3mrhythm

Well a couple weeks back i got my first press 4c 1s and tried just laying ink down a couple times to get used to the process on some screens the guy gave me..

So last night I started the trial and error of dealing with exposure for the screens to make my first screen.. after a few fails and printing up a wedge sheet to calculate what i needed for exposure time.. i was ready to set off today and make a screen. So this morning I made my first screen (took two tries).

Once i was satisfied with the screen I decided to try making the shirts..

My flash dryer kept poping my breaker (its a 18.9amp dryer on a 15amp breaker) Lol i was going down to the basement a few times .. but all in all i got the job done.. 6 times (the basement plugs are all 20amp soI'm moving the operation down there.. its a finished basement One shirt came out horrible.. somehow ink got below the screen and smudged the image bad.. but the rest looked great.

here is one of the better ones:
http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...t=IMG_1019.jpg

I plan to make some more today .. I was found a neat expert textile cleaning gun in the slew of stuff i got from a person retiring from the biz which will make cleaning this next screen alot easier.. cleaning the emulsion in a sink with the regular dish sprayer takes too long and is super messy... I have a washout sink but its too big to fit in the basment with the rest of the stuff.

I havent moved the exposure unit down there yet .. lol its still on my pourch .. but It works nice at night to expose and go right to the hose to clean it up.. will be nice when I'm all setup in the basement.

All in all I have to say it was an enjoyable process and i can see it being alot easier when I Know what I'm doing.

This site has helped alot and is responsible for my first run of shirts today!

Thanks!

Equipment used:
4 color 1 station press
Harco 400w Exposure unit
Black Flash Heat Dryer

 

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Sheepsalt

Good job! Once you get the knack for it things start going real smoothly. That's fantastic for your first try!

You might already be doing it this way, but if not try laying down just one "stroke" of ink, putting the flash dryer over the shirt for 15 or 20 seconds (just long enough so ink doesn't come off onto your finger), then printing a second stroke. That should help keep the ink from building up on the bottom side of the screen - looks like maybe you tried to print several strokes at once? You can get away with 2, but don't go more than that.

 

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3mrhythm

What happened is i back flooded the screen twice on one shirt.. a lesson learned hard. ruined a good shirt (was printing on expensive t's since they were for my wife and I )

I did do 2-3 coats on the shirts though.. next design i do where i print color over the black shirts I'llbe making two screens with reg marks so i can lay down white (flash it) then lay down the color to really make them pop

thanks for the advice and encourgement!

 

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Steelheader100

Congratulations on your first print. I'm curious about this textile cleaning gun you have. Does it look like this?

If so it's not for cleaning screens with. It's for when you get a little smudge of ink on one of your shirts you can spray it out.

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Sheepsalt

See, already learning! Now you won't make that mistake again.

I almost always print on a scrap of cloth first, before printing on an actual shirt, just to make sure that everything is exactly as it should be. Even a paper shop towel works (the rolls of blue paper shop towels from the local mega-hardware store are pretty handy to have around, but they do fill up your trash can). Whenever I rush and figure, "eh, I got this...", I almost always ruin the first one. Reminds me, last time I figured I could get away without printing a test pellon first was a 6-color job. Wouldn't you know I forgot to block out a reg mark on one of the screens, so I ended up printing the first shirt with a nice, pretty, red registration mark printed right above the design.

Oh, and when you wash your design out of the emulsion try using a garden hose with a jet attachment in that wash-out sink you got. You can even do it on the back porch if you're quick & don't let the sun shine on the screen. Put the exposed screen in a trash bag, take it outside & spray both sides with water while it's still in the bag, wait 30 seconds then take it out & immediately spray it out in the sink.

 

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Sand

We use that gun to get spots out of our shirts..We put spot cleaning fluid in it. Works great for that purpose. We use a power washer to get ink out of our screens. The spot cleaning gets ink off of shirts and jeans and anthing really you got ink where you dont want it. We also use a shop vacume to hold the fabric in place then spray the fabric on the vacume. The vacume will take the liquid into the system and leaves the fabric dry.

 

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3mrhythm

Yes The gun i have is simular is the Expert SP1000 i think.. i can adjust the flow/jet so i can get into the areas that are harder to break up .. since I dont have a pressure washer yet.



Yeah I expect to be in learning mode for a few months.. I'd like to get some sort of order.. but I got such a good deal on the equipment I have .. selling any of it will bring in a profit to put back into more compact better stuff.

the 6c 4 station harco master printer i have is super nice.. i just cant fit it anywhere in my house I'd like to find a smaller version of it .. something that isnt 750lbs too.. lol

Now I'm stumped on what i want to do for a design.. lol I might just draw something up.. i was thinking of some sort of funny saying or something .. idk we'll see .. I think my next one will be white on black I might try a Two color

 

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3mrhythm

well i did my first really good print .. i'll take some pics later ..and after racking my brain for a biz name I finally came up with something that had an open domain name

TinyGiantClothing.com .. lol a tiny giant .. is well.. a normal person anywho I setup my site in a couple hours and just have to get designing more t's and getting the wife to design some too.. this week her project is to design some then i will make her do the screen creation and printing too... so she'll get the hang of it

feedback would be great
I have to get my hands on a torso maniquin so i can take some actual pics.. but for now the image itself will work .. since i probably wont be getting any sales just yet

 

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out da box

Dang good first try! Keep doing what you're doin!

 

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acanvas

nice job lining up the colors! Oh, my the way, learning mode is life long which is one of the things we LOVE about printing and one of the things can be very frustrating...

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3mrhythm

here is my first two color print.. I didnt know the white i had was a puff ink.. kinda made the 2nd color look a little off center.. guess i have to get another tub of white..or look through my stock lol .. probably another tub there

 

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3mrhythm

todays new t-shirt..

I gotta say .. i really am enjoying the process.. i've got the screen making down to a science now

I've decided exposing with my exposure unit on my porch at night is the best.. that way i can expose then hose and not worry about the sun killing the screen. Its alot cleaner then doing it in the house

 

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out da box

Nice detail. Good work.

 

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3mrhythm

thanks .. it amazes me how much detail is possible.. with hardening some pink goo lol

 

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out da box

Qtx? Also, how did the flashing go?

 

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