Few qustions before I pull the trigger..

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Solorbob
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Few qustions before I pull the trigger..

Post by Solorbob »

Hi all,

I've been interested in screen printing for a good while now as a hobby, but just haven't been able to justify the expense of good quality equipment up until this point. I've started my own business as a second job to provide some fun-funds. I'm to the point of either getting my t-shirts printed locally, or buying the equipment and printing them myself. I will mainly be giving the shirts away as promotional items with very few outright shirt sales. This seems like a perfect opportunity to get into screen printing to support myself.

I'm sure you will be able to tell how new I am based on my questions, but I really appreciate everyone's feedback and opinion.

The shirts are pretty standard back logo with my company name above and below it with the website address. On the front, there will be a smaller version over the chest. The current logo is 2 colors. black and red on a white background. I have done some mock ups with just a white shirt with black ink, and it works fine.

1) Once a screen is burned and washed out, how long will it last. I'll be doing pretty much the same designs over and over in smaller runs, say 20-25 shirts at a time.

2) How do you clean the ink from the screen. I'm guessing this will depend on the ink, so is the standard, if there is one, water soluble?

3) I was planning on making my own 1 station 2-4 color press. I've even looked at the youtees press which may be what I need. I'm only looking at maybe 15-20 shirts per month for the business. (I may do more for fun with my own designs)

Sorry for the long winded post, but thanks for the feedback.
Shawn
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tompaine
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Re: Few qustions before I pull the trigger..

Post by tompaine »

You can store screens for ages, at least years.
You clean water-based ink with water and solvent based ink with solvents, you can get the cleaner at the same place you buy your emulsion.
15-20 shirts is nothing and not worth the time, if you want to treat it as a hobby, then fine, but I can't see any commercial reason for doing it (writing a hobby off against tax perhaps?) :-) There are plenty of used stations on the market, I wouldn't bother building (unless that's another hobby ;)
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dizzytoledo
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Re: Few qustions before I pull the trigger..

Post by dizzytoledo »

Hi I just saw your post. I don't know if you already made a decision and moved ahead with whatever plans you had.
I would definitely recommend the YouTees Press. Pull the trigger and that.
You can do an unlimited amount of colors instead of just four colors.
The tabletop 4-color presses out there don't have micro-registration. YouTees does.

As far as cleaning I would go with the Franmar starter kit. It has everything you need to remove ink, degrease, dehaze, and destencil your screens. http://www.screenprintingsupplies.com/F ... SAMPLE.htm
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