
The most traditional method of screen printing employs plastisol, which is an industry-standard. It is also possible to use liquid (acrylic) inks that are less abrasive. The method used is that a squeegee presses the ink through a stencil and then onto the fabric. This process can take a lot of time! Even though the machine requires manual labor to operate, it is virtually impervious to failure! If it does break down, they are infrequent and require a lot of effort to solve. A majority of these machines are correctly set up and do not anticipate problems.
Making a screen ready for water-based inks can be slightly more complicated than plastisol. It is because the printing deposit becomes less as the ink gets dried on the screen after a while, and ink could break down emulsions more quickly than plastisol’s ink. Due to this, you require a high-quality screen to ensure a high-quality print. Let’s walk through the steps of creating a screen, so you’re ready for the next water-based project.
Choosing The Right Mesh
One of the initial steps to making a screen ready for water-based printing is choosing the proper mesh size for the ink you are using. Because water-based inks are less thick than plastisol inks, you’ll need to select an even higher mesh to stop the print from becoming dirty.
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The minimum mesh count that printers can use to prepare the screen for printing with water is 156. If you are using a screen with a mesh count below 156, you are at the risk of dropping excessive ink on the shirt. In addition, it could cause extreme saturation, which causes a mess in your printing and causes problems with drying the ink.
The decision to determine your mesh count is specified on the detail of the image and your print coverage area. The greater the size of the area, gets smaller the number of details in your print and the smaller your mesh count. The more detail you can get and the smaller the coverage area is, the higher you will increase mesh size.
There are other factors to consider for choosing the best mesh number. Opt for a big size mesh if you’re printing on a lighter fabric with darker ink colours. Be sure to get the right ink coverage each time you use your squeegee. Lowering the mesh count will help you get the coverage you require when printing onto a dark fabric with lighter ink colours.
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Picking Proper Emulsion
When printing using inks based on water, it is essential to select an emulsion with water resistance to protect your screen. Certain emulsions are more resilient than others. Therefore, the use of a water-resistant emulsion could assist you in avoiding an early breakdown of the emulsion. In addition, when you are running for long periods, it is possible to take additional steps to make sure that the emulsion does not break down in production.
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Proper Screen Prep
The process of preparing a screen to be used in production can be a daunting task until you’ve got everything set up. Here are some suggestions to ensure that your screen is prepared every time.
Degreasing the screen
Do not skip cleaning. Whether your screen is brand new from the box or you’ve used it many times over the years, if you want to remember, you must get it cleaned. If you can, choose the water as pH neutral as you can. It is important to use soft or hard water because mineral deposits left on the mesh can ruin your emulsion’s durability. In addition, a degreaser can take away any dust, oils and dirt that have accumulated on the mesh, which could cause problems with how your emulsion sticks to the mesh. Emulsion preparation also improves adhesion to your mesh which helps you build the most durable, stronger stencil for printing with water.
When printing using water-based inks, these problems are particularly problematic as the emulsion can break down faster. Beginning with a clean screen can help make the stencil last longer.
Before moving on to coating screens, be sure the screen is dry. It gives the emulsion the most excellent chance to adhere correctly to the screens.
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Coating Screens
If you are coating a screen to allow water-based printing, make the smallest amount of stencil possible. A 1×1 or 2×1–coat is the best choice to coat screens with water-based printing. Keep in mind that the denser the emulsion coat is, the more difficult it will be to get rid of the detail. Additionally, it will be harder to expose your screen. A not adequately exposed screen is likely to suffer an early emulsion breakdown. Make sure to test your screens before going into production.
Exposing Your Screen
After your screens have been covered and dried, you can learn how to expose their screens. The time to expose screens varies on the thickness of your emulsions and the mesh and thread count of standard and. Fine thread and the light source these variables will affect the level of detail you retain on your screen.
Utilize a 21-step calculator for grayscale to set the exposure time. Then, after you wash the screen, you’ll have a clearer understanding of the amount of time you’ll need to expose it.
POST-Hardening AND POST-EXPOSING
After your screen has been exposed, you are given the option of taking the additional step of hardening your stencil with post-hardening or post-exposure; it can be accomplished in several ways.
Post-Exposure
Set the screen back on the exposure unit, and then expose it once more. Post-exposure helps to solidify any remaining soft emulsion. Post-expose once you’ve washed and dried the image.
Post-Hardening
Chemically, you can create a hardened stencil using products. Apply the hardener evenly and evenly on the sides of an open dry screen. To apply a hardener, you can use a sponge or a cloth. Clean up any hardener that has accumulated. If the hardener is applied in a large amount and left in the image area, it could appear as a film. Take it off to reduce the possibility of printing issues.
The screen should be left alone for a couple of hours so that the hardener can get into the emulsion.
The screen should “cure” or crosslink overnight for the best results. If you want to utilize the screen immediately, place it in a highly heated storage container (above 120 F) for at least 1-2 hours. Applying the screen before the hardener has penetrated completely and chemically altered the emulsion will last longer, but the hardener will diminish its effectiveness.
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If you post-harden or post-expose the screen, both of these processes make it harder to clean out the stencil in the process of reclaiming. It’s a small cost to be paid to stop your screen from falling apart when printing.
Conclusion
Setting up your screens for water-based printing does not have become problematic. Following these steps and experimenting with your screens to refine your method, you’ll be able to print using water-based inks without worrying about the screen breaking in the course of printing.