| Screen Printing |
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The printing plate for the screen printer is a wooden or aluminium frame with a polyester mesh stretched over it. The mesh is coated with a light sensitive emulsion, which when dry will block the holes in the mesh. The image that needs to be printed is output on film. This film positive is placed directly on to the emulsion side of the mesh and exposed to ultra violet light which hardens the area around the film positive. The screen is then washed with a jet of water which washes away all the light sensitive emulsions that has not been hardened by the ultra violet light. This leaves an open stencil which replicates exactly to the image supplied on the film. The ink is then forced through the open areas of the mesh and onto the product by a rubber blade. Screen printing is probably the most versatile of all the print processes. It can be used to print on a wide range of materials, board, glass, metals, nylon, cotton and most other fabrics. As well as being able to print on flat items the process also enables you to rotate images around cylindrical products such as pens, bottles and flasks etc. |