EZ Screen Print silk screening follow up

[SteveB]

Has anyone followed up on trying this product for silk screening. It
was discussed a while back on RGP. How were the results, cost,
problems, durability, effect on clear coating, etc.
http://ezscreenprint.com/
Steve

[Mark Clayton]

Looks only suitable for doing a single color.
I don't really see anything "EZ" about it, although
it appears to be using standard screen print inks so
ultimate results could be fine. You'll need a large
format printer to make anything bigger than 8.5 x 11.

But I am interested in the "Ready-To-Use Japanese Women"
available on that page...

-Mark
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http://pinballpal.com

[ScriptPirate]

I believe I'm the orginal poster of that thread. So, here's what's
been happening.
I've got two playfields that I'm working on restoring. A Gorgar and a
Junkyard. The Junkyard had the clearcoat over every insert peel up
and separate from the inserts after I cleaned the PF. Picks here:
http://photos.scriptpirate.com/GalleryFilmstrip.aspx?gallery=434573

I had no choice but to remove all the artwork over the inserts, scrape
down to the insert, and fill the voids with clear. This requires new
artwork on ALL the inserts (something like 60 of them). Most are
multi-color (white/black) or halftone yellow/orange. The junkyard cars
at the center top are particularlly complex. I'm about 1/2 the way to
recreating the artwork. When done, I'm making silk screens for all
the artwork and insert riings. I've got all but one of the ring
shapes done.

For Gorgar, there was extensive wear in the center of the PF (mans
back and girls hair) as well as a flipper swipe down to bare wood
under the right filpper. I'm recreating the artwork for all three
sections (about 2/3 done). These require 4 color repairs. The bottom
layer of the mans back i'm going to airbrush the base color, then silk
screen the half-tone pink, brown line, and black lines. The girls
hair is just two color, brown hair and black lines. I've already got
the silks for the girls hair done. Test here:
http://photos.scriptpirate.com/GalleryFilmstrip.aspx?gallery=574992&mid=16832847&mt=Photo&ci=008

I've been using both the Jacquard silkscreen inks and Acrylic paints
(tube type) and both seem to work well. The Inks seem to have some
advantages over the Acrylic paints as well as some drawbacks.

The good:
- very opaque colors, including white
- when dry the inks are perminate - resists solvents very well
- Until dry, they wipe right off with water and come up very cleanly
- good working time. use a hair dryer to surface dry the first color
before laying a 2nd color on top
- black is BLACK

The not-so good
- they take a long time to dry completly. I would give at least 2
weeks before clearcoating.
- for fine detail, you may need to thin a little with water

There are two different silkscreen materials I've been using, PhotoEZ
and StencilPro. StencilPro is the newer version and it thinner and
lighter in color (pink). That makes it much easier to align the
screens for mulitple colors. Results using either are very good.

One of the real advantages here is insert rings. It's easy to make the
screen, alignment is easy, and you get a perfect circle (or shape)
every time. The bad news here is that each playfield seems to have
it's own thickness for the rings. I've got 3 PFs (Sinbad, Gorgar, and
Junkyard) and the 1 inch ring thickness is unique to each one. You
still need to fill the ring and bring it flush with the PF, but
painting it after that only takes seconds.

Costs - yeah, it's not cheap. Each sheet of the material is going to
set you back about $10. So I figure the screens to do the mans back
in Gorgar is going to cost at least $10-$20. But when doing rings you
can get about 8 (or more) rings/shapes from each sheet. Once you have
the screen, it can be used many times, but you have to wash it each
use or alignment is tough. I plan on making several for the
frequently used shapes (1 inch and 1 1/8) so I can do multiple before
washing. The screen can be dried in a minute or so after washing
using a hair dryer.

I've noticed that using inks or paints, there is some thickness to the
finished artwork. More than a water float decal, but less than mylar.
When you first put the inks down and when they are drying, it seems
very thick, but they lay down quite a bit when fully dry. I'm going
to try to thin the inks slighly to see if it will create a flatter
result.

I'll post more picks and results over the next couple of weeks.

Vince