Build your own t-shirt printing press

Have a great idea for a t-shirt? Interested in customizing clothing or making your own prints? Here's how to make a press for making shirts similar to rubber stamping.

Any mention of this project or our high roller 1d20 shirt design must provide a link to www.betaart.com with credit to Kevin Dean and a link to www.zieak.com with credit to Ryan McFarland.

There are many other options for making shirts with great tutorials on this site about how to silk screen or make stencils. This stamping method has the benefit of being able to make more than one (a limitation of some stencil techniques). Also this style allows the use of multiple colors without waiting for a color to dry. You can have free-floating content (like the inside of an "O") which is difficult with some stencil techniques - and if you're just doing lettering the letters can be reused for another shirt design or another project entirely.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

Table or flat surface you can bolt into
LCD desk mount arm
Scrap wood or counter top
Double stick foam tape
Foam
Scrap booking letters
Silk screening ink or specialized paint
Drill and bits
Screws
Hobby knife
Sharpie marker
Square, level, tape measure
Wood, acrylic, aluminum or cardboard to put inside the shirt
Cloth to print on

Comments

[stereosmiles]

I like this idea a lot - I made my own screen print to do a one-colour design, but apart from the satisfaction of building it, it was probably not worth it overall, whereas THIS makes it an absolute doddle, or doozy as them Yanks say. You have cheered me up, and for that, the t-shirt buying fans of my band salute you :)

[callmeshane]

I just had a thort... a very productive thort..... In Straya, they have what is called the $2 shop - or the Reject shop... and they sell them rolls of camping mattress - made of the same foam.... usually about 1.8 meters by 0.6 meters... it's crap to sleep on.. but that's another story... There is a type of printing press that has a "rolling flat bed" and it goes under a rotating drum... The diameter of the drum and the surface speed of it, is linked on a 1:1 basis with the bed.... They are a manually operated device.... well the one I am thinking of is.... Thinking of a WWII soviet vintage kind of thing.... Anyway... stick foam on drum, paint, run T shirt through, recoat, run another shirt back through the other way....... etc. Or run roller across T shirt...????

[awesomecreations]

Please explain what a "thort" is

[fretted]

"Thort" = Short Thought ? lol

[aristide202]

Would you please tell us where Straya is, somewhere in eastern Europe , is it ?

[jeffconnelly]

It's a term for Australia, because of the distinctive accent.

[Fire Brick]

perhaps you are thinking of a mimeograph machine...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimeograph

[zieak]

Nice idea - i may just have to give that a try. I was thinking of trying the camping mattress foam but all i have kicking around are the Therm-a-rest style.

[aristide202]

GREAT !

[Unmortal]

its a nice idee maybe this wil be my new building idea ^_^
gone print my own dragons on t-shirt maybe =)
thx for this posted instructabal its brings idea's

[INVADER SCOOGE]

What are some silk screening inks?

[zieak]

Speedball is a very common one.

[INVADER SCOOGE]

Thanks and cool shirt. Is there any cheap foam easily available, and durable a 13 year could buy?

[Burn]

Foamboard should work. If not then you can buy huge pink sheets of foam at home depot/lowes/ace/any hardware construction store.

[static]

Googling eva foam that Eric mentioned, it turns out the foam exercise mats walmart, and others sell are made from that material. Garage and yard sale season is nearly here, so you should find something affordable. Use your local free cucle, craigslist or other free venues to find some.

[static]

A young lady created an instructable about, how she made an instructables robot doll. I doubt if the instructables management thought there was a copyright issue, they wouldn't have made her instructable available. I'm not an attorney, but I believe the problems would start, if you started making money from printing copyrighted material.

[zieak]

Check your local thrift stores. I find this stuff at my local Salvation Army often.

[DarienJ]

where do you get silk screening ink?

[cbray2010]

http://www.screenprintingsupplies.com/
http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/

[zieak]

Look in your yellow pages under "art supplies." That's the best place to start.

[beckybr00talx]

if i wanted to build this without the lcd arm what else could i use and how would i attach it/them?

[GorillazMiko]

Cool idea, I would do the Instructables Robot but that's copyright or whatever.. great job!

[1up]

You can still do it, just be sure to put a copyright symbol somewhere.

[NuclearDog]

Uh, no you can't. Not legally anyways. The whole point behind copyright is that you can't copy something without the creator's permission. You're effectively saying "It's okay to copy that movie, just put a copyright symbol on it." or "It's okay to photocopy that painting, just put a copyright symbol on it." And it doesn't matter if you don't plan on selling it, that only comes into play when determining damages or fair use, and this is likely not fair use. With that in mind, if you got permission from Instructables, you could print yourself the shirt legally. Or, if it's just for yourself, go ahead and do it anyways. I doubt anyone will notice or care.

[Lance Mt.]

Yes. I understand that it is illegal but people won't care... Buuut What about the hundreds of thousands of instructable robot "instructables" Showing not only what you have done but how to do it So clearly if they don't care about them, go ahead, just show the finished product PLEASE

[Mother Natures Son]

I've always been of the opinion that the morality of the action should take precedence over its legality, and in this case I can't see that there would be anything wrong with it. You are promoting the site, after all--creating a net gain on their part, theoretically. True, it would be better for the site if you paid for one of their shirts, but since the whole philosophy of the site is doing things yourself to save money and they promote creative commons licenses, I think it's morally acceptable

[mg0930mg]

THey can, as long as they don't sell it for monetary gain...

[Lance Mt.]

