Screen printing is an ancient practice that is still redefining its popularity and versatility today. What has allowed it to stay relevant throughout the years is its ability to produce quality prints outfitted with vibrant, highly detailed designs.
While a handful of parts and pieces go into a modern screen printing process, the use of quality stencils constructed out of wire mesh is the cornerstone of success. For this reason, a comprehensive understanding of what goes into creating best-in-class stencils is a tried and true way to optimize your screen printing process.
With over 150 years of experience handling screen printing wire mesh, W.S. Tyler is dedicated to helping industrial screen printing operations achieve efficient excellence through industry-leading screen solutions.
This article will explore the ins and outs of wire mesh screen printing stencils, empowering you to achieve your desired precision and consistency. It will cover:
- The definition of screen printing wire mesh
- The definition of a screen printing stencil
- The process of making a quality screen printing stencil
- The common mistakes made when creating screen printing stencils and how to avoid them
What Is Screen Printing Wire Mesh?
Screen printing wire mesh is a durable woven wire mesh constructed by interweaving hundreds of metallic wires, typically stainless steel alloy. This specialized material is known for its superior stability and ability to be stretched into uniform tension, allowing for consistent, high-quality prints.
To learn about how screen printing mesh is made, read the article below:
What makes wire mesh such a prominent screen material is its ability to be customized. Parameters such as screen thickness, alloy, weave pattern, and mesh count can all be tailored to the experiences you wish to achieve.
Not to mention, screen printing mesh is vastly more durable than other screen materials like nylon or silk. This, in turn, does two things:
- Reduce downtime associated with screen replacement
- Improves the sentimental impact of your process
What Is a Screen Printing Mesh Stencil?
A screen printing stencil is a template that transfers specific designs onto a designated substrate. They do so by blocking out the outline of the design, ensuring ink only passes onto the substrate in accordance with the design. Think of them as the blueprint for your design.
A good stencil is made using the highest-quality material, ensuring a certain level of precision and consistency is achieved.
Wire mesh stencils, in particular, deliver the durability needed to endure multiple uses without losing print clarity. They are also known to be very versatile, allowing you to print on countless substrates using various ink types.
How To Make Screen Printing Stencils
Creating a dependable screen printing stencil typically starts with the design itself. You must create your design using black and white coloring, with black representing the area in which ink will pass through the stencil.
You will want to take this black-and-white design and print it onto a transparent film. This will create a positive film.
The next step is to apply a light-sensitive emulsion onto your screen printing mesh. At this point, the emulsion-covered screen should be left out to dry in a dark room, taking caution to prevent premature light exposure.
Once, you can place the film positive on the coated screen and expose it to UV lighting. This light exposure will, in turn, harden the exposed emulsion on the screen, but the non-exposed emulsion will remain soft.
The soft emulsion should then be rinsed away, leaving you with a stencil of the desired design. After drying, you should inspect the blocked areas for flaws/inconsistencies, touching up problem areas with additional emulsion.
Once any additional emulsion is dry, you can begin to use the stencil to produce accurate prints.
What Common Mistakes Are Made When Creating Screen Printing Stencils?
While creating a screen printing stencil is relatively straightforward, it demands a decent amount of hands-on work. Because of this, a handful of issues commonly arise.
These issues are incorrect emulsion exposure time, Inadequate film positive, poor emulsion coating, poor emulsion drying, and varying screen tensioning.
Incorrect Emulsion Exposure
It is pretty common and easy to either overexpose or underexpose your screen to light once it is loaded with emulsion, both of which can significantly impact the screen's effectiveness.
Overexposure can harden too much emulsion, which can cause too much ink to be blocked by the stencil. Underexposure, however, causes too much emulsion to wash away and results in loss of graphical detail.
Prevention
To ensure the emulsion is exposed for the correct amount of time, it is recommended that you use an exposure calculator or refer to the times your emulsion and light source manufacturer recommends. You should also test variating testing times to fine-tune your process.
Inadequate Film Positive
The film positive you use to create your stencil is critical to the level of detail you are able to transfer. It is common for film positives that have low opacity or lack adequate resolution to be used.
Using an inadequate film positive will allow light exposure in unwanted areas, resulting in blurred or otherwise flawed prints.
Prevention
The best way to avoid an inadequate film positive is to ensure that high resolutions are used to print them. The imagery should feature solid black areas to optimize the exposure process.
Poor Emulsion Coating
Naturally, how well you coat your screen with emulsion will impact the success of your screen printing process. That said, applying too much or too little emulsion is an easy mistake that is made often.
Applying too much emulsion causes uneven exposure and makes it harder to wash away from the mesh screen. Applying too little emulsion creates weak points that wear prematurely, rendering the stencil ineffective.
Prevention
When coating your mesh screens, you will wan to take extra care ensuring the emulsion applied evenly. It has been found that applying multiple layers creates a more effective stencil than applying one thick layer.
Poor Emulsion Drying
It is easy to fail to allow the emulsion to dry in its entirety before exposing it to UV lights. This is often a result of rushing the process or inadequate drying conditions.
Failure to fully dry the emulsion can render the exposure process ineffective, prevent the emulsion from being rinsed away properly, and even alter the design.
Prevention
To ensure a complete drying process, dry your emulsion-soaked mesh screen in a dark space free of debris and with adequate airflow. You will know it's ready once the screen is dry to the touch.
Varying Screen Tensioning
Applying uniform tensioning on screen printing wire mesh can prove to be a difficult task. You are at a higher risk of varying screen tensioning if you lack the tools or in-house experience to carry out the tensioning process.
Having said that, variation in screen tensioning can cause wrinkles and flexes in your mesh. These factors can lead to inconsistent prints and premature wear on your screens.
Prevention
To prevent any issues with your stencils, you will want to apply the right tooling and techniques to evenly tension your screen printing wire mesh before applying emulsion.
Asses the Screen Printing Techniques You Use to Guarantee Accurate and Repeatable Results
Serving as the blueprint of your designs, creating a quality screen printing stencil can make or break the success of an industrial screen printing operation. During the fabrication process, it is critical that you use the correct exposure times, use quality film positives, use the correct quantity of emulsion, ensure the emulsion is dried correctly, and and properly tension your wire mesh screen.
Now, creating your stencils is one of the final steps you will take before you start printing. But before your next prints, you should go back and review the most popular industrial printing techniques used today.
This will allow you to review your current process and better determine if your process can be further improved.
W.S. Tyler strives to support our customers as they continue their journey toward operational excellence. This includes leveraging our 150 years of experience to help ensure you make the most out of your screen printing wire mesh with the right printing techniques.
Read the following article to gain insight into the different screen printing techniques used today that pair well with wire mesh: