How to Build a Screen Printing Press
Screen printing is an ancient Asian art of passing ink onto a canvass, through the use of a stencil laid across a screen. The original screen printers, used almost 2,000 years ago, were made of human hair stretched across wood with leaf stencils; today, metal and wood are used for the framing. Today, screen printing is as much an art form as it is a way of business. Screen printing is used to make t-shirts, signs, advertisements and countless other objects. Screen printing is available to anyone who doesn't mind an hour or two of work, and working with their hands.
Things You'll Need
- 17-inch by 15-inch by ¾-inch plywood sheet (shirt board)
- 24-inch by 2 1/2-inch by 3/4-inch plywood sheet (clamp base)
- 29-inch piece of 2-by-4 (beam)
- 2 lengths of pine, 24-inch by 2 1/2-inch by 3/4-inch (clamps)
- 2 eye screws
- 2 carriage bolts, 3 1/2-inches
- 2 washers
- 2 wing nuts
- strip hinge
- wood screws
- rubber bands
- plastic zip tie
Instructions
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1
Miter cut one end of the 2-by-4 beam at a 45-degree angle.
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2
Screw the shirt board down onto the beam using the wood screws. The shirt board should extend over the mitered end of the beam by 2 inches.
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3
Attach the clamp base with screws to the other end of the beam, making sure it is flush with the end. The clamp base needs to straddle the beam longways, so that most of it extends equally over either side of the beam.
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4
Stack both clamp pieces on top of each other and drill a 3/-inch hole through both of them, 1 inch from each end. The holes must line up, so that the carriage bolts can be bolted through them.
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5
Set one of the clamp pieces longways across the beam, so that it butts up against the clamp base. Place the strip hinge so it covers the seam between the clamp piece and the clamp base, and screw it to both. Now the clamp piece is able to hinge up away from the beam.
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6
Set the second clamp piece on top of the first clamp piece. Push the carriage bolts through both boards, starting from the bottom; place one washer on each bolt, and then screw down the wing nuts.
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7
Screw an eye screw into the middle of the clamp base, facing towards the non-mitered end of the beam. Screw the other eye screw into the center of the top clamp board, facing towards the mitered end of the beam.
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8
Tie three rubber bands to the eye screw on the clamp base, and then connect those rubber bands to the second eye screw with zip ties. You want there to be enough tension to hold the screen up when it is mounted in the clamps, but not so much tension so that you cannot easily pull the screen down while you are printing. If the tension is not enough, adjust the size and number of rubber bands to find what works best.
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Tips & Warnings
The screens used with this press are 18-inch by 22-inch frames.