Love it! But instead of a LCD screen holder i'll use this meathod. http://www.instructables.com/id/Screen-Printing-Machine%3a-Print-Faux-co!/

But instead of gluing on to the wood i'll just glue onto a piece that i can slot in.

[ewilhelm]

Nice tip on using EVA foam as a stamp.

[GorillazMiko]

Is this how you guys make your shirts?

[zieak]

No way - their shirts are made far better than this. This is a step below stenciling. I like some really primitive technologies though.

[zieak]

I knew that stuff had a better name.

[zstarski]

Great instructable. Really helped me out. Thanks.

[rasta_bhoy]

nice. but i tried something similar to this on illustration board and it works like a charm. plus you get both the positives and negatives of the image.

[SuperCoPilot]

i think the white on blue looks good kinda distresed you know? though i got to be careful when cutting last time i did it i ended up bleeding all over my school

[zieak]

I just did one that is all white on a dark blue. It required a lot more paint but i really like the faded look that it has. You're right - it looks pre-distressed.

[cubemonkey]

I'm am all about this instructable, I was looking for an easier way to print my own shirts, thank you so much!!!!!!

[harrelphillips]

What is an LCD desk mount arm and where do I find one?

[zieak]

It literally is an arm that mounts to a desk that you can attach an LCD monitor to. That frees up space on the desk and the monitor can be positioned to better accommodate the user (height and distance from face). I bought mine at a thrift store not knowing what i would use it for. I looked on eBay for some and they are relatively cheap there. You certainly don't need this piece. We experimented with door hinges at first. We wanted to be able to open it and reapply the paint without moving the shirt or to change colors without waiting for it to dry. You could do the same thing by attaching your different design elements to pieces of plywood that you press down on the shirt.

[darkmuskrat]

You have gave man the power to make Chuck Norris t-shirts from home... With great power comes great responsibility :P

[DOaks]

Very cool- My wife and I run a screen print shop and I've been doing it for a long time(and I still don't know what I'm doing half the time) I really like seeing 'alternative' processes This is pretty similar to pad printing- the method used for printing pens, lighters, etc

[gannon]

Thanks for the plans--I'm going to try this next weekend.

[Spl1nt3rC3ll]

My aunt and uncle own a custom t-shirt printing business. I should show them this. I have seen them use theirs (they have two, one small (1 shirt), one large(8 shirts)). They are machines though. They look really fascinating, complicated, and cool in use. I think they use multi-layer stencils.

[zieak]

...and another thought... we were able to do the two colors within just a few minutes of each other because the stamp only touched the shirt where contact was desired. No waiting for one color to dry! I should add that perk to the description.

[zieak]

I'm sure their shop is a pretty slick operation - this was really a down and dirty job. Not as nice of a product as silk screening but will work pretty well in a pinch!

[camp6ell]

does the LCD arm really add any value to the process, since you end up doing the printing part by hand pushing the wood anyway? it would seem that you could do this with just the foam stuck on a piece of wood? and the LCD arm (whatever that is anyway...) is not really something people have lying around...

[zieak]

It definitely is not critical. But it makes it quite easy to do multiple colors on the same shirt while the ink from another color is still wet (removing the center part let us do the wording in white) without moving the shirt helped ensure that it was lined up right. It also makes it pretty handy for inking the pattern.

[betaart]

this would be great for stencil tag artists like Banksy.

[manga-ka]

You can make custom stuff on Zazzle.com, but it cost like, $15.

[zieak]

Yeah, i have some stuff on Cafepress which works like Zazzle. I've played around with Spreadshirt too - but nothing replaces that DIY satisfaction like making it yourself!

[betaart]

and not to mention the instant gratification.

[zieak]

Haha - you were wearing that shirt a half hour after we made it!

[Der Schmetterlingsjäger]

Brilliant! I've got to try this. Hilarious shirt, too. :)

[zieak]

Thanks! Next up is the "No wives were harmed during the making of this shirt" white tank tops...

[ubercop]

heh heh heh...

[technodude92]

or the white tank top with a guinea pig on a T.

[stonedbeyondthepoint]

Great instructable, I will have to try this when I have the time. Two thumbs up.

[pdorazio]

This pwns. What exactly is the LCD arm though? Like, a wall mount for a TV?

[zieak]

I wasn't sure what it was when i bought it (from the Salvation Army) but it had articulating joints and i was thinking of using it to mount my projector. A bit of research into it and it is a desk mount for an LCD screen that allows you to change the screen height angle and distance from you. A search for them ("lcd desk mount" without the quotes) on eBay yields a few good examples.

[punkrunner204]

aweesome!

too bad i'm broke =/

[zieak]

I know most people won't be this lucky but we didn't buy a single item for the making of this project. It all was kicking around the house and most of it was from the thrift store (the table, LCD arm and foam pieces) or scrap from other things (the plywood and foam tape). Keep your eye out for this stuff and most of it might pop up really cheap!

[Cat on my Lap]

Really sweet project! Do you know of a substitute foam that could be found easier? Perhaps the blueboard used on siding insulation?

[zieak]

That foam would probably work really well also. It is a little more rigid than the stuff i used but i'ms ure it would be very easy to work with.

[Shifrin]

Sorry for the double post but nice job, you got featured!

[Shifrin]

Awesome! This is a great instructable! +1

[zieak]

Thank you very much!

[fegundez1]

great idea! we use a piece of Plexiglas to put between the shirt to keep ink from bleeding through.

[zieak]

That's what i have used in the past also - but i didn't have any kicking around when we made this so i used an aluminum duck crossing sign that i got at a Ducks Unlimited banquet years ago.

[HIGHVOLTAGE-Z]

very nice basic stencil +1