Learn How To Screen Print Tee Shirts At Home

Yes, you can often take an old, dirty press and clean it up to give it a new life. There shouldn’t be any problems taking a press apart to clean it. I wouldn’t recommend painting any of the parts especially in or on moving parts areas. Clean it very well and make sure there is lubricant on all moving parts and bolts. You can use white lithium grease for moving parts and threaded components. Use WD-40 or light machine oil for bolts and screws that you can’t get lithium grease on.

Don’t take the print heads completely apart unless you need make repairs or adjustments. They should be able to be removed intact and you can put the entire head in a tub of paint thinner to clean it. Do not use acetone. Just regular mineral spirits/paint thinner. Then soak it with WD-40/light machine oil and re-lube it well. Be careful of any plastic or nylon parts. Make sure any lubricant used is not aggressive on all non metal parts.

If you are worried about how the press goes back together and if it will affect registration, then make sure you put it back the same way it was. Most of the registration components are a part of the print head. However, if you mix up the parts and re-assemble pallet arms and such in different positions, it may be possible that you could experience at the very least operational problems. It is best to keep all the parts in the original positions. You can make notes on masking tape to label parts for re-assembly. Just remember not to lose them during cleaning and lubrication.

Basically, a good cleaning will help any press. If your print head is broken, there may be replacement parts available on the internet. If you have a popular press, it may be possible to purchase a second nonfunctional unit to use for parts. There are many resources on the internet. All it takes is a little research.

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The only advice I can give you as a home based printer is do your research. Take the time to read screen printing articles online and make an effort to understand how the process is supposed to work commercially. Then you will be able to better adapt your knowledge of screen printing to a home situation.

A great place to start learning about the technical details is the Catspit website. It is still very young and I need to add much more material to it but it is designed to be read by beginners and home printers. Make sure to check out all the links and information on the Catspit website. Then you will need to expand your research to other sites about screen printing. You will find links on the Catspit website for that too.

Also watch as many videos on YouTube of how others print at home. That will give you an idea of how to set up your equipment. There are a lot of “home brew” videos on YouTube about screen printing. These can help you formulate ideas and adapt commercial methods for use in the home. Check my YouTube favorites list for some.

Finally, ask questions. Don’t be afraid of asking people who are already in the business for advice. Some will be protective of their trade and others will be more than happy to help you out. Remember, you can always submit a question to Catspit Productions. All questions are answered in the order they are received. Please be patient and you will get a response.

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Yet another new article about screen printing has been added to the Catspit Productions website. This article is about halftones. It covers some suggestions for getting good results.

The article is called, “Halftone Printing: General Recommendations & Guidelines”. Here we talk about halftone angles and recommendations for angle settings. This is a technical article. A basic understanding of the four color process is need to utilize the information. But it is a great article to read in order to get a better idea of what you are getting into with process printing.

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A new video has been uploaded to YouTube this morning. This video is about flood and stroke methods. The video addresses the two most common flooding and stroking methods used today. It explains some of the reasons I flood and stroke the way I do.

The video is called “How To Screen Print: Flood & Stroke Methods “. The video features a close up view of flooding and stroking with tips, advice and explanations of the two most popular techniques. This will be the last screen printing demonstration video for 2009.

There will be two other new videos uploaded the week of Christmas and New Years. The topics of these videos will be announced later. Stay tuned!

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Another new article has been posted to the Catspit Productions website. This article is about mixing colors with inks. It describes and explains how to create colors by mixing.

This article is called”Mixing Color Plastisol Inks: Creating Basic Colors”. You can find it in the Printing Articles page under the Article Archive tab. Make sure to check it out!

Ever wonder how to make lavender, brown, brick or any other color? Well, this new article is a great place to start learning about mixing inks for color.

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Two new articles about screen printing and plastisol heat transfers have been posted to the Catspit Productions website. Make sure to check them out today!

The first article is called “Manual Rotary Screen Printing: How To Use A Tee Shirt Press”. This article explains how to use a rotary press and set it up with a flash cure. It also explains cool down station set up. This is a great article if you have never used a manual rotary screen printing press.

