the true diyers screen printing

I'll show all you cheap people how to screen print. I build or make %99 of my stuff. This is probably the cheapest way of doing screen printing. Only thing is, is that you will have to want to make many screens for it to pay off. But I've made many screens and truly love making people shirts, and even more.... saving money.

Step 1 The screens

the screen frames are pretty easy from scratch, I use 3/4 inch wood (lying around, so it doesn't truely cost me anything) and cut 1- 1 1/2" strips. I then make 45 degree cuts on the corners. My screen's dimensions are usually 18" X 17" for a regular design but for full shirt designs I use 21" X 18". but after the 45degree cuts have been done they should all set flesh with each other. now take out your pressurized staple gun and shoot each corner this should hold the frame together. Now its time to stretch your fabric.

Comments

[lucek]

Just as a reminder proper handling and disposal should be taken into account. Don't just dump the stuff. It is strong oxidant and contains heavy metals.

[lucek]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CE8QFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnj.gov%2Fhealth%2Feoh%2Frtkweb%2Fdocuments%2Ffs%2F1561.pdf&ei=i9sgT73SJKrn0QHsj7H0CA&usg=AFQjCNGYwZ0u_2h7tNjG2yndnXEbRccZBQ&sig2=IynCVP7LUDGv1q0Q926kQg

[swatters flores]

I'm curious about exposure time and clean-up. Could you shed some like on this?

[jcuizon]

ca you help me?what's wrong of my work after i exposed my work in to the light my design was destro.

[rufflesdog]

You can use laminating pouches. Laminating pouches are 9 x 12 and I cut them to 8.5 x 11 to go through the printer. After you cut them, you have 2 sheets. Feed the rough side (which has the glue) through your manual tray on your printer. Grab the sheet as it comes through the printer and keep it straight or it will curl upon itself.

[nhito_19]

ahhmmm... sir gregr can i use a regular bond paper? to transfer the image to silk screen already with emulsion... right? im a firstimer only for this action thats why i want to get a lot of tips...^_^

[beanco]

hi,

so, i have never silk screend with emulsion. We just use wood glue. it works great for simple designs, but not so well for intricate one.

also we have had budget cuts (i have been doing this with students at the hs i teach at-) so we have to start reusing screens.... so, if we switch to emulsion we can wash it out with bleach? i have no idea what vallum is and since i live in hungary i cannot stop off at the shops you mentioned.

Making our own emulsion and reusing the screens would save us a ton of money....

thanks

rob

[ithoughtucared69]

 Is it legal to take things from the internet (i.e. storm trooper) and put it on clothing?

[psykoninja]

It's illegal to take copyrighted or trademarked material and resell it without paying out royalties (I think...)

so long as you're not reselling anything, you'll be ok

[chaseracer17]

Potassium Dichromate is it as dependable as speedball emulsion or other manufacturers, I do not mind the hazards that are involved to save some money.. Although the end results is what I am more concerned on..

[grok the wowness]

why not buy emulsion ? dickblick.com - speedball diazo emulsion kit $20 + shipping google "screenprinting supplies" etc.

[slimguy379]

because if u read i can make like 10x as much for the same price

[diss0nance]

True... I bought 10$ worth of potassium dichromate, and maybe total of $10 worth of glue and I've already made twice as much as one of those speedball kits can make... and I've barely made a dent in my potassium supply. at least 10x more

[zidakano]

Does anyone think that this could be used to make pre-sensitized pcb boards to make a resist to etch them. if so I think it could be cost effective as those boards a quite a bit more. dunno an idea I had while reading this ible.

[diss0nance]

a photography friend of mine used some of my photo emulsion I made with this recipe for dichromate printing... I believe the store I bought this stuff from sells it for wood staining? so I'm sure there are many applications you could use it for... anything you need light sensitivity.

[GasherMan]

 

Check this out . Potassium dichromate 

Martin and Pleasance Hayfever Relief - Oral Spray

Product Description

- 25ml oral spray

This homoeopathic medicine has been prepared by traditional methods for the temporary relief of symptoms associated with: 
- Itchy eyes and nose 
- Antihistamine reaction 
- Runny eyes and nose 
- Sneezing 
- Catarrh (mucus blockage or discharge often caused by swelling of mucous membranes and by excess mucus)

Ingredients:
Potassium dichromate (Kali bich) 12X
Schoenocaulon officinale (Sabadila) 6X
Potassium Sulfate (Kali sulph) 6X
Sodium chloride (Nat mur) 6X
Phleum pratense 12X
Euphrasis officinalis 6X
Allium cepa 6X
Histamine dihydrochloride 60X

[diss0nance]

!! holy cow... that can't be good for ya

[awsmanna]

How far away is your lamp from your screen? I was trying to do this with the sun, but a thin layer of emulsion completely rinsed away after 30 min, and a slightly thicker layer wouldn't rinse out after 30 min. I'm going to start over again tomorrow and do a full screen of test exposure times to nail it down.

[slimguy379]

idk haven't done this in a long time, i bet a matter of a foot or so

[loergias]

not to be mean, but along came the bigger fish (in the ecology of the world of instructables): http://www.instructables.com/id/Photo-emulsion-Screen-Printing/step1/Gather-your-materials/

the author explains 150w incandescent no less.

so that ans the question i sought.

but not to shame, i could have never found a better stepping stone than your personal instructable.  without it, i would have never found the bigger fish, so to speak.  sorry i speak in eternal signs and metaphors.  bear with my charades.

