How Does Screen Printing Work?
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Silk screen printing is a process that dates back as far as the Song Dynasty in China (960-1279 AD). It is called silkscreening because in the 1960′s printers used silk as the ‘mesh’ which the ink came through before being transferred onto the material.
Silk screen printing has retained the name even though polyester is now primarily used instead of silk as the mesh screen. It is also known as screen printing or serigraphy. Screen printing is used for printing on various promotional products.
Some popular promotional items for screen printing are:
The process of silk screen printing consists of several steps…
| A frame of wood or aluminium is constructed, to which the mesh is attached. The mesh is either made of man-made materials such as polyester, nylon, or steel. Next, the stencil is placed on top of the mesh. The stencil is made of material that the ink cannot permeate, and is the opposite, or negative, of what will show on the material the ink will be transferred to, cloth, paper, or some other material. |
| The screen is now placed on the cloth or paper, also called the substrate. |
| The ink is placed at the bottom of the negative part of the stencil and transferred to the substrate. This is accomplished by running a fill bar, also called a flood bar, across the screen starting from the bottom, and moving the bar smoothly to the top. |
| The operator will move the fill bar in the opposite direction, using a slightly different technique. The screen is lifted to prevent contact with the substrate, and with some slight downward pressure the fill bar is moved back across the template forcing the ink into areas missed upon the first pass. |
The last process performed in the frame is done by use of a squeegee. This rubber blade is moved across the template, forcing the ink in a uniformed fashion, into the substrate.
This insures that the ink being deposited into the substrate is the same thickness as the mesh and/or stencil. As the squeegee moves across the frame the mesh pulls away from the substrate.
If everything has been done properly, this ‘snap off’ leaves the ink on the substrate in the design of the stencil. For multi-colored prints, the darker colors are used first, and the lighter colors, applied in the same fashion, are silkscreened on top of the darker colors.
Once the print is on the branded goods they are then put through a drying machine.
The ‘Flat-bed’ (probably the most popular and the one just explained), the ‘cylinder’, and the ‘rotary’ are the three types of screen printing presses being used today.
The screen used for the stencil can be cleaned and re-used with the same stencil. If the stencil is no longer going to be used, there is a more extensive process to clean the screen.
Although silkscreening is used primarily for clothing, there are many other materials that can be employed, such as watch faces, balloons, and more recently, in the technical field, to lay down conductors and resistors.
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David Dawson
I work here at Promo Gifts as Technical Director. I built and maintain the website and I deal with all the Artwork and Visuals that we produce in house. If you have a technical query or a problem to be solved it's generally me you will speak to. I do appreciate any comments you may have and encourage you to post should you have anything to add.
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