Screen Printing Freight Cars

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raylrodr

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by raylrodr »

Bill, this was truly an interesting post. You mentioned using an ink....was that poster ink? Is this impervious to water once dry? Thanks again....and....Merry Christmas.
Scott
Bill_Gardei
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Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 10:03 am
Location: Columbia TN, USA

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by Bill_Gardei »

Harold:

Thanks for the fine comments. I haven't screen printed anything
since I moved from Pennsylvania 5 years ago and I was afraid I
may have forgotten how. I did have to wash three of the panels
and reprint them. But that's the good part. You can retry until
you are happy.

Dick:

You are right. You can stack as many colors as you want.

Scott and Kevin:

Poster ink. I don't know much about it, but this I do know. It is
NOT water soluable. 409 cleaner and the like will not touch it.
Xylene will remove it (and not touch the paint). My youngest
son took some of it to school to show the class. He got a little
on a coffee cup. That cup has been through the dishwasher
for the past 6 years and the ink shows no signs of coming off.
I assume it was made for campaign posters.

I bought this can of ink in 1994. It's still good. There are better
choices. UV hardened inks are almost irremovable. But I used
what I had.

Have a Merry Christmas
Bill
UnkaJesse
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Location: Tennessee, Obion County, Town of Troy

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by UnkaJesse »

Thanks Bill for a most informative posting. Car looks beautimus and only awaits a lokie to pull it around your scenic railway.

Now, why don't you write up the process in more detail with a few more photos and send it off to Clover McKinley at Live Steam Magazine? Might get it printed, who knows? May even be a year or two before you see it in print, but one day it will show up I 'spect.

Unka(Impressed, I am, very impressed)Jesse
"The same hammer that breaks the glass, forges the steel" Russian proverb
hollahan
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2003 10:17 am
Location: South Florida

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by hollahan »

Bill,

This has been one of the most informative, useful single posts I have seen, IMO. Thanks for posting it.

Jon
mrb37211
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Location: Nashville, TN, USA

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by mrb37211 »

Hear, Hear! With all that money going into color photos in Live Steam recently, the proposed article would take full advantage of their efforts. Might show up sooner rather than later. Charles
Bill_Gardei
Posts: 611
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 10:03 am
Location: Columbia TN, USA

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by Bill_Gardei »

Jon:

Thanks for your comments, and your help with my railroad.
If anyone can benefit from this type of post it makes it
worthwhile and very rewarding.

Bill
RET

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by RET »

Hi,

This series of posts on screen printing has covered most of the important points, but there is one that I haven't seen mentioned and that is the screen "standoff distance." For flat surfaces especially, the standoff distance should be about 3/64" for small screens and as much as 1/4" for large ones.

The whole idea is that the screen should only touch the work at the squeegee which pushes it down to touch the work as the squeegee forces the "ink" through the screen. If it is in contact at other points, the pattern will be smeared because the squeegee stretches the screen a little as you make the pass.

Also, it is important to know what solvent is used with your ink so that you can clean the underside of the screen and also clean off any imperfect prints. There are other "tips & tricks" but most of them are the kind that you can figure out for yourself.

R.T.
Bill_Gardei
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Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 10:03 am
Location: Columbia TN, USA

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by Bill_Gardei »

R.T.

All of my screening is done with a standoff distance of zero.
It is a personal preference.

Bill
UnkaJesse
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Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2003 10:29 pm
Location: Tennessee, Obion County, Town of Troy

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by UnkaJesse »

Do like I and others have said Bill. Make the photos, write the article and get it in to LS and get paid a bit for your trouble.

Unka(Been there done that too and still doing it)Jesse
"The same hammer that breaks the glass, forges the steel" Russian proverb
Bill_Gardei
Posts: 611
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 10:03 am
Location: Columbia TN, USA

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by Bill_Gardei »

This is an old post. I am just adding the following photo for
historical completeness. Thanks -- BG

Image
UnkaJesse
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Location: Tennessee, Obion County, Town of Troy

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by UnkaJesse »

Don't care a rip how old the post is, the printing looks first rate professional. Congratulations.

Unka(Jealous as always but I had to say something nice [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif"%20alt="[/img])Jesse
"The same hammer that breaks the glass, forges the steel" Russian proverb
User avatar
FLSTEAM
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Location: Central Florida

Re: Screen Printing Freight Cars

Post by FLSTEAM »

I did screen printing 30 years ago when we were still using silk!

IT was fun.

John
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