[tomld]

I am wondering if anyone can recommend a screen printing company that will keep your screens setup, so you can re-order in the future and not pay all the setup charges. Is it common for companies to do this?

 

[Rodney]

Hi tomld, you would need to contact the various screen printing companies to get their policies on keeping old screens.

Since we don't allow advertising or self promotion in the forums, your post would encourage companies to self promote themselves.

I've found that some companies do keep the screens and some companies don't. Some companies don't charge for screens, so it doesn't really matter if they save them or not.

 

[Twin85]

I have used two printer and one keeps all of his screens for a whole year (big operation) and the other doesn't charge me to redo a screen. You really shouldn't have to repay for screens, as long as its in reasonable time period. Just talk to your printer about it.

 

[DickTees.net]

I am wondering if anyone can recommend a screen printing company that will keep your screens setup, so you can re-order in the future and not pay all the setup charges. Is it common for companies to do this?

I would recommend getting set up with a screen printer near you and seeing if he would entertain the notion of you purchasing your own screen(s) for your artwork to exist on. That way they would have to reason to reclaim the screen(s) your designs are burned to.

 

[martin]

When I started, I found a local screen printer that would burn new screens for $10 a pop. I then owned the screens, and if I even wanted to use a diffrent printer, or screen the shirts myself I could take the screens. He kept the screens at his shop and I just called in orders over the phone. Quite often he would even drop the shirts off for me once they where ready. I never waited more than a month or two to order new t-shirts though.

I would suggest to just start going throught the yellow pages, and call every screen printer listed... You can ask thinkg like:

How much to burn a new screen?
Do I own the screen, or do you?
How much per shirt?
Whats your minmun order size?
Can you give me a price break at a certain quanity?
Can you give me a price beak if I order xx shirts for xx months?

 

[triplej]

I am wondering if anyone can recommend a screen printing company that will keep your screens setup, so you can re-order in the future and not pay all the setup charges. Is it common for companies to do this?

Screen tension is the heart of a quality print.

You actually NEVER want your screenprinter to keep the screens in storage with your designs burned on them. Screens need to be washed out and re-tensioned after each use or you lose the crispness of the edges as well as the logo (if multi colored) registration.

With under-tensioned mesh, a printer will find his squeegee actually drags the fabric with it during the print stroke. This stretches the mesh slightly, because the mesh doesn't have the tension to resist the pull. This not only increases the likelihood of a blurred print, but the stencil also gets pulled right along with the mesh. The result is that the imprint moves a bit further down the shirt. When printing a two or three color job, this can become a real problem, especially if the job happens to be one that demands close registration. The images that should just meet, overlap and the imprints that should touch don't. there will also be inconsistencies from print to print depending on how much squeegee pressure is applied. The squeegee will actually pull the mesh down with it, so variations in squeegee pressure will show up in imprints that have shifted to varying degrees. But another registration problem results from the off-contact distances required by lose mesh. When mesh has to travel a greater distance to reach the surface of the shirt, it becomes harder to control the position of the imprint.

 

[blairrev2003]

If we no a customer that usually orders more then once out of niceness we will keep their screen so they don't have to pay again.

 

[Twinge]

Never heard anything about problems caused by re-using screens, very interesting. I just assumed it was better to keep them to save the cost and waste. Does it depend on materials used (i.e., a printer with a different screen set up) perhaps?