Short List Of Items Needed To Start Screen Printing Tee Shirts Professionally

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hello and welcome to another educational
video about screen printing by cats pip
productions thanks a lot for clicking on
my video today I appreciate your time
and attention and of course if you like
my videos please make sure to subscribe
to my YouTube channel and if you need
screen printing equipment or supplies
check out cats pit screen print supply
calm okay so today we're going to talk
about what are the minimal requirements
the minimal items you need to screen
print with a decent result okay and you
could probably screen print with a lot
less than what I'm showing you today but
the idea is that these are the minimal
items that will give you the best
results the easiest time nice
professional prints no hassles this is
the easiest best way to go with the
minimal requirements that I believe are
going to help you screen print better so
the link for the expanded version of
this list we're going over to today's on
the home page of the e-commerce site
right there you can see it okay it's
right you know above where the products
will start on the home page of cats bit
screen print supply.com
okay so the first thing on your list is
going to be a screen printing press
alright and I suggest an actual press
rather than like hinge clamps because
it's easier to load the shirt on the
pallet and it's just it makes it a lot
easier to print the shirts on some kind
of a press that has a pallet where you
can load the shirt or what some people
might say split the shirt on the pallet
you're loading the shirt on the pallet
so the the you know the pallet goes
inside the body of the shirt makes it
easy to print alright so what you have
to consider is how many colors do you
want to print you obviously don't
necessarily need to start with a big
floor press like this this is a six
color six station rotary press okay but
we have to keep in mind is for ever
color you want a print you need a print
head
okay so each one of these will print one
color so for the most flexibility you
know you might want a four color one
station so we have floor crosses and
then we also have bench top equipment so
when you're starting out you might start
with a smaller bench top or tabletop
press like for instance we have the P
405 it's a bench top for color one
station screen printing press okay and
it's just gonna make it a lot easier you
know if you want that versatility of how
many colors for different colors to be
able to print you would be able to do
three colors on black because one of
those would be a white underbase most
likely okay stuff like that so when
you're deciding what press to buy the
first thing you have to consider is what
kind of flexibility in printing do you
want or you know how many colors are you
going to want to print okay
then secondly you know would be what's
better for us a floor press or a bench
press obviously if I can say that as
many times in this clip as possible when
you're starting out minimalistic ly if
that's a word in a minimalist way then
you would probably have a one color one
station bench top or a table top press
and that that's something you can start
with you know pretty inexpensively all
right so the next thing on your list is
actually a flash cure okay this one over
here is actually an air flash flash
gears are used on press to do multicolor
jobs so when we're printing a multicolor
job and we want to dry the ink to the
touch between prints we put the flash
cure over one of the pallets on the
price so an air flashes for water-based
inks and then over here we actually have
an infrared flash this one would be for
plastisol inks and you can use the flash
PR for flashing multi colors on press
and you can also use it for your final
cure if you're trying to be minimalistic
this is going to cure the shirt and make
it wash safe as well so yes the next
item on your list would probably be
an exposure unit okay so this is a nice
fancy-schmancy exposure unit pit this is
an LED vacuum top this is what we use to
expose the screen because it's a
photographic process so we need a light
source particularly UV light okay so
there are different types of light
sources you can use when you're starting
up obviously you can get a nice unit
like this of course but you can start
with something smaller we make a black
lamp fluorescent industrial tabletop
exposure unit which is a little it's a
little box you know and it sits on a
tabletop it will expose screens just
like this but it's a lot smaller it
takes up less space and it's of course
much less expensive so the exposure unit
is used to expose the screening using
light and we expose a light-sensitive
emulsion that's on the screen and we
create the stencil that way okay so that
leads us onto some more items that we're
going to need which will all start to
bring a sense of chemicals and and
things that we use to actually make the
screen and print the shirts alright so
we got the basic equipment out of the
way like if you're just starting you got
the press you got the flash cure and we
have an exposure unit so those three
core items would be great to start with
