r/SCREENPRINTING

Looking for a first professional press.

Looking for a first professional press.

I found this on marketplace and am in the search for a press to start a small basement shop. I don’t see micros on this. Can they be added? The guy got this about 4 years ago or so and didn’t really do much with it.

u/MelodicFruit1531 — 15 hours ago

First screen burned + printed

Got a cheap second hand screen at an art reuse store! I'm doing these at home so used the sun and lucked out - it doesn't seem over or underexposed.

u/printmaking_ — 13 hours ago

Ready to give up on this puff on seems

Having issues with puff on bunching up on the seems does anyone have any pointers on how to do puff on a jumbo print ?

u/Financial_Okra_9238 — 1 day ago

What's the best screen-printing advice you received when starting out?

For experienced screen printers

What's one piece of advice that genuinely saved you time, money, or ruined fewer shirts?

Could be about artwork preparation, screens, inks, curing, registration, garment selection — anything.

I've been learning more about the commercial side of apparel printing recently and it's pretty crazy how many variables can affect the final result.

Interested to hear the "I wish I knew this earlier" answers.

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u/Rush_ordertees — 2 days ago

Back of black screen after print

Is it just me, or does anyone else get a kick out of the back of the black screen after a job printed wet on wet. I think its kinda cool

u/PezWattly — 2 days ago

Low cure plastisol ink curing in screen

So I’ve been running into issues with either my low cure ink, or it’s my flash dryers. Essentially my low cure ink isn’t gelling, I have to bump my flash to 300 + degrees, and I’ve got it set to 2 sec. Whenever I have big jobs the ink starts to cure in my screens from the radiant heat of the plattens. If I don’t bump temps that high the ink sticks and spreads on the next screen. Once I’m running hot I can usually drop it to 280 degrees, which is still crazy hot for low cure ink!
So I guess I need to know what y’all have your flash dryers set to?
I’m the only one running an auto in this shop, so 90% of production runs through me- thus I’m trying to be able to print FAST to keep up with the number of jobs we get.
I’m running an 8/10 anatol volt with 2 anatol rapid wave dryers.
Any thoughts appreciated- I’m printing faster than I ever have in my life, so I may just need to reduce my garments/ hour, but I’ve never run into this problem before, and as the only auto printer I do have to keep my pace up at this shop.

A couple things I’ve eliminated: it’s not different garments, it’s not ambient temp, and it’s not humidity locked in garments, it’s occurring across multiple inks.

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u/ShaeMeyer — 1 day ago

UK BASED ETHICAL BLANKS?

Hello all!!

What good quality, ethical blanks do you all recommend here in the UK? I’ve used No Sweat before but ideally I’m looking for something with a bit more variety.

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u/demonic_dingo721 — 2 days ago

help identifying misprints

I manage a print shop and I’ve been an M&R automatic printer well past a decade now and I have the strangest request. I need photos of misprints that can happen for training catchers. If anyone has photos with examples of trash in an underbase, or ghosting, or discharge break down or any little thing I’d love photos to put together a training manual on terms. I know it’s a weird thing to request but every printer has photos in their phone of their prints, I was hoping for a solid on this one(and I’d love to see some of the crazier things that can happen myself tbh).

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My first screen print!!

Hi! This art isn’t my own art but it’s what made me want to start screen printing in the first place! Also the second pic isn’t going to be my finished product, just trying my hand at putting the paint down.

I would like some constructive criticism on what I could do differently on my next one. I used drawing fluid to put the outline down and then used the screen filler over it. Obviously I had some hiccups where the filler still covered parts of the outline. What should I do differently next time to prevent that? How should I apply screen filler easier so that it covers the whole canvas? Or is that really needed? Any tips, critique, or just opinions are welcomed!

u/Prize_Set2044 — 3 days ago

Silkscreen recs

Looking for recommendations for a silkscreen/screen-printing shop in NYC or the surrounding area that prints posters on paper.

I need approximately 100 posters, ideally around A1 size (23 × 33 inches), with true screen printing—not digital printing made to look like screen print.

Does anyone have a printer they’ve personally used and would recommend? Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, or nearby NJ is fine.

