Roll out will look something like this we will get it first part of January. We will tinker around at it with @Hardsuit (well Astrid) and lay out some basics for the class. If anyone else wants to jump in the instruction of silkscreen please do so. I believe this machine is going to have lots more usage in the coming year and many many will get involved with production.
The best way I see this work is for members to have personal screens. We will have a few on hand that will be “public” screens but honestly I believe everyone will be happier with investing some money and having control over usage. More on that.
We could have easily gone with a cheaper unit via amazon or eBay but this company has been very generous towards us and has a fat little warranty on it’s products.
@uglyknees, I’d be willing to help break it… errr break it in and create class material. I don’t have a large background in silk screening, but have done a good deal of reading. Let me know if I can help.
Chuck and @pudnocker and @ I’ll send you a message and we can start working together online and meetup later to clean up some of the smaller details once we get the machine in we can do some test runs.
My sole experience with screenprinting is using my Yudu on about 35 shirts. I’ve used both the Yudu emulsion sheets and Speedball liquid emulsion, but still am less than confident when it comes to pulling ink across screens and registering for multiple colors…ugh! I do LOVE the ink you used last time in your class. It was thick and had a nice solid texture to it. Don’t know if my Yudu screens would work with this exposure unit, but I would be interested in getting in on the group buy for screens as well.
Be aware, the photo emulsions you use vary greatly depending upon what ink you are using.
I believe the fabric ink (Plastisol?) requires a photo emulsion that needs mineral spirits to remove the emulsion if you want to be able to reuse the screen for something else. There are other emulsions that require only water and Simple Green (or similar) to remove them that would be much more appropriate to use at the Space considering our constraints on access to water and washout areas.
Agree group order may be best way. When class is taught have material fee include a screen for them to use after the class. Will get initial order volume up (and discount) plus they’ll have one to work with.
A quick note, Astrud and I were talking, and we think a 155 mesh screen will be the best overall to start with for a group buy for a class. People can specifically order higher or lower mesh counts if they know what/why those different mesh counts would mean, but for newbie printers we think the 155 is the good middle ground.