The Best Equipment Needed For Screen Printing Epic T-Shirts Immediately

It’s very simple here that for you to print epic screen printed t-shirts with great designs, you will be requiring the use of the best equipment around. There is no other way around this. I will help you here by telling you what these pieces of equipment are and discuss why they are important to your screen printing operations.

What is the best equipment needed for screen printing? These are the equipment needed in screen printing and they are grouped here by processes:
Pre-press:
Computer with design software
Inkjet printer
Screens
Exposure unit
Drying racks
Washout stations
Printing:
Printing press
Flash cure unit
Squeegee
Post-press:
Conveyor dryer

You may also wonder to yourself as to what screen printing supplies do I need. I will go over these supplies later in this article.

Equipment and supplies are part of the real cost of screen printing along with other expenses. It is crucial that you factor all of this into the total cost of screen printing shirts to ensure that you will be profitable.

As a seasoned screen printer myself, I will now proceed in talking about these pieces of equipment that should be a part of your screen printing starter kit.

Pre-Press Equipment

There is plenty of work that needs to be done before you can get your t-shirt on the printing press. This part of the printing presses deals with artwork preparation and ensuring that the screens you will be using are ready.

Computer With Design Software

Any PC regardless if it’s Windows-based or Mac should be okay here. What’s important is that you have design software loaded to this computer.

You may consider Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or CorelDraw but it can even be as simple as Windows Paint or any proprietary software that comes loaded with your computer.

Just make sure that the design that you will make will have a minimum of 300 dpi resolution.

It is critical that you also consider the file type for your output. I would suggest that you use raster graphics because it will be easier to scale with this and you will not lose the quality of your image. You may check out my article discussing the best file formats for t-shirt printing.

Inkjet Printer

You need to print stencils based on your artwork design. Graphics will be printed on this clear film transparency and inkjet printers should be capable to handle this for you.

The printer will print black ink on these transparencies which will block out entirely the UV light when the time comes for you to expose your screens.

You can also make use of a RIP software for this purpose since this will guarantee that your printer will print 100% opaque outputs. This is expensive software, but there are cheaper alternatives available for download.

Screens

Image by threads_screen_print

This is a piece of must-have equipment.

You can choose between the wooden or aluminum type screen frame. The aluminum one will last longer.

There two common sizes for the frames: 20 x 24 inches and 23 x 31 inches. Do consider the screen size because it has to be large enough to accommodate designs.

You will need to maintain more than one screen in your inventory for you can only use one per design color.

The 110-mesh count screen would do just fine for a standard design. You will need higher mesh counts for finer detailed designs.

Yellow or dyed mesh begins at 200 mesh count or higher. Should you be using a 156 or 160 mesh count or anything lower to it and that is of color amber or yellow, note that this is a dyed mesh specially made and it is difficult to source.

You can click my article on picking screen mesh. This will give you a comprehensive description of all sizes of mesh that can be purchased.

I suggest that you tape the insides of your screen before you start printing. It will save you plenty of trouble during printing.

Drying Racks

This is where you will leave the screen after it goes the application of emulsion. It needs a place to dry completely.

This cabinet can be self-contained and safe from any light entry and comes with fans or vents that will help in drying the emulsions on the screen.

Exposure Units

Once the emulsion is completely applied on the screen, you do need an exposure unit to cure this emulsion liquid by exposing them to light.

You will place the transparency with artwork on the screen inside this exposure unit.

Note that the printable parts of this design artwork will be completely black to block light from exposing your emulsion. This will result in the covered areas remaining water soluble and the exposed areas are not. They can now be dissolved when washed with water.

Exposure units come in various sizes but I suggest that you go for the medium-sized one.

Check out my article how to expose screen printing screens it can shed more light on this topic.

There are cheaper options for screen exposure. You can get a 250-watt bulb and apply it at a specific angle and it will also do the job.

Washout Booths

Once the screen is exposed, you will need to spray the two sides of it with water. You will see now the image of your design artwork as the emulsion is being washed away.

It will be very helpful to get a pressure washer which will greatly assist you in the complete removal of the emulsion from the screen.

The uncured emulsion will be safe from light once it gets wet.

The screen will have to be dried completely after this process.

Printing Equipment

This is the actual printing process where the ink will pass through the screens and on the substrate. Your design is now printed on the t-shirt.

Printing Press

This is the center of any screen printing shop and to a screen printer, this piece of equipment is the most important of them all.

You can start with a manual type and then upgrade to an automatic one as you grow your business. I suggest that you get a six-color printing press because it can handle any print job that you may get. And you can keep certain screens on the press as and use the other open heads to clamp on new screens if needed.

These presses are expensive, especially when brand new, therefore you may be considering purchasing a used one. But whether you buy a new one or used, this will have a big effect on your real cost of screen printing.

My article on with tips on buying used screen printing equipment may come in handy for you.

Spray tacks can be used to keep the t-shirts secure on the pallet while printing is going on.

Flash Cure Unit

If you are considering printing on dark colored garments, then you will be requiring this piece of equipment. This equipment cures partially the inks which then permit you to print the white underbases or overlapping colors.

An infrared-based temperature gun can be used to check these curing inks.

Squeegee

They are used to pull the ink right across this screen and then lay down the print.

There are many choices here and they are picked based on the type of inks being used, screen mesh count, the artwork itself, and the desired print result.

