[dannyisnow]

Hi folks, i'm fairly new to the screen printing process but slowly getting the gist. What i was wondering was as well as making screen printed batches of t-shirts with minimum quantities at 25 for example, could i make a screen for a single colour design print that would be used to make one off t-shirts as and when ordered ?

The only issue i can foresee is keeping the screen clean, obviously i would knife the excess ink back into the pot and would the remaining ink on the screen need to washed after every use ? Does the ink dry ? I suppose if you wash a screen everyday the emulsion will deteriorate ?

Obviously if i was to do this i would have in mind popular designs that i foresee generating orders every day or so otherwise it would be a waste of a screen.

Thanks for any advice

 

[royster13]

IMO it is a bad idea to do up a bunch of screens and keep them on hand....But I do know of a shop in a tourist town that has a room full of them and prints shirts on demand...Seems like a lot of work to me....

A better idea would be to outsource plastisol transfers and/or get a cad cutter and use heat press vinyl...

 

[dannyisnow]

Cheers Royster, my background is with cad cutters and my t-shirts are all vinyl printed. Screen printing is my new venture and was just considering the possibility of printed on order.

Theoretically is it do able, what issue do you see with this ?

Cheers

 

[royster13]

The "insane" amount of time to do 1 shirt....And the amount of money you will have tied up in screens...

 

[sben763]

Many shops do this for popular designs. There are a few members here that print a brand for themselves and print on demand. I have a few times a year I have a 1 color design that will get printed on demand.

If using plastisol there is no reason the clean the screen. The ink will not dry ever without being heat cured.

I leave the screen taped and ready to go. I have center marks on the screen and my platens all have a center mark. I can go to press in less then 5 min to a printed and cured shirt not including any warm up time for flash or dryer. Now multi color jobs, its not worth printing on demand unless its a non critical job unless you have a registration system. I have the Newman pin system and when you get a job preset up it can drop in a 6 color job in 5-7 min.

It will all depend on what works for you. What works for 1 shop doesn't work for another.

 

[angippp]

learn how to make your own plastisol transfers, you can then print off a good batch, store them in those vacuum bags and press to order.

 

[sben763]

learn how to make your own plastisol transfers, you can then print off a good batch, store them in those vacuum bags and press to order.

This is also a good option but every plastisol transfer I have made or bought doesn't have the same quality, or longevity of a direct screen printed garment.

I did a job for a customer and used transfers. Because the ink melts and has less of a hand the customer thought I used some type of inkjet transfer. After showing the customer she was satisfied but the next order asked for direct screen printing as she felt that it was better quality and a thicker deposit of ink.

 

[dannyisnow]

Many shops do this for popular designs. There are a few members here that print a brand for themselves and print on demand. I have a few times a year I have a 1 color design that will get printed on demand.

If using plastisol there is no reason the clean the screen. The ink will not dry ever without being heat cured.

I leave the screen taped and ready to go. I have center marks on the screen and my platens all have a center mark. I can go to press in less then 5 min to a printed and cured shirt not including any warm up time for flash or dryer. Now multi color jobs, its not worth printing on demand unless its a non critical job unless you have a registration system. I have the Newman pin system and when you get a job preset up it can drop in a 6 color job in 5-7 min.

It will all depend on what works for you. What works for 1 shop doesn't work for another.

Hit the nail on the head, thats exactly what i was looking to do. 1 colour designs. Top man I'm going to give it a go cheers for advice

 

[angippp]

she felt that it was better quality and a thicker deposit of ink.

I think its a matter of preference, I hate the rough feel standard prints, I also think you print with more texture over in the US anyway as the only person ever to remark on the hand of my shirts was a woman from America.

 

[sben763]

I think its a matter of preference, I hate the rough feel standard prints, I also think you print with more texture over in the US anyway as the only person ever to remark on the hand of my shirts was a woman from America.

Rough prints are prints that have not been printed correctly.

 

[calhtech]

Hi folks, i'm fairly new to the screen printing process but slowly getting the gist. What i was wondering was as well as making screen printed batches of t-shirts with minimum quantities at 25 for example, could i make a screen for a single colour design print that would be used to make one off t-shirts as and when ordered ?

The only issue i can foresee is keeping the screen clean, obviously i would knife the excess ink back into the pot and would the remaining ink on the screen need to washed after every use ? Does the ink dry ? I suppose if you wash a screen everyday the emulsion will deteriorate ?

Obviously if i was to do this i would have in mind popular designs that i foresee generating orders every day or so otherwise it would be a waste of a screen.

Thanks for any advice

I DO THIS DAILY! I have quite a few designs that I sell regularly, so I print TRANSFERS. (same basic process) I pull the screen out of the rack, print about 10 (depending on how many I need), clean the screen with ink wash and put it back on the rack. This works very well and I don't have to wait for transfers to be printed or have excess transfers to sit for months. Hope this helps.
CalhTech>

 

[dannyisnow]

I DO THIS DAILY! I have quite a few designs that I sell regularly, so I print TRANSFERS. (same basic process) I pull the screen out of the rack, print about 10 (depending on how many I need), clean the screen with ink wash and put it back on the rack. This works very well and I don't have to wait for transfers to be printed or have excess transfers to sit for months. Hope this helps.
CalhTech>

Helps a lot thank you, its comfirmed what i thought was possible but without much experience i wasnt sure

 

[dannyisnow]

I DO THIS DAILY! I have quite a few designs that I sell regularly, so I print TRANSFERS. (same basic process) I pull the screen out of the rack, print about 10 (depending on how many I need), clean the screen with ink wash and put it back on the rack. This works very well and I don't have to wait for transfers to be printed or have excess transfers to sit for months. Hope this helps.
CalhTech>

Helps a lot thank you, its comfirmed what i thought was possible but without much experience i wasnt sure