{"id":644,"date":"2017-04-25T15:30:08","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T15:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anatol.com\/2017\/04\/25\/how-to-prepare-your-screen-printing-screens-for-water-based-ink\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T11:35:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T11:35:54","slug":"how-to-prepare-your-screen-printing-screens-for-water-based-ink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anatol.com\/es\/how-to-prepare-your-screen-printing-screens-for-water-based-ink\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare Your Screen Printing Screens for Water-Based Ink"},"content":{"rendered":"
Learn how to overcome one of water-based ink’s biggest challenges – maintaining a sturdy stencil! It’s a frustrating problem, for sure: You follow the proper steps for preparing your screens, but as you print, the stencil edge becomes soggy and wavy, and your prints can blur.<\/p>\n
It’s a reality that your stencils will break down while using water-based ink; all emulsions<\/a> are water soluble. As you print, whether with water-based inks or plastisol inks, the emulsion will absorb water and begin to deteriorate. However, you can slow that breakdown by properly preparing your screens for printing with water-based inks.<\/p>\n You probably know that water-based inks require a finer mesh count. Because of its lower viscosity, water-based ink travels fairly easy through mesh, and the higher mesh count prevents the ink from flooding the substrate. In addition to choosing a mesh count between 150 and 160 for typical prints and up to 225 for halftones, you want to choose a screen mesh that comprises thinner threads. A mesh made with finer threads provides the water-based ink with an easy tunnel to pass through on the way to your substrate. When the mesh is made of thicker thread, the water-based ink becomes trapped in between the mesh. Water-based ink that becomes trapped can dry and clog screens during press runs; that trapped ink also hastens the breakdown of the cured emulsion.<\/p>\n This step shouldn’t be skipped regardless of which type of ink you’re printing with, but it becomes especially important when printing with water-based inks. Before you begin to process your screens, make sure they’re free of any debris. Use a commercial degreaser to make sure there’s nothing on the screen that will prevent the emulsion from adhering properly. When printing with water-based ink, any weakness in the cured emulsion is going to lead to a more rapid breakdown of the stencil.<\/p>\n As we mentioned, all emulsions are water soluble, so any emulsion will break down from exposure to water-based inks eventually. That’s not to say that some emulsions aren’t better suited to screen printing with water-based inks. There are water-resistant emulsions and emulsions that are specifically formulated for use with water-based inks. Choosing a water-resistant emulsion or one marketed for use with water-based inks will help to prevent your stencil from breaking down prematurely. After you’ve coated your screens with emulsion, make sure they’re stored properly in a cool, dry, clean room.<\/p>\n You need properly exposed screens<\/a> to create crisp prints, that goes without saying. But screen exposure is especially crucial when printing with water-based inks. Printing with water-based inks will reveal any flaws in the exposure process. Your film positive<\/a> needs to be completely opaque, and you need a reliable exposure unit.<\/a><\/p>\n Anatol’s Aurora exposure unit<\/a> produces Know the proper exposure time for your emulsion in your exposure unit – an exposure calculator is a handy device to help you calculate required time. If you suspect during rinse out that your emulsion hasn’t entirely cured, don’t push your screen through to production; the water-based ink will quickly break down the detail and edges of your stencil.<\/p>\n If you want to give your screen extra protection against breakdown from water-based inks, consider taking the extra step of hardening your finished screen. There are two ways to do this. First, you can re-expose your screen in your exposure unit to ensure that the emulsion is fully cured and ready to stand up to water-based ink. Or, you can rely on a commercial hardening agent designed specifically for reinforcing stencils for screen printing.<\/p>\n Those who print with water-based ink know that stencil breakdown is inevitable. By using the proper materials and techniques, however, you can save yourself the frustration of having screens break down prematurely – saving you the trouble of dealing with blurry prints and making new screens for the same job.<\/p>\n For some more tips on using water-based screen printing ink, check out these blog posts:<\/p>\nStart with the Right Screen<\/h2>\n
Clean and Degrease Your Screens<\/h2>\n
Choose the Right Emulsion<\/h2>\n
Fully Expose Your Screens<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
\ncrisp stencils with speed and efficiency.<\/p>\nHarden Your Stencil<\/h2>\n