This is a short and sweet video about a thermal printer for making film positives for screen printing tee shirts. This is a more expensive solution for film output but one that is practical for a higher volume shop that still prefers to use film to make screens. Hopefully we will get to make arrangements with Exile Technologies to bring this into the shop so I can make some film output videos with it. I have plans to do some artwork videos with inkjet and thermal film output. I’m just trying to make sure I don’t get into trouble with YouTube by using Illustrator in video. I’m a partner so I have to be wary of things like that even though it appears everyone is doing it 😉
The video is called, “Screen Printing ISS Trade Show: Thermal Film Positive Printer.” This is an ISS show video from Long Beach 2013. In this short video I introduce you to the thermal printer from Exile Technologies. Everyone knows we can make film positives with inkjet printers, laser printers, and image setters but many are unaware of a very cool solution we feel is between inkjet film positives and image setters. Now it is true that inkjet printers will have a much higher resolution than a thermal printer but 600 DPI is plenty sufficient for most spot colors and halftones for screen printing. So it may be argued and it is true that inkjet printers can print a higher resolution but that is because most inkjet printers are designed to print photographs for consumers and professional photographers alike. Therefore I can say with experience that the film positives output from the thermal printer is certainly at a high enough resolution for screenprinting. There are few and rare circumstances that might require a higher resolution in printing film positives for printing tee shirts. At the moment none come to mind but the superior quality of the thermal film positives compared to inkjet is in my opinion a better option. Unfortunately it is also a more expensive option. Stay tuned for more videos on this subject in the future.
Learn How To Screen Print Tee Shirts At Home 