Company Info
Jiangyin Tianyu Nickel Screen Co., LtdAdd:No.121 Yongan Road, Changshou, Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province, P.R.China
Tel: 86-510-86360099
Fax: 86-510-86966716
Email:barry@tynickelscreen.com
www.tynickelscreen.com
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Flat-Bed Screen Printing---TIANYU Rotary Screen Printing Solutions
Edit time: 2009-11-02
PRINTING THE FABRIC
Flat-Bed Screen Printing
The first of the modern printing methods is flat-bed screen printing. In the textile industry, this process is an automated version of the older hand operated silk screen printing. For garments such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, and caps, the hand-operated process is often used. For each color in the print design, a separate screen must be constructed or engraved. If the design has four colors, then four separate screens must be engraved. The modern flat-bed screen-printing machine consists of an in-feed device, a glue trough, a rotating continuous flat rubber blanket, flat-bed print table harnesses to lift and lower the flat screens, and a double-blade
squeegee trough. The in-feed device allows for precise straight feeding of the textile fabric onto the rubber blanket. As the cloth is fed to the machine, it is lightly glued to the blanket to prevent any shifting of fabric or distortion during the printing process. The blanket carries the fabric under the screens, which are in the raised position. Once under the screens, the fabric stops, the screens are lowered, and an automatic squeegee trough moves across each screen, pushing print paste through the design or open areas of the screens. Remember, there is one screen for each color in the pattern. The screens are raised, the blanket precisely moves the fabric to the next color, and the process is repeated. Once each color has been applied, the fabric is removed from the blanket and then processed through the required fixation process. The rubber blanket is continuously washed, dried, and rotated back to the fabric in-feed area.
The flat-bed screen process is a semi-continuous, start-stop operation. From a productivitydone on flat-bed screen machines.
standpoint, the process is slow with production speeds in the range of 15-25 yards per minute. Additionally, the method has obvious design limits. The design repeat size is limited to the width and length dimensions of the flat screen. Also, no continuous patterns such as linear stripes are possible with this method. However, this method offers a number of advantages. Very wide machines can be constructed to accommodate fabrics such as sheets, blankets, bedspreads, carpets, or upholstery. Also, this technique allows for multiple passes or strokes of the squeegee so that large amounts of print paste can be applied to penetrate pile fabrics such as blankets or towels. Currently, approximately 15-18% of printed fabric production worldwide is done on flat-bed screen machines.