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u/Background-Story-804 — 2 days ago
▲ 4 r/SCREENPRINTING+2 crossposts

Brand new Epson F2200/F2270 DTG getting colored halos/overspray around CMYK. What am I doing wrong?

Just had an Epson F2200/F2270 installed today and I’m getting noticeable fuzzy/colored halos outside the printed areas. It’s especially obvious around black prints, but after doing a CMYK rectangle test I can see it around the other colors too.

So far I’ve tried:

  • 3 different T-shirt types
  • Nozzle check, looks perfect
  • Print Head Alignment / Light Media
  • Bi-Directional High Speed
  • Uni-Directional Low Speed, basically identical result
  • Platen Gap is on Auto
  • Pre-pressed and lint-rolled the shirts
  • Printer is brand new and was installed today

Would appreciate any advice from people who actually run these machines.

u/Future-Ad-5901 — 3 days ago

Bulbs for exposure unit

Working on this custom made exposure unit for my studio neighbor - I'm a woodworker not a printer. We built the base a few years ago to someone else's spec. Just added the lid and gas springs to use foam and pressure the screens and transparencies better. Thinking there is a better option than these T12 Fluorescent bulbs.

Reading looks like a black light/ UV bulb is ideal. Think go with just a standard replacement or new fixtures all together?I know lighting has changed a lot in the last few years with LED options.

Is it something like this? https://www.chewy.com/zoo-med-420nm-actinic-coral-sun-t8/dp/1372678?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=22429707836&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22433242975&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3FE0rpDJWpldcc_iRXSt1fX&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4orUBhCjARIsAIbF3qxz_8FfH85IP7-ezhOIM_x33QE9-uO_Ubn9dyRj8yerxG0j7rRQ22oaAoSXEALw_wcB

Unit is 1260mm x 1020mm, prefinished birch plywood + gas springs + timer. Any one has questions on the build, happy to give more details.

Apologize for the lighting in the photos...

u/Low-Permission3066 — 3 days ago
▲ 2 r/SCREENPRINTING+2 crossposts

Looking to get a few niche 80s band tshirts…

There’s a few niche 80s metal bands I want to get on tshirts. I’m wondering if there’s somewhere I can get relatively cheap shirts like this from OR even better, a site that I can make my own tshirt by uploading the band logo.

BUT the biggest thing for me is fit and comfort. I’m in pretty good shape and I don’t the tshirts to look baggy. I’d like them to fit around my arms and chest nicely while looser in belly area and material that ideally doesn’t feel like cardboard.

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u/Avatron7D5 — 2 days ago

This is the most I've ever printed in short succession

Still have a few more to do. All to bring to a local Stephen King event in September

u/blaz138 — 4 days ago

Looking for advice please

We bought our business about 3 years ago and I'm wondering if anyone had knowledge or has dealt with this before? In our contract it states that the previous owner can't do any screen printing or embroidery business within 200 miles of our town for 20 years, we recently found out that he has been taking business from us for the last 3 years. My question is if we take him to court are they just going to say oh stop doing business, or will we have a chance to fight for money back? If its just going to be tell him to quit doing business I'll handle it out of court instead of wasting more money we don't have

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u/Intelligent-Beat-700 — 3 days ago

I think I've been pricing myself too low

I got restless last night, frustrated with finances, and did some research online, best as I was able, and came to think I might be pricing myself significantly too low. This image is just one of many that led me to that conclusion, as well as consulting an AI oracle, wise knower (and faker) of things. Of course, few printers seem to post their prices online, probably wisely, so it's hard to know what the going rate is in my area (mid-Michigan) without doing some stealth re-con. I'm currently charging $9 for a 1-color front for 1-20 pieces using a Gildan Ultra or Softstyle.

What do you all think? Am I leaving money on the table? For context, I'm a one man shop.

EDIT: I charge $20 for screens.

u/Sundrenched-1770 — 4 days ago

Phone line?

Just curious what everyone uses for a business phone. Google voice or something else? Just starting out, so I def don't want to use my personal cell.

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u/NewAir5 — 3 days ago