Screen Printing Process

Screen printing also used on all sorts of materials ranging from plastic to metal. The heart of the process involves a fine mesh or screen that is tightly stretched around a rigid frame. The areas that are not to be printed are masked out on the screen. To create the print, the framed screen is positioned over the garment to be printed along with a dollop of thick ink. A squeegee is then used to press the ink through the screen. The masked areas prevent ink from passing through, but the unmasked areas allow the ink to be imprinted on the material. The final step is to send the item on a conveyor belt through a heat-tunnel. This curing process ensures that the inks dry quickly so that they materials can be stacked or packaged. Properly cured inks will remain on the printed garment even under harsh conditions. Screen Printing is both economical and extremely durable. It will not peel or crack  and feel soft  on your skin. 

Step 1.
At the Sporting Store the process starts with ideas we receive from our customers. Our graphics artists can either produce original artwork based our customers’ ideas or edit existing artworks. Once the artwork creation process is completed,  a mock-up with artwork position on garment is emailed to the customer for approval. .

Step 2.
After the customer approve the artwork/mock-up. The colors must be separated. The goal of art separation is to create individual films, either acetate or vellum. Each color has its own film which is used to create a screen. So if you if you're printing a design composed of four colors. You will require four sets of films and four screens. The film is placed on the prepared screen and they are exposed to bright light. After a period of time, the exposed areas can be washed off the screen with water which makes the screen ready to print.

Step 3
To begin the screen printing process, the operator positions the screen directly on top the item to be printed. Next, ink is be applied to the area directly above the unmasked logo, and the squeegee is used to press the ink through to the substrate. As the operator firmly presses down with the squeegee, it is slid along the surface to ensure that ink penetrates through all areas of the unmasked logo. If additional colors are required, the process is repeated with additional screens. When finished, the screen is removed and the printed item is ready for curing. Small order are done or manual machine, while large orders are printed our  automatic screen printing press.