Do I need toner?

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Eal87ha
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Do I need toner?

Post by Eal87ha »

Hey! I'm new to screen printing on t shirts, etc. And new to these forums! So I have a newbie question! It is: do I need to print on my transparency using a toner??? Thanks in advance, eal87ha
inkyfingers11
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Re: Do I need toner?

Post by inkyfingers11 »

Are you asking if you need to print the transparency with a laser printer vs. with an inkjet printer?

The answer to that question depends on the type of transparency you have. There are 3 types of transparency film made for screen printing positives. Laser printable, and 2 types of inkjet printable - one for standard dye based inks, and one for pigment based inks. (Pigment based inks are NOT what you get in the store - these are specialized inks that give much denser positives, but can be expensive).

Personally, I don't like laser toner films. I found that they were not dimensionally stable due to the heat used to set the toner, and, laser printers seem to offer fewer options for making the print more dense. I also felt like there were an unacceptable amount of pinholes in the images.

Dye based inkjet films give acceptable results with most printers. If you're pretty sure you're going to stick with this, you might want to go with pigment inks for better results. Experimenting with the output settings of your inkjet drivers will help you find an acceptable result, as will making sure that you are not over-exposing your emulsion. Using only enough time to harden the non-image areas will cut down on the amount of light that seeps through your image areas.

Another thing you can do with inkjet films - print 2 identical copies, and carefully register them over the top of each other. This effectively doubles the cost of your positives, but, when you're starting out, you do what you gotta do!

Hope this helps.
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