Screen Printing Forum

i have a customer that has anodized face plates for a radio antenna box of some kind. its about 4 x 1 inches. seeing as i have never printed anything like this, i need some advice.

im going to screen print them (qty 250-500). my questions are

1. what mesh count should i use. i was thinking about 300
2. what kind of ink should i use. i will be letting them airdry
3. should i try to print 2 or maybe 4 at the same time. i was thinking of making a jig that would fit them
4 any tips you might help would be greatly appreciated.

59000 or 6100 from nazdar should do it. 230-300 mesh as well. There is a substrate chart you can download from nazdar to get all your substrate questions answered. I have it blown up on the print shop wall for everyone to use.
http://www.nazdar.com/Nazdar_Ink_Chart.pdf
A jig might get you through quicker or could easily mess you up. Sometimes it's just better to go one up. You'll have to figure that out for yourself. Make sure you get a reducer and retarder for your ink when you order to avoid ink drying and webbing in screen when making run.

thank you for your advice. im assuming the reducer would be for thinning out the ink. what is the retarder used for.

Do you think you are going to make money printing those plates?
500 plates... 1 at a time

Seems like a lot of labor... Hows the fruit?

im thinking two hours to print.......one every 10 seconds max. that still leaves plenty of time to re-ink and clean the screen when nec. im i missing something. 1.35 per plate $675 total minus exp. pretty good i would think.

Retarder is to keep the ink from drying too fast. Usually I only need retarder in the summer or on very long runs. Even then a little goes a long way.

I'm doing a similar job, for myself for my synthesizer building hobby. I have had nothing but problems with the ink clogging in the screen. I'm using CRS lacquer ink and I've tried adding a slowing thinner that the ink supplier told me would solver this, but it's still a problem. The mesh is 305, is that just too small?

Thanks

Mark

This is the kind of screen printing that I've done for 5 years. It's a small segment of the market but very sought-after if your shop has the quality. I order from a company called Sun Chemical. The ink is C91-S103 Opaque White. The retarder is ET-12 and the reducer is ST-291. This is a great setup for screening polane painted metals, anodized, and iridited metals. These are really the only surfaces I print on. It can dry overnight or in an oven at about 150 degrees for 30-40 minutes. I've done this for 5 years and never had a problem with the ink. I use 305 yellow mesh screens, and do all the positive prints/coating/burning in my shop. 305 mesh works really well for me. I can get through a run of 200 or so in about 45 mins. The easiest way is to get them all oriented right, then stack them in a few stacks next to you. Then as you finish, take it out and take one off the stack. You could try setting up more than one at a time, but I think it would be more trouble than its worth. You should get through a run of 500 in maybe 2 1/2 hrs and need to put new ink down maybe 4 or 5 times. Good luck this is the type of screen printing I do for a living, so I was excited to see something familiar!