The Letterville BullBoard: Vertical Screen Printing: How do you do it?

This is topic Vertical Screen Printing: How do you do it? in forum Old Archives at The Letterville BullBoard.

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Posted by Richard Bustamante (Member # 370) on :

Greetings;
I've been working on a gold leaf job, and I've never printed on a vertical surface. The princibles of screening I know, but *how* is it done on, lats say, "on glass"?

First off, I did a water gild, and applied the gold leaf. My next step was printing. "But how do you hold the screen in place while you run the squeege by?" This is where my delema began. What do you do?

The design came out perfectly. Nice clean edges. Ya`know, when your working with several hundred dollars of gold on a window, a mistake at that point can be costly. My blood preasure was up, and sweat was beginning to form on my brow. To top it off, the custome was standing right behind me with black boots and a riding crop. I don't know if you have Armenians where your at, but thats *all* I'm gonna say.

How do you print vertically?

"Now before I go and tell you how I did it; I want you to post."

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Richard Bustamante
12646 E. American Ave.
Del Rey, Ca. 93616
e-mail: signwiz@valleyone.net
www.studio-b.net

Posted by John Smith (Member # 1308) on :

You use small wood blocks anchored to the glass with double face foam tape. This will hold your screen in place while you squeegee across . .. .. after a few trial runs, you will be very comfortable with this proceedure!!
((( just eatin lettuce .. .. nuttin to it )))

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John Smith
Kings Bay Signs
Kingsland, GA

Purveyor of fine signage
and
Innovator of good things
yet to be

www.KINGS BAY SIGNS.com

WoodCarver on mIRC chat

Posted by Rich Stebbing (Member # 368) on :

Hey Rich, I also use the small wood blocks w/foam tape in an "L" shape(usually 2 on bottom and 2 to one side), but be sure to remove them with a "twist" when done. I also use a couple of pieces of foam tape on my frame for "off-contact". I tape across bottom of the squeegee side of frame to act as resevoir to catch ink. I first use a flood stroke before putting screen to glass and then once in place I will execute print stroke. I then take my screen and put it in a plastic bag and will squirt reducer on mesh to keep wet and seal bag with knot. That will keep things from drying out until I get back to shop for clean-up. Be sure frame fits flush to glass with no warping or you will have to "shim it" using tapered wood strips or something similar. Before attaching you wood blocks make decision on stroke direction.The registration is your most important step to work out. Actually this kind of printing is a piece of cake. Once your customer see's how easy you do this he may only want to pay you half(ha). Good luck.

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Rich Stebbing #945
RichSigns
Rohnert Park CA

Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :

I have these suction cuyps with some pieces glued on that form the platform for the frame. Great and simple set up that was given to me years back at a Letterhead meet by Lee Littlewood. Ricardo, I'll show you. C'mon up.

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The SignShop
Mendocino, California
"Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"

Posted by Jeff Lang (Member # 336) on :

Richard,
I made this jig that I stick to the window with two sided tape. It's an "L" shaped bracket made of two 2" x 2" glued together & I added flat head screws in for a leveling device and a micro adjustment.
Whichever way you wipe, make sure you wipe toward the bracket so the screen stays in place. I think I picked this tip up at a meet, but, I apologize to the source for forgetting who it was.
It works very well, I I have the same one for about ten years.

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Jeffrey P. Lang
Olde Lang Signs
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
412 732-9999
oldelangsigns@msn.com

Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :

Hi Richard. First, I mark the baseline of the screen print directly on the screen itself, using an indellible ink pen. I further extend these marks right onto the screen frame, and place a piece of tape on the outside edges of the screen frame to use later as a visual guide in lining up and levelling the print. Next, I mark the centre line of the print, and repeat the steps above to give you a centre line reference.

Next, I tape a paper trough onto the inside bottom portion of the screen frame, as this is where the ink will collect after you've pulled your print.

Having done this preliminary prep work, I now mark the glass surface with the baseline and centreline...but leaving the actual print area clear. I then place 4 pieces of double-sided foam tape on the outside corners of the screen frame, where it will rest on the surface of the glass. I also cut extra pieces if more than 1 print is to be made. Peel off the backing of the tape, flood coat your screen, align the screen with the marks on the glass, press the screen into place, and pull your print. If additional prints are required, remove the screen, apply the extra pieces of tape, and repeat at the next location. The trough will contain any ink run-down until you are finished.

When finished, remove the trough and excess ink, clean off squeegee, place screen onto an old newspaper and use wax paper to cover any remaining ink inside your screen. This will prevent it from drying in until you get it back to the shop for a thorough cleaning.

Now, go back to the pieces of 2-sided foam tape left on the glass, and remove these with a razor blade scraper. Clean off any adhesive residue , and your layout lines with alcohol and a rag. Clean up the site, return to the shop, and clean up your screen and other tools.

I've used this method many times, and have found it to be the quickest and most effective way to accomplish this task. Usually, I screen on the outline and shade first, then back- up with the gold or colour the next day .

Hope this gives you another possible alternative.

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Ken Henry
Henry & Henry Signs
London, Ontario Canada
(519) 439-1881
e-mail kjmlhenry@home.

The grass is often greener on the other side, because they've been in deeper kaka.

Posted by Tim Barrow (Member # 576) on :

Richard,The way I was taught is basically the same method as Rich stated with the exception of tape across the squeegee side or bottom of the screen,...instead of tape I was taught to make a gutter of sorts out of cardboard & tape in case yer workin' over carpet or a really nice flooring it will be a bit more forgiving in case of drips & give a little more leeway with the squeegee.
hope this helps ya!

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fly low...timi/NC
is,.....Tim Barrow
Barrow Art Signs
Winston-Salem,NC
http://members.xoom.com/Signz.1

Posted by Richard Bustamante (Member # 370) on :

OK, so heres how I did it...

When I was ready to print, I taped the upper edge of the screen (with duck tape) to the window, making sure everything was registered. The reason I taped the top edge was so that I could lift the screen, pour the ink, and flood coat. The off-contact was the same as normal printing. With the screen flooded, I carefully lowered the screen, and printed my graphic. Essentially, I took the idea from the "hinging" meathod used in vinyl application. It worked fine, and holding the screen in place for one pass was adequate.

After seeing the "L" shape frame that is adheared to the window, looks to me, like thats the way to go. Its easy to make, and holds the screen in place perfectly.

Thanks guys.

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Richard Bustamante
12646 E. American Ave.
Del Rey, Ca. 93616
e-mail: signwiz@valleyone.net
www.studio-b.net

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