you know and like like I said it doesn't
have to be the most commercial
professional unit it can be a smaller
startup or beginner type equipment which
I have plenty of at Katz's bin
screenprint supply.com okay so you're
also going to need a computer hopefully
not as antiquated as this little guy but
you will need a computer with vector
software so in screen printing we use
vector art that is created with Adobe
Illustrator or CorelDraw some people do
use Photoshop but that's really for
photography
so you're going to need a computer Adobe
Illustrator or CorelDraw and then you're
going to need an inkjet printer so you
can print to the inkjet film that you're
going to need to make the screens okay
so we're going to talk about inkjet
still in a second computer inkjet
printer vector software like CorelDraw
or Adobe Illustrator
very important okay in screen making and
reclaiming and everything the pressure
washer is critical and you will also
need Colts running tap water on a garden
hose with like little Springs
okay this is what you're gonna use to
wash the stencil out and try not to
spray water around the shop like I
almost did there but the garden hose
with cold tap water you're gonna use to
wash the stencil out after you expose it
on the exposure table or the exposure
unit the pressure washer is actually
used you have to turn it on and then
it's loud but the pressure washer itself
is used for stripping the screen of
emulsion d hazing and mask wrapping and
all the screen making tours where the
force of the water is needed to help
complete the job along with the
chemicals okay so yes it's imperative
that you have a pressure washer for
screen making and reclaiming and cold
tap water on a garden hose with a spray
nozzle for washing out the stencil okay
so the next items you're going to need
would be a squeegee okay this is used to
print with the screen you're going to
need a scoop coder
okay the scoop coder and you're gonna
need screens okay the scoop coder is
used to apply the emulsion to the screen
so that it looks like you know something
like this if I could grab it alright and
then we take this the emulsion is on the
screen and we take it over to the
exposure unit over here and then we're
going to expose the screen with our film
positive to create the stencil which we
can use the print on the price with the
squeegee
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okay so the next few items that you're
going to need would be considered
consumables meaning that they're
consumed with every print job and that
would be inkjet film to print your film
positives to make the screen you're
gonna need some ink
whether it be plastisol or water-based
you would probably need some kind of ink
solvent so this is for plastisol ink
this cleans up the plasti salt link from
your screen and from the squeegee and
stuff then you would need some emulsion
right emulsion is the stuff that goes
into the scoop coder to be coated onto
the screen so we have a photographic
stencil so that's the emulsion then of
course of course you will need a motion
remover this is used to strip the
emulsion off of the screen when we want
to reuse it and we will also need some
spray tack spray TOC is used on the
palette actually the palette that all
this stuff is sitting on right now and
it's an adhesive that we spray on the
palette so that the shirt stays put
while we're printing it so these are
just a few of the basic chemicals or
consumables that you would need to
screen print t-shirts and of course
there are more than this that could
possibly be useful all right so now
obviously you're going to need stuff
like t-shirts you're going to need
possibly a heat gun maybe an infrared
temperature gun
of course you're going to need some rags
you're gonna probably need some spray
bottles like these guys chemical
resistant spray bottles scrubby pads
okay that's for screen making probably
some masking tape maybe some markers
sharpies
gonna need some scotch tape I'm sure and
probably a ruler okay among other minor
little supplies or accoutrements that
will make your life easier
complete or better all right so one last
note here's the list that I use today to
create this abridged
abbreviated version of the minimal
requirements that you need to screen
print and also here's a couple of ink
scoops which you probably need also and
I almost forgot to mention ink scoops
are important of course because you're
gonna be dealing with a lot of ink so
that's it
I hope you found this video to be
educational informative and worth your
time if you have any questions leave
them in the comments below of course or
you can contact me through youtube or
one of my websites and of course also
check out the expanded version of the
list we went over today the link is on
the home page of the e-commerce site
like I showed you earlier in the video
today that's all I have for you today
make sure you check out cat spit
screenprint supply.com if you need
screen printing equipment and supplies
and of course subscribe to my youtube
channel today to keep these free videos
coming right at you thanks again for
watching and of course we'll see you
next time
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