You may consider these three types:

60 durometer squeegee – You will use this squeegee type if your design needs a bigger volume of ink. Its softer blades enable it to print more ink than the harder one thereby making the printer achieve coverage and higher opacity. You can use this when printing on the dark-colored garments.
70 durometer squeegee – This type is the most commonly utilized squeegee. Use this when printing on light-colored garments or if your design has a somewhat finer line work.
80 durometer squeegee – When used with screens with higher mesh counts, this squeegee type can be utilized on halftones, fine line details, and four-color processes.

Durometer is used to accurately measure the intrinsic hardness of certain materials which means the resistance of his particular material to permanent indentation. Polymers, rubbers, and elastomers are usually the materials where this measurement is applied.

Post-Press Equipment

There is only one necessary piece of equipment in this process.

Conveyor Dryer

This type of dryer heats the ink to the curing temperature thereby ensuring your prints will last for a very long time.

If you want to be doubly sure about getting to that right temperature, secure a heat gun because it can accurately tell the current temperature once the garment exits out of the dryer.

Other Pieces Of Equipment Needed

These are minor pieces of equipment or tools that will enable your shop to obtain the best screen print possible for your clients. If you purchase these items, you should include this as part of your costs of screen printing t-shirt.

They will complement your screen printing starter kit. These are:

Exacto blade
Red or yellow lights for screen making in the darkroom
Spot cleaning gun for removal of unwanted inks from the garments
Pellon for test printing
Rulers

Screen Printing Supplies

Let me now address the issue that you have right now which is what screen supplies do I need. We will start by going over the important screen printing supplies that you should have in your inventory.

Inks

There are two types of inks that you can consider – plastisol and water-based. You can read further on them by clicking on this link to my article on water-based ink vs plastisol ink.

You need to have the basic colors in your supplies available. Black, white, yellow, blue, green and red are the basic colors.

If you will be mixing your own ink to get to the final product, you need to have a scale, to get the accurate amount of ink to be mixed. You will also require a quart container where you will be mixing your inks.

Handling inks are not that simple. There are important things to consider with ink storage and disposal. This article, The Right Way To Store And Dispose Of Screen Printing Ink can increase your knowledge on this subject.

If you need to lessen the thickness of your ink, a curable reducer can help you with this.

Ink Solvents

These are the chemicals that you will use in removing the ink and cleaning the screen right after the production process is completed.

They are also called ink wash or press wash and they can be applied to both plastisol or water-based inks with water.

I strongly suggest that you use this in washout booths to contain the wastes generated. Aside from the screens, you can use this on the other tools that have ink on it. It tends to be aggressive on emulsions and finishes so use this wisely. However, it is quite good at removing stains.

It is important that you do a thorough job in cleaning the ink from the screens since you will need to reuse them for the next job.

Photo Emulsion And Sensitizer

This is the liquid chemical that you use to coat the screen during the emulsion process.

It is quite sensitive to light sources and ready to develop. A sensitizer is a solution that is mixed in into photo emulsion chemical for this purpose.

This has to be applied thickly to the screen in order to have the stencil run deep and provide more room for the ink that will be deposited later on the screen.

You will then leave the screen applied with emulsion in a dark storage room until it’s completely dry.

You can have the option of using scoop coaters for the purpose of applying this chemical or a squeegee.

For the removal of this emulsion from your screen, use an emulsion remover.

Screen Opener

You can use a screen opener to be sprayed on the screen during printing to remove bad stencil clogs, blockages, grease, or stains. This chemical will remove these from mesh openings on and off the printing press.

You need to test it thoroughly at first because it may have an effect on the emulsions.

Spray Adhesive

You will use this on all the knit fabrics that have no need for flash curing on the press. You need this for any multi-color type printing jobs where you have the design printed twice.

A spray adhesive flash mist is required for knit fabrics that need to be flash-cured on the printing press.

Spray Adhesive Web Tack

This follows the same usage principle as the spray adhesive. It is however applied to all fleece garments including hoodies, sweatshirts, and sweat pants with no requirements for flash curing.

If the garment has a requirement for flash curing, then use this spray.

Other Chemicals

These are the other chemicals needed in the screen printing process:

Mesh abrader – Purpose of this is to roughen the mesh so that the liquid emulsion to be later applied can bind well with it. Use this only once whenever you have a new screen so that you definitely can obtain highly detailed design and halftones.

Mesh prep – This is to remove debris and dirt and at the very same time, degrease the screen. This will eliminate pinholes, greatly increase emulsion and mesh adhesion.

Haze or stain remover – This is for the removal of any stain in the screen mesh before any degreasing and recoating with emulsion is to be undertaken. It can effectively remove stubborn hazy images thereby permitting the ink to freely pass through the mesh openings. You need this if you will be constantly recycling screens for reuse.

Latex Gloves

I suggest that you wear latex gloves since you will be working with chemicals here to protect yourself.

Other Screen Printing Supplies

These supplies will be needed to assist you in your operations.

Masking tapes

Markers

Pallet tape for cleaning of pallets

Paper towels or rags

Scotch tape

Scrub pads

Transparencies or inkjet films – It commonly comes in boxes of 100 sheets and there are three sizes that are available: 8.5” x 11”, 11” x 17”, and 13” x 19”.