special paper, powder applied while it is wet, & the paper run thru the dryer just long enough to SET the ink, NOT cure. The sheet is cut apart into individual transfers and they are set on the garment (100% cotton desirably) & heat pressed.
NONE of the plastisol heat processes would be workable for what the original poster desired. Somebody in one of the earliest posts had a photo process the that would work fine. I only offer this (my official 1ST POST I believe! After a lot of lurking) from the benefit of my experience, ANd the holiday bourbon.
I've been a screenprinter for a "Mom & Pop" shop in Indiana for 8 years now (t-shirts mostly, 4 station manual). I've found that it is about equal parts chemistry and alchemy. When I started, they would take ANYTHING to print on, since then, we have become WAY more selective.
Certain substrates (the stuff you print on) take to certain inks (just like paints). Certain Inks don't take well to certain substrates, and vice versa. Some substrates accept inks that have to cure (NOT dry...CURE, so that they become permanent) at temperatures the substrate REALLY doesn't like (maybe eating thru the substrate or MELTING!).
Some inks (IF they are guaranteed to work on the substrate) don't play well with the material the screen is made of, and, either, or both, your stencil material.
So it's all kind of a 3 Card Monte game. I found out the hard way, as I mentioned earlier. We are limited to what we can "flush down a septic system" so there are soy based cleaners & things we use exclusively to deactivate plastisol. We tried to do some pad printing experiments and some stuff that didn't work with our "green" screen system, & I had to leave the shop. Some of the solvents involved smell like something you would find in Hell itself!
If one is doing a small run of transparencies, there are computer printer solutions that should work. I would not invest in all the screen printing paraphenalia (speedball is geared toward t-shirts- transparencies and cotton tees are "apples and oranges"), unless I was in it for the long term, and then there might be toxic waste issues to worry about. Basically, screenprinting, as with anything, is going to be MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE for some small run stuff. You are much better off paying that, however, that buying all the stuff & trying to do it at home.
As I tell one-piece customers..You can live with a computer printed transfer if you need it that bad. Very rarely does someone want to pay the price for one screen/artwork/shirt/printing (around $100) for one shirt.
Plastisol TRANSFERS, as I think another member mentioned earlier, are another matter entirely. We use it for hats and such that are difficult to print on a regular platen. The powder is an additional adhesive, the image is printed backwards onto a special paper, powder applied while it is wet, & the paper run thru the dryer just long enough to SET the ink, NOT cure. The sheet is cut apart into individual transfers and they are set on the garment (100% cotton desirably) & heat pressed.
NONE of the plastisol heat processes would be workable for what the original poster desired. Somebody in one of the earliest posts had a photo process the that would work fine. I only offer this (my official 1ST POST I believe! After a lot of lurking) from the benefit of my experience, ANd the holiday bourbon.
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