[cynreams]

This is actually only for the Speedball Diazo emulsion system.  Not for homemade emulsion, so it might not work for all emulsions.  What she has listed is taken verbatim from the Speedball diazo photo-emulsion system instructions.  So, if you are making this emulsion yourself from this instructable, the link listed above may not work.  So keep trying!!  You'll get it.  I'm going to try making my own next week when my supplies arrive, so we shall see!!!

[diss0nance]

I found potassium at a local store that sells pigments and supplies for woodworking (kamapigment.com). 1/8 lb is $5.65 which is enough for me for now, I don't really need a whole pound.

since I don't have a scale I am using cooking conversions to figure out how much potassium to mix with water and so on... so assuming the potassium has about the density of salt or sugar, I'm going to mix 1Tablespoon (level not heaping) of potassium with 4 oz of water. (http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_volume_cooking.htm)

and because one bottle of elmers glue is 4 oz, I'm going to mix slightly less than 1 oz (should be .8 oz) of the potassium/water solution with two bottles of glue.

that should be enough to try with a few screens... if it doesnt work I havent wasted too much money and can adjust the emulsion stronger/weaker next round.

thanks for the great tutorial and info about this potassium mixture... I've been doing screen printing for about 6 years and the emulsion bit has always been an obstacle. and I've read tons of different diy/cheap tutorials and info online and this is the first time anyone has mentioned making your own emulsion like this.

cheers!

[slimguy379]

thanks guy appreciate the words of encouragement, your welcome, and good uck post some pics when your done or complete either a screen or shirt

[diss0nance]

ok my first batch of emulsion didnt work out... I bought cheap white school glue from the dollar store, and some of it was lumpy so didnt mix right - was washing out of the screen too easily. so then I got some Elmers glue (only to be sure of the quality - it was the same price anyhow) I mixed 1 1/2 tsp of potassium with 1/4 cup water... then added 1 1/4 cup of glue. this was enough to coat 6 16"x20" screens. I burned them at about 12" with a 200w bulb for 30 minutes. 20 minutes wasnt long enough. Washing out the screens is a bit tricky, too much pressure and it's game over. eventually found the right pressure and got a couple perfect screens. the only sad part of this glue based emulsion though is that it gets sticky when I rinse out the ink after a run, and then I have to wait half an hour for the emulsion to dry again.

[Dimitrios]

How about using woodglue from Ace. They have the waterproof one.

[cynreams]

Would this actually work?  The water-proof glue?  I'm going to try to make this myself.  SPEEDBALL is really expensive!

[plasticpopcorn4]

What does the light do to the solution? dissolves it?

[slimguy379]

no it exposes the screen with the goo, the pattern (black designs) do not allow light to pass, and allow the goo to harden. this stays soft and easy to wash out. thus creating your screen

[loergias]

what color light goes into making such a "burning" take place with that 15-20 min time frame you discretely use??  i would imagine a single light bulb in the range of a 50-100 watts, incandescent type bulb??  sorry, i know i'm removing the experimental phase of getting up and starting my own business of this DIYer's dream, but from one aspiring soul to another would you help make this go a lot smoother by adding more input on this matter (of lighting)? 
      i read somewhere the best is using direct sunlight for approx 7 min will achieve the best results.  this of-course seems to be the most environmentally friendly way, but this seems to be uncontrolled and possibly more left to the whim of nature and all its glorious mishaps (i.e. weather, clouds, rain).  but then again, who's to say this is actually totally foolproof??  a full 7 minutes seems to be within one's own command, if all the business is attended to properly in a methodical sort of way.  ok, enough of me thinking out loud.  so, please, if you will.  more details of the lighting you're using for your makeshift "darkroom."  or, would "lightroom" fit more appropriately?  idk, i'm sort of new to this "photo emulsion" technique.  i'll need a little firelight to guide me through, until i'll be able to feel my way through the "dark," so to speak.  --having found my own zen in the art of screen printing.

thanks much for this rather informative tidbit.  power to the people!!!

[kmiller8]

Would the safer Ammonium Dichromate work instead of Potassium Dichromate?

[KenoshaKid]

I live in Europe and we don't have Elmer's Glue here. What kind of glue is it? Could you copy the list of ingredients on the package if there is any so i can go look for a similar glue that i can buy here?

[paperclip32]

 PVA glue.white school glue.

[slimguy379]

wood glue in general or papercraft glue...same stuff... er for this project at least

[woody_pato]

hey i just did this today and it turned out great, thanks btw the fabric i bought was called chiffon if that helps anybody.

[ampeyro]

well, it was impossible to find the photosensitive emulsion, using liquid latex and a positive stencil could be a good idea?

[gregr]

You can actually use regular printer paper for the "transparency". Just put a little bit of cooking or mineral oil on the paper spread it around and clean up the excess with a towel.

[dannown]

I can't find a supplier of Potassium Dichromate. Any advice?

[dannown]

checking this new-fangled Internet, i bought a pound of it, to be mailed to me, for $16 shipping included.

[awsmanna]

I did a google search for it in the shopping section and came up with several places including ebay and "the science company." Looks like a pound on e-bay is about $20.

[dannown]

*ahem* well done, awsmanna. to self:next time, use the Internet to find the product or services i need. thanks :-D