screen printing pedals

[nobodyknowswhereheis]

can anybody recommend ink for screen printing pedals?

[John Lyons]

I would google it.
Anything solvent based should work well.
Look for "screen printing metal"...

http://www.screenweb.com/index.php/channel/6/id/2948

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070418191634AAJAgV7

John

[The Tone God]

Location ?

Andrew

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Location ?

nobodyknowswhereheis

(couldn't resist!)

[kjc]

That's a good link from John. I used to work in a sign shop, and the Nazdar ink is great to work with. That's all we ever used, so I can't speak for any other brands. I do remember, however that there was a quick-dry formula that dried in only about 10 minutes or so at room temperature. It was great for doing multiple colors...much quicker than some inks we used initially which could take 5-6 hours...sometimes more. The company will custom mix pantone colors as well...the charge for custom mixing was nominal. Check with a local sign shop....maybe they can help out. I am not certain you can just go out and buy it...it may be for commercial purchase only. From what I remember there were safety issues as it was lead based and highly flammable....atleast what we used. I am not sure if this is still the case as it has been years....

[runmikeyrun]

I used nazdar super white on some pedals a while back and it's great.  It's the consistency of molasses and took 3 days in the bright sun outside to cure but worth it. 

Now i use it to screen print my band's name on urinal screens, which end up in the pissers at clubs we play.  Even after a few months if some brave janitor hasn't reached in to pull it out there's our band's logo looking right back up at ya still good as new.  Pretty tough stuff!  Plus keeping them in the merch bucket makes the shirts and cds smell like bubblegum!

Aron i apologize if this pic breaks any rules of the forum:



I then did this with the same nazdar super white on a phenolic electrical box:



The other thing you can do if you're ok with slightly less durable finishes is get the water based speedball inks @ the craft stores (or if you buy the speedball screenprinting kit, a great way to do pedals) and then just clearcoat over the ink when it dries.  Solvent based inks are smelly when used in the house, require solvents to wash out the screens (which is a pain just for doing one pedal) and sometimes need to be cut with special thinners to get the right consistency.  It's a little tricky to get the water based stuff to go on clean on bare metal but if you paint it first it usually goes on ok.  Just make sure to clear coat on top or it will literally come right off with a wet finger.  They're made for fabrics and posters not metal.

This was done with speedball poster ink- mixed yellow and red to get "construction barrel orange", then clear coated:

[modsquad]

Word of warning,...It is very difficult to get fine detail with most DIY screen printing kits.   I have the inks that are as thick as molasses and works fine with clear coat, but you have to make your text fonts big enough and plain to get it too not look like crayon.

[sshrugg]

Word of warning,...It is very difficult to get fine detail with most DIY screen printing kits.   I have the inks that are as thick as molasses and works fine with clear coat, but you have to make your text fonts big enough and plain to get it too not look like crayon.

What's the minumum point size you would use for the fonts?

[runmikeyrun]

i don't remember what size i used, maybe 12 or 14, you can see in my middle pic how the fine lines on the "vintage" control didn't come out well.

[John Lyons]

A couple things to think about.
Printing shirts is very different than printing pedal enclosures.
Almost all kits are for printing shirts, and maybe posters.

Printing a flat smooth , non porous surface (pedals signs etc) requires a fine mesh (screen) so the detail is high.
The denser the screen the better the detail (less ink and more control) .
Just the opposite for shirts where you want a porous mesh in order to print a thick deposite of thick (think cake frosting) white ink on dark shirts.

There are a few screenprinting technical sites where you can get thins information and recommendations.
Google away.

John