I've found some weblinks to these Canadian suppliers; I'd appreciate a feedback from those who have dealt with them before and if their products truly do work:
Cosmex Graphics
Screenflex Canada
FH & Sons
Willox
Where are you located? I'm in Manitoba and haven't heard of any of those suppliers.
I deal with SRD graphics. They have shops in Winnipeg and Edmonton. Nice people to deal with. Lancer/Discovery is a big distributor as well. They have very nice products, but I haven't had the best time dealing with them. They are Canada wide.
I'm just starting out too and have found Screenflex
great with customer service. I believe they sell mainly inks and chemicals.
Speaking of Canadian suppliers, I live in Alberta, and am looking for a supplier of metal frames and washout booths etc.. I've ordered some of my stuff from the states, but the shipping prices are a killer.
Like I said before, I've had nothing but good experiences with SRD graphic supplies. They have a store in Edmonton as well as Winnipeg. That should be close enough for you.
lex, google those companies. I'm sure one of them offers the frames and all. I'm not sure about the prices. I haven't the time to compare them yet. But that would still beat the extremely high shipping cost from the USA, for sure.
Not a problem, Paul. I may be visiting one of the companies in person. It would be a lot of fun
Hi wafferice,Ive used willflex nice people and great service as well as willox graphics where shipping is free if you spend over 350. I havent heard of the other 2 but im going to check them out on tue.
I've dealt with Cosmex Graphics, Screenflex, and FH& Sons. They are all very helpful with info. Let me know what you are looking to pick up because I generally get different things from different places.
I'm probably going to do screenprinting; so, I'm looking for plastisol inks and the mesh.
For the plastisol ink, do Cosmex Graphics provide them, and how is the price compared to FH&Son's?
And where do you mainly get your mesh from? How do you know its compatibility with the ink you buy? and is the price range reasonable for a quality mesh?
I am probably going to drop by at FH&Sons within 2 weeks to ask for more info.
I use cosmex. The have everything that you will need. Union inks .mesh equipment and lots more. Very helpful with information and are up to date with new products.
Cosmex might be best for you seeing as they are in Quebec also I believe. As for the other places Screenflex has the best prices I've found for emulsion (I use Ulano QTX) FH & Sons has the best prices for screens and as for ink one advantage we have as Canadians is that Lancer Excalibur is produced up here and you can order direct from them Plastisol Inks, Textile Ink, Screen Printing Equipment - LancerGroup.com their ink is really good and cheaper than most other places I've seen (because most places are importing ink from the US)
I'm not sure about bulk mesh because I just buy screens... if you're just starting out you may want to do the same for a while.. because unless you have all the right equipment (especially a tension meter) its can be tricky to stretch your own and get a good consistency.
oh and as for compatibility of ink and mesh...any should be fine...
mesh count determines how much detail the screen will hold (basically its how close the threads are woven together)...so a low mesh count will hold less detail but more ink will pass through it and vice versa for higher... the standard count is 110 which actually holds a good amount of detail... generally you won't need to use anything in the 200 range unless you are doing very detailed stuff or graphic printing.....and you would only use low mesh counts to do stuff like big athletic number prints (something I don't do) or when dealing with white underbasing maybe
Thanks very much, no_demo! I will definitely give Cosmex Graphics a visit sometime next week, and FH&Sons a week after. I will update you about how they are.