Screens
WOOD FRAMES: The least expensive frames are made from wood. These are what I currently use. Wood frames come in varying quality. The better ones have lap joint corners.
ALUMINUM FRAMES: Aluminum frames are more expensive than wooden frames, but will not warp, and will last longer.
NEWMAN ROLLER FRAMES: These are the best, but also the most expensive. These allow you to retension the mesh by tightening the rollers. I have read about the process of tensioning the mesh on one of these, and it is quite involved. If you are a hobbyist, or not really planning to be printing lots of shirts regularly, these are probably overkill.
MESH: Get the screens with mesh already installed. I use 110 monofilament mesh. Mesh with higher numbers will allow more detail. Mesh with lower numbers work better from printing light colors on dark shirts. 110 is a nice middle ground general purpose mesh.
Scoop Coater
You don’t NEED a scoop coater, but it will make life so much easier. Since you will be able to coat your screens with more even coats of photo emulsion, your images will come out cleaner. You want you scoop coater to be about an inch shorter than the inside dimension of your screen. For example, if your screen has inside dimensions is 16×20, you will want a 15″ coater.
Squeegee
Ink
You need to use screen printing ink designed for fabric or textiles. I use Speedball water based ink as it is available at the local art store. Professionel printers use plastisol ink which needs to be cured slightly differently than the the water based ink. The water based inks seem to print just as nicely though, and clean up with warm water.
Photo Emulsion/Sensitizer
I use Speedball diazo photo emulsion/sensitizer, and am quite happy with it. A quart of the emulsion, and a bottle of the sensitizer cost me about $20, and will coat a bunch of screens. If you are only planning on doing a few different designs in the near future, you can get the smaller jar. Photo emulsion has a limited shelf life one sensitized (4 months when refridgerated).
Masking Tape
Timer or Watch
Light
Nylon Bristled Scrub Brush
Transparencies/Vellum
I have a four color printing press that someone gave me. It was beat up and needed come work. Broken parts, rust and abused. I fixed the convayer belt dryer rolers. sanded dowm all the parts, lubed it and put it back togther. Thank you for all the information on how to print shirts it is a real help!!
Comment by Edward Russo — June 23, 2006 @ 1:50 pm
No problem. Have fun with your press!
Comment by Rob — June 24, 2006 @ 3:53 am
Thanks so much for this extemely helpful tutorial for us newbies. It is a lot more help than screenprinters.net newbies forum. Some of those guys over there are downright nasty. As if they were born knowing how to do screen printing. I hope someone treats them as mean when they need help about something someday. Thankfully there are some nice ones as well and they helped and that’s how I found this web site.
Comment by Mike — September 1, 2006 @ 7:36 pm
Thanks guys! I enjoy screen printing, and I am happy to pass on the little bit I know. Sorry about the newbies forum. I have been over though, and mostly just lurked.
Comment by Rob — September 3, 2006 @ 1:51 pm
Rob,
Thanks a ton for these instructions. My daughter and I love making shirts for her and her friends. Your press works fantastic! Do you think you will ever give out the plans for the multicolor press?
Comment by Tim — September 27, 2006 @ 2:44 pm
Thanks for the complements! Were the plans for the press clear enough? If there was anything that wasn’t clear, please let me know. Same with the screen printing instructions.
Am not sure about giving out the plans for the multi-color press. The problem is that I bought the plans for that, and even though I modified the design some, it might still be too close to the original. I feel that might be ethically wrong.
Comment by Rob — September 28, 2006 @ 8:11 am
I appreciate and understand your thoughts on the multi color press. The instructions for the one color press were very easy to follow and assemble. Cheap too! We are actually making professional quality prints with it and get many compliments (and requests for shirts). As it is just a hobby I am not inclined to purchase a machine but that is a mute point as yours works great. Thanks again.
Comment by Tim — September 28, 2006 @ 2:29 pm
please send me details about t shirt printing
Comment by sunil kumar — December 8, 2006 @ 3:53 am
Hi, I was wondering if anyone could direct me to a site or email me plans to build a flash dryer. I’ve built a one colour screen printer and I don’t think I should buy a flash dryer if I’ve built my printer. I’m pretty good with my hands and I’d like to know what kind of heating elements they use. I’ve tried to find a picture of the bottom of the flash dryer but alas there is no photo available that I’ve seen on the thousands of pages I’ve looked at. You can email me at ekovacs@excite.com. Thanks for reading.
Comment by Elek Kovacs — January 22, 2007 @ 2:14 am
On your screen printing press plans, you are using rubber bands and plastic zip ties for tension to hold up the screen. Is there a better method such as springs or bungees?
