Source for 16x20 alum screens & positive contact glass recs

[Shamax]

Long post title, I know; and one that probably doesn't need much expansion in the form of a post, but here goes anyway

Recently I took the screen printing plunge (many thanks btw Jonathan for your tireless efforts to answer questions and make the trade more accessible to newbies like myself), and I purchased one of Ryonet's starter kits. I've had the kit for all of a few weeks and been trying to successfully burn a wordart image on the included wood screen. I had two unsuccessful attempts attempting to do oiled paper positives. They just wouldn't work well using the halogen light for overhead exposure (too much loss of detail and the emulsion baked from the extended time required). I grabbed a 20x24 aluminum screen this past week before setting up for my third attempt, thinking having 2 screens prepped would give me two back to back shots if needed. Good thing I did, because the wood screen is already warped as it turns out

Third time's the charm though, and my image burned successfully using transparencies & tape on the aluminum screen (much lighter and more forgiving to work with than the wooden one). However, my platen is only 16x16, so I'll have to rig a few cardboard pieces onto the screen frame for off-contact assurance. This leads to my main inquiry: What's a decent place that I can find 16x20 aluminum framed screens online? The only place I could find off-hand is aaframes.com (Alloy America), since none of the usual suspects I see mentioned offer aluminum in that size. Does anyone here have a favorite place that offers that size (or have any experience with aaframes.com?)

Also, even though taping my transparency worked well enough this time, I can see where have a good piece of glass for positive contact would help. But I'm not sure where I should get it or whether I would need to make sure it's not UV-coated (or even how to find out if it is). Any suggestions/links?

Thanks again for the excellent community here!

[ApeShirt]

I know you can get aluminum screens from Screen Printing Superstore. You can find the link on Catspit's main page or here in the forum under the Vendor section.

[Shamax]

Sadly the ones at SPS and Ryonet are 20x24 and up, not 16x20. I'm going to see how well my 20x24 works with ghetto-tabs here in the next week or so once I get some blanks, and if it turns out to be too wonky, I'll try from aaframes.com unless someone chimes in with some alternatives.

Any ideas on the glass for positive contact? I've heard some say that plain glass like you'd get out of a picture frame would work, but it'd be nice to hear something specific from someone who's been there. Just searching for "glass pane" at Home Depot or Lowe's sites gives me everything from frosted tiles to shower doors

[ApeShirt]

I believe 1/8" thick glass is standard.

[Catspit Productions]

First of all let me say thanks for posting on the forum and thanks for watching my videos. I appreciate your checking out the website and using this forum.

As for your questions let me see if I can help out; for the screens it is true you will not find 16x20 at SPS but the reason is it’s not a common size for tee shirt printing. The most common sizes are 20x24 and 23x31 outer diameter screens. The smaller are for manual printing and the larger firs on automatics. That’s generally the size screens we use in commercial printing. For oversized jobs we might use a 25x36 sized screen. Now all of those size screens Screen Printing Superstore does have.

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/sc ... plies.html

For an odd size like the 16x20 it is likely to be wood and you can find those on Amazon:

http://www.catspitproductionsllc.com/am ... plies.html

Yes and I would agree with Apeshirt a thinner piece of glass is better and it will be cheaper. It is wise to ask for non UV glass however as much of the glass these days has UV coating. You should be able to get this at your local glass shop and have them round the edges for easy handling. That is something you’ll most likely need to get locally.

You’re welcome for everything and thanks again for posting. Let us know if you need further assistance.

[Shamax]

Thanks for the reply, Jonathan! A bit of a follow-up on both situations:

1) Like I said, the aluminum screen I have is 20x24, platen is 16x16. The image I've got burned on the screen is from an 8.5" x 11" transparency. I was planning on taking some larger pieces of cardboard and taping them to the outside of the frame for off-contact (they'd have to be long.wide enough to make contact with the platen, I know). Does this sound workable?

2) For the glass: Would polycarbonate work, so long as it's clear, not UV-coated, and still heavy enough to hold the transparency down?

Thanks again!

[Catspit Productions]

No problem, it’s my pleasure to help out in any way.

Sure you can use cardboard or other flat items to help lift the screen and keep your off contact. You’ll want to make sure it’s lower rather than higher. About 1/8th of an inch or so but if it’s too high it will cause more problems than if you had no off contact.

Yes, you can use any clear piece of Plexiglas or other plastic clear material as long as it does not have a UV coating. If it’s clear and heavy enough to do the job then you should be able to use it.