DIY screen printing with enamel

MrC

New Member
Hello,

Can anyone help since i know very little about printing but want to have a go for a small project (run of around 100 2-tone band promo discs). I figure its worth setting up my own screen and building a diy press rather than getting substandard inkjet discs, or very expensive screen printed discs done professionaly, since once set up i can just print them as needed.

The main problem i have at the moment is ink. I believe gloss enamel ink is the stuff to use for the job but i cant find any supplier of it in the UK - Anyone know a particular brand or supplier? The other thing i was wondering regarding ink is whether standard gloss enamel paint with the correct amount of thinners can be used for screen printing on to metal, plastic, glass etc?

Any tips on my plan for making a press may help save me from discovering things by trial and error:

Im thinking of using a square screen divided into quadrants using 5mm pine batton - each quadrant will have room for one disc and ink. The press will just be a tray that is a really good fit for the screen. The tray will be a square piece of wood the same size as the screen with a vinyl floor tile stuck to it that has four disc sized circles cut from it and a disc holder from a jewel case at the centre of each circle. Plywood guides will then be attatched to base that will hold the screen straigt.
The contraption will allow four monochrome discs to be printed in go, or by rotating the screen between colours, either one disc to be done in four colours, or two discs in two colours. The screen will have two knobs screwed into the frame so that it can be lifted out of the tray and rotated.

The base colour on my design just colours the whole disc kak-brown, the second colour has a yellow design and text on it. I will expose the screen so that the solid base colour design is in the top-left and bottom-right quadrants of the screen. The second colour exposure will be in the top-right and bottom left quadrants. I will do a batch of base colours and let them cure. Next i will rotate the screen and apply the design to the batch.

I guess if i want to have multiple aligned colours in the future then it is just a case of marking each disc with a pen so that it lines up to another marker on the tray base.

Sorry for the long post im not sure if it makes sense to anyone but myself! I think all will be fine if i get the ink consistancy correct but maybe lifting the screen off the printed discs could cause problems.

Any tips would be well handy, and i'll let you know how it goes!!!

:icon_scared:

Cheers Chris
 
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