Comment by Shanley — March 2, 2007 @ 9:23 pm
You can use springs, but the trick is finding the right size springs. I actually tried springs, but they stretched and weakened, didn’t work any more. They were also difficult to keep attached. The rubber bands, and zip ties were cheaper and worked much better.
Comment by Rob — March 2, 2007 @ 10:22 pm
Im looking into making some shirts. Your information is straight forward and understandable. TY!
Comment by Megan — May 23, 2007 @ 11:43 pm
nice site and good information. i am just working on a small diy zine about screenprinting. you surely do have the most understandble instructions on the english side of the net. excellent. cheers from germany.
Comment by tom — June 4, 2007 @ 9:23 pm
Nice Tutorial Rob. At the begining you talked about Transperancies. Can I just use a regular transperancy or do I have to use the transperancies specifically for ink jet printers? Thanks alot, You can e-mail me at rogsmith@chorus.net
Comment by Roger — September 30, 2007 @ 1:23 am
If you are going to print them on an ink-jet printer, you will have to use transparancies made especially for an inkjet printer.
It is preferable to use a laser printer instead of an injet. You will get better results. I have found that I can use generic transparencies, and haven’t needed the ones specifically designed for laser printers.
Comment by Rob — September 30, 2007 @ 6:18 am
Hey,
A terrific blogg.
I’m thinking about getting into some screen printing and it was terrific to stumple onto this site.
Keep it up.
Cheres,
Peter
Comment by Printing Perth — February 3, 2008 @ 12:23 am
Thanks for all the time and effort put forth for the tutorial, it took alot of the worry away when trying to endevor on a hobby I have wanted to to for years.
I have been playing around with textiles for some time now, and found that if you do a single application of the water based ink onto fabric, that flipping it over onto cookie paper is best as the ink wont addhere to it and it just stays on the design.
I am buying more inks and other supplies tomorow to get the ball rolling on using screens.
Do you have any suggestions for printing multiple colors without a multi screen press? We will only have the singe press/ stamp process.
Thanks and Cheers!
Anna from Colorado
Comment by Anna — April 10, 2008 @ 5:28 pm
i would like to start a business of screen printing so i dont know where to start.is there any institutions that offers training in south africa
Comment by chris moagi — September 10, 2009 @ 2:52 pm
YOUR THE BEST MAN!!! Thanks I really appreciate the info. i will buy from here first . Thanks again friend, 1 love……
Comment by ken — November 10, 2009 @ 10:44 am
I love wood frames other than any more expensive type of framing. I find it exotic and a touch of a vintage look. However, it needs maintenance ‘coz yeah it warps through time. Anyway, thank you so much for those tips. It’s indeed perfect for beginners. Keep it up!
Comment by Ashley — January 21, 2010 @ 10:24 am
Thanks so much for all the info it helped me greatly , i am onley 16 yyear’s old and because of you guyes am able to start my very own skateboard/ clothing company called dahlez.
thanks for all the help if you got any tips or ways to faster dry ink to shirts instead of using my moms oven let me know
thanks
Jess
Comment by jesse sebastani — February 23, 2010 @ 12:07 am
Zip ties seem to wrok for this application perfectly.
Comment by jim — October 31, 2010 @ 2:54 am
Hey Rob,
Your turorial is just fantaitic and very useful. I was looking for all this information and I found that here. You have explained verything in detail and with pics… that’s more than enough. Could you please give me an idea about how to we transfer emulsion from emulsion film to mesh to prepare screen or say how to use Emulsion film for screen printing. Thanks in Advance. Great Work!!
Thanks,
Ravi
Comment by RaviT — March 1, 2011 @ 2:06 am
Actually this is not Emulsion Film this is CAP or Stencil Film I want to know about. Also, Please let me know, which one is better and why?
Thanks,
Ravi
Comment by RaviT — March 1, 2011 @ 2:35 am
Sorry Ravi, I have not used any of the products you mentioned.
Comment by Rob — March 1, 2011 @ 8:00 am
I have screen printing business at my home. Now, I need some screen printing equipment that can be bought without saving much money. I also need the high quality one. Is wood frame can be my option?
Comment by Darnell — May 12, 2011 @ 3:47 am
ive always had a interest in printing and would to learn more about screen printing any one any good sites that would explain the process may be even with video
Comment by printer ink — July 4, 2011 @ 5:10 pm
Is the photo emulsion bad for the environment? Are there EPA restrictions on disposal of photo emulsion and the ink?
Comment by Judy — January 29, 2012 @ 9:23 pm