using 500 watt worklight post in forum
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing-equipment/t121007.html
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
where to get exposure lights:
A lot of the people who visit this site are beginners and are just getting into the wonderful world of screen printing. So I have created this down and dirty quick primer leading into exposing screen printing screens. I would though recommend picking up a copy of How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit! By: Scott Fresener this is a great book and will be a valuable reference for your shop.
Ok, let’s get to it..
Screen printing screens are coated with a light sensitive emulsion using a scoop coater. (I personally use Ulano QTX emulsion) Once the screen is coated and dried, all the little holes in the screen are covered and ink will not pass through the screen printing mesh. Any ultraviolet light that the screen is exposed to, will harden the emulsion. People use all sorts of methods to expose screens to ultraviolet light including: The sun, un-filtered black lights, quartz, mercury vapor and metal halide lamps. Of course some sources work better than others, and like computers.. faster usually means more money.
Once the screen is dry, you place a positive print of your image on the screen. This image needs to be dark enough to block light from passing through, remember and light that gets to the emulsion will make it hard and will not wash out. Once you burn the screen, the emulsion that did not get any UV will wash out of the screen exposing the tiny pin holes. The surrounding areas that was exposed to UV will be cured. Hence (sophisticated word usage on..) the ink will pass through and onto your substrate (T-shirt,etc..)
I started with a 500 watt quartz $8 dollar no holler work light. It works ok and is a good place to start. Then I graduated to the exposure unit below. With that being said. Here are some pictures of my home built screen printing exposure unit. This unit uses 6 F20T12BL lamps. I had to special order them from a local lighting company. The cost for each lamp was about $9.00. The black light lamps are installed 2″ away from 24″x24″ 1/4″ plate glass. I also installed 2 lamp sockets for screw in type fluorescent lamps. These are used for tracing and lining up art. The switch on the side controls these lamps. In the receptical I plug in a Timex countdown timer and plug black lights into that. Using Ulano QTX emulsion and clear overhead film, I get a good exposure in 15 seconds. This unit works very well.
So there you have it.. the total was about $100 bucks give or take. You will have fun building this exposure unit, so get to it.. and again, check out How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit! By: Scott Fresener
A lot of the people who visit this site are beginners and are just getting into the wonderful world of screen printing. So I have created this down and dirty quick primer leading into exposing screen printing screens. I would though recommend picking up a copy of How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit! By: Scott Fresener this is a great book and will be a valuable reference for your shop.
Ok, let’s get to it..
Screen printing screens are coated with a light sensitive emulsion using a scoop coater. (I personally use Ulano QTX emulsion) Once the screen is coated and dried, all the little holes in the screen are covered and ink will not pass through the screen printing mesh. Any ultraviolet light that the screen is exposed to, will harden the emulsion. People use all sorts of methods to expose screens to ultraviolet light including: The sun, un-filtered black lights, quartz, mercury vapor and metal halide lamps. Of course some sources work better than others, and like computers.. faster usually means more money.
Once the screen is dry, you place a positive print of your image on the screen. This image needs to be dark enough to block light from passing through, remember and light that gets to the emulsion will make it hard and will not wash out. Once you burn the screen, the emulsion that did not get any UV will wash out of the screen exposing the tiny pin holes. The surrounding areas that was exposed to UV will be cured. Hence (sophisticated word usage on..) the ink will pass through and onto your substrate (T-shirt,etc..)
I started with a 500 watt quartz $8 dollar no holler work light. It works ok and is a good place to start. Then I graduated to the exposure unit below. With that being said. Here are some pictures of my home built screen printing exposure unit. This unit uses 6 F20T12BL lamps. I had to special order them from a local lighting company. The cost for each lamp was about $9.00. The black light lamps are installed 2″ away from 24″x24″ 1/4″ plate glass. I also installed 2 lamp sockets for screw in type fluorescent lamps. These are used for tracing and lining up art. The switch on the side controls these lamps. In the receptical I plug in a Timex countdown timer and plug black lights into that. Using Ulano QTX emulsion and clear overhead film, I get a good exposure in 15 seconds. This unit works very well.
So there you have it.. the total was about $100 bucks give or take. You will have fun building this exposure unit, so get to it.. and again, check out How to Print T-Shirts for Fun and Profit! By: Scott Fresener
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
ebay seller has only sells black t shirts with funny sayings. He has about 1041 items and makes alot of money!!
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=merryboy&ftab=AllFeedback
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=merryboy&ftab=AllFeedback
above is site to buy from, gildan shirts
Gildan, jerzees,
The gildan 6.1 oz is pretty nice, for general t-shirt purposes. I hovever prefer the fabrics of anvil and hanes shirts, since they are softer. The anvil and hanes 5.6 oz shirts feel as heavy as the gildan 6.1 oz shirt, in my opinion. I get alot of customers commenting on how much they like the anvil t-shirts especially. To me, gildans fabric is a little scratchy feeling. So all in all, if I have my choice, my preferance of shirts, based on price and quality is:
1. Anvil 5.6 oz
2. Hanes 5.6 oz
3. Gildan 6.1 oz
4. Fruit of the loom 5.6 oz.
The worst brand by far is jerzees.
Gildan, jerzees,
The gildan 6.1 oz is pretty nice, for general t-shirt purposes. I hovever prefer the fabrics of anvil and hanes shirts, since they are softer. The anvil and hanes 5.6 oz shirts feel as heavy as the gildan 6.1 oz shirt, in my opinion. I get alot of customers commenting on how much they like the anvil t-shirts especially. To me, gildans fabric is a little scratchy feeling. So all in all, if I have my choice, my preferance of shirts, based on price and quality is:
1. Anvil 5.6 oz
2. Hanes 5.6 oz
3. Gildan 6.1 oz
4. Fruit of the loom 5.6 oz.
The worst brand by far is jerzees.
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