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Homemade Silk Screen Machine

Silk-screening is a way to reproduce intricately designed art pieces, signs, or patterns on just about any surface you can imagine. While print-making shops utilize extremely expensive machines to screen, the history of silk screening is one of simple tools and do-it-yourself artists and craftsman. All you really need in a screening machine is a good surface and hinge clamps to hold and register your screen. With these tools, you can build your own silk screen machine.

Things You'll Need

  • A table, preferably with a Formica or polyurethane finished top, with an extremely stable base (Note: this will become an integrated part of your machine and so will, after use, retain ink stains and wear from usage)
  • 2 screen hinge clamps, for mounting and registering your screen (these almost always come in sets of 2)
  • 6 to 8 (dependent on the brand of hinges) 1/2 inch, Phillips head wood screws
  • power drill/screw driver
  • tape measure.
  • 1/64 inch drill bit.
  • Phillips head screw bit.
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Instructions

  1. Construction

    • 1
      An old pingpong table can serve as a perfect silk screening work table. A Formica top and wide workspace are ideal.

      Face your table and decide which end will be the front of your workspace.

    • 2

      At the rear of the table, measure and place the hinges six inches apart with the screw-hole end flush with the edge of the table.

    • 3

      Using your pencil, mark the table through the screw holes (some brands have three holes for mounting, others four holes), and then remove the hinges and set them aside.

    • 4
      Mounting a drill bit in modern electric drills is quite simple.

      Mount the 1/64 inch drill bit and drill pilot holes straight down, at 90 degrees with the table, on each of your pencil marks.

    • 5

      Realign the hinges with the drill holes, taking care each hole you drilled aligns with a screw hole.

    • 6

      Screw the hinges to the table using your wood screws.

    • 7

      Mount your screen to the grip-ends of the hinge clamps. The grips look similar to miniature vices with small wing nuts used to adjust the tension and gap of the grips. Widen the grips by turning the wing nuts counter-clockwise (typically) until the frame of the screen fits into the clamp. Place the the screen, recessed side up, and tighten the grips so that the screen is held firmly in place.

    • 8

      Begin printing. You may now place your medium, be it paper or cloth, beneath your screen, apply the ink with a screening squeegee, and print your art multiple times without having to realign your screen each time. The hinge clamps hold your screen in place, as well as allows you to press your screen to your medium and apply ink without assistance.

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