How to Create Stencil for Screen Printing Machine?

It’s not a fun to use screen printing machine at home for printing rather it is profitable and adorable.

If you want to start your printing work traditionally, it would be complex, time spending and a lot of equipment may need rapidly at home. This problem may be solved if you can make a photoEZ stencil to screen print at home. You don’t need to use anything extra for this project accept the thing that you have in your home already. In the screen printing process, there are many things included. PhotoEZ is nothing but a sheet of screen
printing that can be used in screen printing machine.

To reduce the cost of screen printing, you can follow the steps below of making a stencil using photoEZ.

1. Try to make transparent your screen printing design
2. Over the photoEZ silk screen sheet, you have to use a transparency
3. After that, in the direct sunlight, you have to expose the screen.
4. Then you need to keep the screen in water for about half an hour
5. To remove the emulsion, wash the sheet properly.
6. The screen needs to be given enough time to become fully dry.

 print image on transparency

First, you have to take some transparency sheets of 11 inch by 8.5 inches. For your automatic or manual screen printing machine, you can buy the sheets from any store. With this, give a layer on one side of the screen. Screen printers should print on the side that is coated. This will make the ink placement properly and it will not allow smearing. From your printer, you will find high-quality printing as photoEZ gives you a solid direction for printing. Printing with a normal setting will not be wise work as photoEZ sheet needs a high-quality setting. Sometimes it creates gaps line which is bad for exposing. Eighty-eight brightness papers can be used on screen printing equipment if the design is complicated. But transparency will be the best solution for screen printing.

 place the transparency on photoEZ screen sheet  

The screen should be plastic off from all shiny sides and needs to remove from sunlight. For exposing the sheet to the light, photoEZ helps with plastic and a hard board. PhotoEZ also helps not to move the transparency. First, you need to put the photoEZ sheet over the shiny side and then you have to put the transparency over it. While you start printing on your silk screen printing machine, you have to keep in mind to keep the shiny side downward as the reverse image will be printed as a real image. Then take plastic to cover and tight them all. The sheet is needed to be covered with foam so that exposing couldn’t start before your starting of timing.

 expose the screen directly in the sunlight

Screen exposing is an important work in screen printing. In the direct sunlight, screen printers need to expose the screen about fifty minutes. One should not expose at the time of over casting or early morning or in the sunset time. When the sun gives heat severely, you shouldn’t keep the screen in the direct sunlight more than one minute. If you keep it more than 1 minute, it will be over expose and you can’t wash your design out. For your screen printing machine, you also can use fluorescent lighting (if you access) instead of sunlight. Though it takes time about 25 minutes, you can expose with it at any time at day time and it gives you the opportunity of less over exposing the screen.

 time needs to soak the screen in water

About 25 or 30 minutes need to soak the screen in water. A plastic tube also can be used to soak the sheet.

 remove excess emulsion and rinse the stencil

To remove excess emulsion, you can use sink sprayer. A paint brush can be used if it’s not washed well and you can rub it to remove the emulsion from screen printing equipment. If this doesn’t work, you keep the stencil back in the direct sunlight. It will fully expose the stencil and make it durable.

Why do you need to dry the screen fully?

Before using the screen, it’s urgent to make it completely dry. The hairbrush can be used to do this process quickly. Once you complete dry up, your screen printing machine will be to print design soon.