Ever since people started wearing clothes, they have been decorating them. One of the most popular forms of clothing decorations is printing. Shirts are the most familiar medium for printing designs, slogans and art. A t shirt printing machine for this purpose will usually use screens, transfers or blocks to create these prints.
With any machine, the main element is the platen. This piece is a square, rectangular or oval surface that a shirt is spread out upon. It needs to be flat, rigid and sturdy to support this printing procedure. These can be made of wood, metal or plastic. They generally have a surface that is sticky, tacky or rough to keep the material in place.
The most frequent system uses one or numerous screens for imprinting the designs. Each individual screen has openings that permit the inks to pass through it and onto the shirt material. A photo process is used to create these screens in a way that allows inks to be squeezed through only in places where it is wanted.
The screen has a wooden, metal or plastic frame that is attached to the machine by a hinged device that lets it be lowered onto the shirt. Ink is then applied to the screen. A flat squeegee made of rubber, neoprene or vinyl is scraped across the screen to force the ink onto the material to be printed.
If more colors than one will be wanted, there is a rotating attachment which can grip several screens. For instance, if a shirt needed blue, yellow and red letters or designs, a separate screen will be used for each of the individual colors. After the printing of one color, it will then be raised and the next one moved into position for printing.
This type of machine is very versatile and it can be used on a broad array of materials including polyester, nylon or cotton. As well as shirts, it also can print on such things as stickers, signs or posters. They come in almost any size to print on nearly any flat surface. The central process is the same, regardless if you are printing up a traffic sign, billboard or a truck decal.
There are other shirt machines which use a transfer method. They also have a platen and a hinged type of device, but it is used to apply heat instead of ink. The design comes from a transfer that holds a plastisol, sublimation or hot ink product. Heat and pressure causes the image to fuse to the material.
Another less commonly used method uses a carved wooden block. Inks are applied onto a block that is pressed onto an article. These are not frequently used today, but can have unique results when applied. On the other hand, they are very limited in the sort of materials they are capable of printing.
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