New silkscreen method..has anybody tried this?(Pics inside!)

Check this out:

http://photoez.itcstore.com/

I wonder if this approach gives details fine enough...seems to be much more simple and cheaper than the "normal" silkscreening.

Their biggest stencil media is 8,5" X 11", so a 19" panel would have to be made in sections. Would that be a problem?


Cheers,

Miska

I?ll give it a try :thumb:

I like it! I have not tried it yet but damn, it looks like screening your own projects is finally a lot easier!
:sam: :sam:

I'm thinking reuseable stencil for one-sided pc boards to roll-on resist before etching.
I may get some.
cool, thanks!

Mista, that looks good.
I really appreciate that hint.

wow I've got to try this on my front panels.

The Q&A sections says placement accuracy is not precise enough for pcb's, but I bet if you made your own frame it would work.

Hi guys. It looks pretty decent, kind of expensive. I've been screenprinting for about 20 years and I've never seen this method before. Usually the higher the mesh count of the screen (finer) the more detail you are able to attain. I would use probably up to a 240 mesh count for PCB screening and very small print on front panels. I didn't read too far into the product description but I didn't see any mention of a mesh count. You could probably get away with a thread count as low as 160. It looks like it would be worth a try. Make sure you get an ink that works well with the substrate.

for thread count:

Q: What is the thread count on the stencils?
A: Standard is 110 and HiRes is 200.


I'd love to try this for front panels...it says they sell rolls that are 22x44 but they are much more $$ and out of stock.

This is just a standard product with an internal screen added in. If you can find the real stuff, you work with it pretty much the same, but apply it to your silk after developing and then pull of the backing, block out the unused space on the screen and off you go. This is why these have a resolution, they limit it with the internal screen so they can make more money. If you can find the real stuff, it is alot cheaper, and the resolution is as high as the silk you stretch onto a frame. Its good stuff, the stencils hold up very well, and if you want you can hand cut them and not deal with the chemicals and still end up with a very high quality screen that will last a long time. If only I could remember the name of that stuff, it works great.

adam

Adam,

let us know if you find out the name of that "real stuff". I guess you are not talking about the "traditional" silkscreening with all the frames and chemicals etc.

Mista, that looks good.
I really appreciate that hint.

Click to expand...

Great! Let's hope that stuff works...

Miska

Adam, Are you refering to the sheets of film that are applied to a screen? If so, you are right, they are very good. They are called capillary films and come in a variety of types. You can either shoot 'em (expose) or cut them with an exacto knife and they apply with water. You can get great results with this type of film but your resolution is whatever your screen is. If any of you guys want some help doing "real" screen printing (not that this method isn't), I would be glad to help any way that I can.

Good to know the name of that stuff again. I will have to get some, I have been wanting to get back into silk screening again.

adam

Looks like a nice convenient way not to deal with frames and silk.

But, I've done alot of silkscreening and typically you screen a front panel or other non-porous material "out of contact". This means the silk doesn't actually contact the panel - it's held a couple mm above the surface to get a clean pull from the screen and not have any smearing or smudging. Since they mention using it on ceramic, it would be interesting to hear about some real experiences with it if anyone decides to give it a go.

You're right h2000, the website only mentions examples of porous materials like leather, T-shirts etc.
I am really interested if someone has experience of using it on the usual aluminium rack front panels.

Cheers,
Mike

[quote author="Miska"]Check this out:

http://photoez.itcstore.com/

I wonder if this approach gives details fine enough...seems to be much more simple and cheaper than the "normal" silkscreening.

Their biggest stencil media is 8,5" X 11", so a 19" panel would have to be made in sections. Would that be a problem?


Cheers,

Miska[/quote]


hey, that does look cool, two answer two of you concerns I noticed there is a HI RES sheet available which will be more effective for details, and they have a 22 x 44 roll, you could silk screen an entire collins tube limiter with tat thing..thanks for the tip!.

I have a question for everyone reading this about previous methods used by you guys in the past: anyone knows if there anybody who can do this professionally in the USA and in a ONE OFF basis, and even more helpful, who could make a cool rack enclosure for my project?? the only people I can think of is marquette audio labs but they will want an arm and a leg and I dont really like tose plastic labelings so please let me know,

THIS IS TO RACK A PAIR OF Universal 1108´s and I want them to have VU´s , pad, 48v, DI etc

[quote author="h2000"]Looks like a nice convenient way not to deal with frames and silk.

But, I've done alot of silkscreening and typically you screen a front panel or other non-porous material "out of contact". This means the silk doesn't actually contact the panel - it's held a couple mm above the surface to get a clean pull from the screen and not have any smearing or smudging. Since they mention using it on ceramic, it would be interesting to hear about some real experiences with it if anyone decides to give it a go.[/quote]

I´m quite interested in this subject as I have a prject on hand, you can see details in my previous post, could you please tell me the type of paint that is used to silk screen studio gear?, hope to hear from you soon

Solvent based inks are about the only thing that will work. A company called Nazdar makes excellent inks for this. They have an all-purpose ink that I use for this kind of project, also there are vinyl inks (real stinky) and some 2 part epoxy inks that work very well. You could also check out Union inks, they have great stuff as well.

It's been quite a few years since I did this stuff. I would just check with a good silkscreen supplier to find them. The ink is fairly thick. Nazdar does ring a bell, but I'm sure there are several good ones.

Good timing... I just ordered some of their hi-rez stuff last week, for use on aluminum project panels.

I was planning to use Liquitex acrylics (heavy weight), since this was used in one of their examples ( Keypad Example PDF ), and would make the whole process water-based and relatively non-toxic / fume-free, and easy to clean up. Anyone tried acrylics with a 200 threadcount mesh? I'm hoping it won't clog... good quality paints should have their pigments ground more finely and consistently.

I'll report back when I get around to testing it out.

Back in the 1970's, I also did "photo" silk screening for the panels of various gizmos I built. Some recollections....

The screen was INDEED ever-so-slightly above the work to be printed to avoid smudging. I used wooden frames with corner brackets to hold the four pieces together. I bought a "silk stretcher" (although the actual fabric was a synthetic) from a local screen supply company. It was basically a set of Vice Grips with really wide grippers, and I stapled the "silk" onto the wood.

There are two types of photo emulsions. One is a thick liquid that you apply to the screen, the other is a plastic film with the photosensitive polymer imbeded into it. Both used water to "wash out" the exposed sections. I ended up using the gooey liquid version, but I have zero recolelctions of brand names. One goo was blue in color, but I switched to one that was sort of pink.

For the ink, I used the same product as the folks who make street signs, and it has held up well. I recently saw an electronic crossover I built in the mid 1970's and the labelling was quite intact. But, that ink had a LOT of "chemistry" in it, and the clean-up solvent was even worse. All flammable suff that would get you HIGH! <g>

The surface has to be extremely clean before you print on it.

I have a jillion other silk screen memories, but I'll stop.

Silk screening is very impractical for one-offs. I switched to engraved panels eons ago for that.

Bri