What is screen printing
Screen printing refers to the use of silk screen as the substrate and the use of photosensitive plate making methods to create a screen printing plate with graphics and text. It is mainly done by manual when mass production in factory.
Screen printing consists of five main elements: screen printing plate, scraper, ink, printing platform, and substrate.
The basic principle of screen printing is that the ink can pass through the mesh of the image and text parts, while the ink can not pass through the mesh of the non image and text parts. During printing, ink is poured into one end of the screen printing plate, and a scraper is used to apply a certain amount of pressure to the ink area on the screen printing plate. At the same time, the ink moves uniformly towards the other end of the screen printing plate. During the movement, the scraper compresses the ink from the mesh holes in the image and text parts onto the substrate.
Screen printing process, also known as silk printing process, is one of the main printing methods in hole printing. It is the process of tying silk fabric, synthetic fiber fabric, or metal wire mesh onto a mesh frame, and using manual lacquer film or photochemical plate making methods to create a screen printing plate. By squeezing with a scraper, the ink is transferred to the substrate through the mesh holes in the image and text section, forming the same image and text as the original manuscript.
Screen printing equipment is simple, easy to operate, printing and plate making are simple and cost-effective, with strong adaptability. Screen printing has a wide range of applications and common printed materials include: color oil paintings, posters, business cards, binding covers, product signs, and printed and dyed textiles.
The Advantages of Silk Screen Printing
- Not limited by the size and shape of the substrate:
Generally, printing can only be carried out on a flat surface, while screen printing can not only be carried out on a flat surface, but also on special shaped shaped objects such as spherical surfaces. Shaped objects can be printed using screen printing.
- Soft layout with small printing pressure
The silk screen is soft and elastic.
- Strong ink layer coverage
Can be printed in pure white on all black paper, with strong three-dimensional effect.
- Suitable for various types of inks
- Strong resistance to optical rotation
It can maintain the gloss of the printed material. (Both temperature and sunlight have no effect). This eliminates the need for additional lamination and other processes when printing some stickers.
- Flexible and diverse printing methods
- Easy plate making, cheap price, and easy to master technology
- Strong adhesion
- Can be purely hand printed or machine printed
- Suitable for long-term display, advertising outdoors is expressive
The Disadvantages of Screen Printing
1. Difficulty in multi color pattern screen printing
It is well known that screen printing can only print one color at a time. That requires complex and cumbersome color matching for multi color printing! The technical requirements for color matching are relatively high, and there are relatively few technical personnel in this area. It is good to have fewer colors. If four or five colors need to be printed at once, it is inevitable that the color matching will not be accurate. This increases the scrap rate of the product and correspondingly increases the cost. But for patterns with four or more colors or gradient colors, silk screen printing is just beyond reach!
2. High cost of small-scale sampling
As we all know, if silk screen printing wants to print patterns, there must be a set of processes that cannot be saved. That’s plate making and film production. If the quantity is small, then these costs are quite high. So generally, screen printing companies do not take on small tasks mainly because the cost is too high!
3. Radian limit
Screen printing, this process can only be applied to relatively flat products, and if there are some bumps, it cannot be completely solved.
4. Ink volume cannot be controlled
As is well known, some products need to maintain their original state while printing, especially textile products. After printing, many customers want to maintain the texture of the textile, which is difficult to achieve with silk screen printing.
Screen printing process
Screen printing consists of five main elements: screen printing plate, scraping scraper, ink, printing platform, and substrate;
Ink: divided into crude oil, diluent, curing agent, and toner;
Screen printing ink is generally divided into UV ink and PU ink. PU ink is not wear-resistant, so it can only be printed on the primer and then sprayed with topcoat for protection;
UV ink has excellent adhesion and wear resistance, and can be screen printed on the topcoat, greatly improving production efficiency. Currently, it is commonly used in production.
Poor Screen Printing and Countermeasures
Edge serrations and burrs:
- The development of the screen itself is insufficient.
- The cleaning of the screen is not clean, and the mesh holes are blocked.
- the distance between the screen and the substract, scraper angle, and printing pressure should be appropriate.
The surface has orange peel.
- The ink viscosity is too high and the leveling is not good.
- The distance between the screen and the substrate is too small, and it is not separated in a timely manner during printing;
Vibration wear-resistant paint peeling:
- The printing thickness did not meet the requirements
- The baking was not thorough
- The UV energy was too low.
FAQ:
How much of screen printing?
About usd0.03/color, if multi color, will charge by qty of color. If large quantity, may be free.
If we need 10pcs, can you print our logo for free?
Sorry, if bulk order 10pcs, it is too much less to open a screen printing plate. One color plate will be usd15, if 2color will be usd30,….that is much expensive than product itself, it is meaningless.
And it is only for the plate, if add labour cost, it is too much wasted money and time. You know China labour cost now is very expensive at about usd3.0/hour, and one hour we can only print little quantity.
However, if we are negotiating about project, and bulk quantity is nice, we can help support you. Hope you can understand.
What is difference between laser print and screen print?
Both types are mainly print customer logo or text on product, but they are two different methods:
Screen print is mainly print by logo & text by hand, one color at a time. It is very slow, and should wait it dry then can print another color. The good point is that it can print multi colors, it is good for brand promotion, easy to notify. But however, not suggest exceed 4colors, or else the printing cost is too much to afford.
Laser print is made by automatic machine, fast to operate, and long lasting. But the operation cost can do print one color, and cost is much higher than silk print, because we should buy a printing machine firstly, but silk print mold only cost around usd15/color.
Can you print colorful logo?
Yes, certainly we can print colorful logo, will do with silk print manually. If one color logo, can use both laser printing or screen printing. Normally laser printing will be gray color, but it may change according to the product surface color itself.
How many colors of my LOGO?
4 Colors: black, blue, red and gray.
We judge the color according to the color spectrum, and the customer can directly tell us the color code number and logo size needed, then we will make drawing for your reference. If not, will will design and count by ourselves and confirm with clients.
Can you print 3color logo?
Yes, we can printing 3 color logo by screen print, laser print can not do. Generally, if quantity ok, will do it for free. But if more than 1 color, will charge, the cost is usd0.03/color, so 3 colors will add cost 0.09usd/product.
Can Yingda screen the gradient logo?
Due to laser print can only do one color, most of the time, it is gray, can not do gradient. And in our factory, there is no equipment to do that. If you insist, will print outside, the cost is expensive, maybe around usd0.50/pc.
What should be provided before printing my logo?
- Please help offer the logo original file in any of below formation: .jpg, .ai, .cdr, .png, .pdf, etc. The higher the accuracy of the image, the better.
- Also please tell us the logo size: length*width, unit:mm.
- Please offer the logo position on the product you wanna us to print.
How do you ensure that you can do the same as our logo?
After you share the logo details with us, will make a draft jpg for your reference, and before mass production, we can make sample to check firstly. We can only start production after both parties confirm that there are no issues with the samples.
How do you ensure the confidentiality of our logo and product information?
All of our screen printing plates are stored in a fixed enclosed room and are not open to the public. As soon as production is completed, they will be immediately taken back and stored.
The printing plate producers we collaborate with have also signed confidentiality agreements with us, which have certain restrictions on each other.
If the customer request, we can also sign a brand usage authorization agreement and confidentiality agreement with the customer to ensure your rights.
We always have sincerity and integrity towards our customers, and strongly support in establishing their own brand and promoting and expanding their brand influence through various channels.
Yingda is definitely your best FIBER OPTIC reliable suppliers in China!
