DIY Screen Printing Equipment

Make your own logos with inexpensive equipment you made yourself.

Special equipment is needed for screen printing, but many essential components of it are easily made with a little ingenuity on your part. It is these specific pieces of equipment that can be expensive when purchased and inexpensive, but effective, when made yourself with a few adaptations.



Do it yourself by making a flat surface with clamps to stabilize the screen. Use alternative methods for screen stenciling, light sources and heat drying of inks. Any of these can save you a lot of money.

Things You'll Need

• Flat, wooden surface
• Large, metal pipe brackets
• Thumb screws
• 2-by-3 inch boards
• Fine-mesh nylon screening
• Stapler and staples
• Embroidery hoops (optional)
• Pencil
• Water-based sealing glue
• Small paint brush
• Light bulbs
• Glass
• Nonstick ironing cloth

Instructions

Support Surface

1. Designate a stable wood surface as a work area. Attach one end of a metal bracket to the back end of the work surface. Bend it up so there is a 3-inch clearance. Bend the other end parallel to the wood surface and thread a thumb screw through hole in that end.

2. Repeat Step 1 with two or three more brackets, aligning them straight across the back of the work area.

3. Place a 2 1/2 high piece of wood under each of the brackets and tighten the thumb screws to make final adjustments to the bends in the brackets.

Mesh Screens

1. Form a frame made from 2-by-3 inch boards that are standing on the 2-inch side. Square up the frame and then nail the corners to hold it together.

2. Cut a piece of fine mesh 2 inches longer and 2 inches wider than the frame. Lay it across the frame and staple it to the top edge. Stretch it tightly and staple the bottom edge. Lightly stretch one side and staple it, and then stretch the mesh tightly and staple to the other side.

3. Stretch the mesh in a circular embroidery hoop and tighten the rim to hold the mesh firmly as an alternative. If you have access to a machine embroidery hoop, stretch the mesh tightly in that hoop.

Alternate Mesh Stenciling Method

1. Place a black image under the screen and trace the outline of the design and any spaces that are to allow ink transfer.

2. Paint an even coat of a water-based, sealing glue with a matte finish onto the screen on both sides, leaving the areas of the design open.

3. Allow the sealing glue to dry thoroughly for several hours or over night. This eliminates the need for a light source when making the stencil.

Light Sources if Light-Sensitive Emulsion is Used

1. Lay the prepared screen on a black surface with the design on the recessed side of the screen and cover it with a piece of glass. Place it on a level surface in the sun for about 45 minutes to produce the image on the screen.

2. Suspend a 500-watt light bulb above the screen from a long goose neck lamp or trouble light as an alternative method.

3. Build a light box with fluorescent light bulbs in it. Cover the bulbs with glass and then place the screen on the glass.

Heat Sources for Drying the Ink

1. Air dry over night and then iron for 5 minutes with a nonstick ironing cloth over the design.

2. Dry the ink using a hair dryer as an alternative method and then iron.

3. Suspend a heat lamp over the printed surface for drying as a second alternative before ironing.

Resources

• Poor Man's Screen Printing Process