The second article is about heat transfers, specifically plastisol transfers. This article is called “Plastisol Heat Transfers”. It is located in the Transfer Articles section of the Catspit website. This explains quite a bit about screen printed plastisol heat transfers. Again, this is a great article to read if you have never worked with plastisol transfers and even if you have.

I promise you will learn something!

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A new video has been uploaded to YouTube this morning. This video is about using toner aide with laser vellums for screen printing. The brand of toner aide featured in this video is Sprayway.

Please visit the YouTube page of the Catspit website for more information about the screen printing educational videos. From there you can watch videos or go directly to Catspit Productions on YouTube.

The next video up will be about flood and stroke. I will explain a little bit about why I print the way I do.

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The choice of the tee shirt brand you print on can be an important factor in the satisfaction level of your customers. It is important to know exactly what your customer wants in a tee shirt. Some customers may be purchasing tee shirts for their own company or for a company they work for. They may be used as a promotional give away or they may be for the company’s image and/or corporate identity purposes. Some people are attempting to create a brand of logo wear. It is a must to know this information when suggesting a particular brand or style of garment.

When a customer is purchasing shirts for their own personal business, they can tend to be more discriminating in their choices. This will be true in all aspects of the process. The customer has a much more personal attachment to the project and more invested in the business as an entity. This person is trying to create an identity and cares greatly about what kind of image they are creating. It is important to be patient with this type of customer. It may be their first time purchasing custom printed garments. They might not know about the choices of garments available to them.

Some customers may be buying shirts for a company they work for. Usually this type of client is a bit easier to work with. There may be some standards or guidelines set forth by the company itself but once those criteria are met, this customer will be more relaxed to work with. You should be able to guide this customer through the shirt printing process a lot quicker whether or not though it may be their first time. This customer may be required to request a certain brand of shirt. If not, they too may not understand the scope of garments available to them either.

There are those that will buy custom printed garments for resale as well. People who are creating custom printed garments for a brand of logo wear may be the most difficult of all. These people will push the limits of what you are able to do for them. You will need to have great patience with this person. Be careful not to be pushed into a print job you are not comfortable in doing. This customer most often will have a particular shirt they know they want or at least they will know exactly what style or quality garment they want. This person will often request garments that are difficult to print on.

Once you have determined these factors and you understand the customer’s needs, you will be in a better position to recommend or suggest a particular brand of shirt. As a general rule it is best to sell well-known, high quality garments. Selling a shirt that the customer is familiar with is easier and less wrought with risk. Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, Anvil, Bella, Jerzees, Outer Banks, Jonathan Corey, and Gildan are well known by many. Your customer should be familiar with these brands.

Be cautious when selling off brand garments made in such places as Pakistan or Afghanistan. I remember a shirt called the Swing Tee made in Afghanistan some years ago. The shirts didn’t look so bad but they often had a tendency to disintegrate when washed for the first time. Word of mouth is always the best form of advertisement for shirt printers. Therefore it is very important to sell high quality merchandise at a reasonable price. Let your product speak for itself.

For the most part, the general public does not understand what goes into printing a custom tee shirt. Choosing the garment brand is part of the process. Most people don’t realize how much work needs to be done in order to produce a quality product that fulfills the needs of the customer and at the same time remains easy to print with high quality results for the printer. Remember, the faster you can print a high quality custom shirt job, the more money you make per hour, thus increasing the profitability of your work.

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New links have been added to the Forum and Free Graphics sections of the website! Check out the Free Graphics page of the Tips & Advice section for new web links to sites that offer free vector art downloads. And don’t miss the new links for some of the best screen printing forums and communities on the Forums page too!

I am continuously reviewing the website and looking for new resources for screen printing on the internet. Old links are scrutinized for value and connectivity. New links are added and repairs are made as where needed.

Always check back with the Catspit Productions website for new updates and new information about screen printing!

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Make sure and stop by Catspit Productions online and check out the latest articles about screen printing. There are always new additions and updates being made to the Catspit website.

A cool, new quick reference chart about screen printing consumables has been added to the Article Archive page. Check out the article “Consumables Usage Charts; Inks, Emulsions And Chemicals”. This is a handy guide to some of the most common consumables used is screen printing tee shirts.

The second article is called “Trouble Shooting Tips For Direct Emulsions”. This article obviously describes some trouble shooting tips for working with direct liquid emulsions for screen printing.

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