Used Printing Equipment

Buying used printing equipment can be an asset to the budget of any professional printing company. As one might incorrectly assume, this does not insinuate that used screen printing equipment is of lesser value, unwarranteed or faulty in any way. The skyrocketing value of this type of art and the large physical size of the machinery have created a demand and a necessity for the pre-owned printer equipment industry. Due to the demand, this type of printing is no longer done on small machines, but rather room-sized, monolithic pieces of machinery. These tools are not small in size nor in cost. That is why buying pre-owned printing supplies makes much more sense and allows someone to start out in this industry without insurmountable debt.

Silk screening, serigraphy and screen printing are all names for the technique that creates a sharp-edged image (called a print or serigraph) using a stencil. It actually began as an industrial type of printing. American artists then began to use it in creating beautiful pieces of art in the late 1800s. It is the most widely used form of print making. This popularity is closely related to its versatility. Not only can an artist or company print on T-shirts, hats and other forms of clothing, but they can also print on CDs, DVDs, ceramic, plastic, wood and many, many other materials. Now that used screen printing equipment is easy to obtain, underground printers have emerged on the scene. Any agency or movement can voice an opinion on a T-shirt and have walking advertisements do their marketing. In fact, the DIY style that was popular in underground or garage-based print shops is now very chic and is being seen in movies and television shows.

When a large batch of printed material is needed, or the image is huge, graphic design is utilized. This makes it possible to print posters or displays that are large in size and many in number. Ink jet processing and dye sublimation are still not as versatile in the kinds and types of media they can print on. Used printing equipment can even print full color pieces using CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). CMYK is often chosen in preference to the older RGB (red, green and blue) standard. "Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet." (Job 13:27)

The process of making a serigraph is relatively easy and affordable, and even more affordable with the advent of used screen printing equipment. A screen is made from a tightly woven piece of material. It used to be silk, but since the 1940s it is usually made out of polyester or other synthetic fabrics. This piece of material is then stretched tightly over a frame of aluminum or wood. Then a non-permeable substance is used to form a stencil. This stencil is then placed on the fabric to block the ink. The stencil is a negative version of the picture or logo to be printed. In other words, the open spaces on the stencil are where the ink will go, and the filled spaces are where no ink will appear in the final image.

The screen is then placed on top of papyrus or fabric. Ink is then placed on top, and a fill bar is used to fill the mesh with ink. Most of this portion has to be done by hand, even if operating new or pre-owned screen printing equipment. The frame is already on the machine, though. As the fabric is pressed onto the silk or polyester with the stenciled image, the operator then squeegees the fabric slowly from front to back. This imprints the image. Some machines automatically squeegee, while other used printing equipment require the operator to manually squeegee to remove excess ink. Graphic prints involve drying the fabric between colors and sometimes using different screens for each color. Of these three types of techniques, the dry bed is most popular, though the cylinder and the rotary are still in use today. Used screen printing equipment can be easily found that utilize any of these three styles of silk screening.

The silk or polyester stretched on the frame can be reused after each print job. However, if the stenciled design is no longer going to be utilized, the silk or polyester needs to be reclaimed. Reclaiming involves cleaning all of the remaining ink off of it and spraying the stencil with a stencil removing agent. This stencil removing agent will clear all emulsion that remains. There are liquid, gel and powder stencil removers. The powder stencil removers have to be mixed with water before use, so they can be considered as a form of liquid, though as a powder they tend to be safer in industrial settings. In the used printing equipment industry great effort is taken to completely remove all trace of past stencils. After applying the removal agent, the emulsion has to then be washed away using a high pressure water sprayer. Under normal usage, the silk or polyester would then be ready to use again.

However, used screen printing equipment retailers then go a step further. These companies submit the screens to a dehazing process. Dehazing removes all residues that might leave a faint trace or "ghost image" on subsequent print runs. This haze is due to ink trapped in the mesh, usually at the points of overlapping. After this dehazing process, the screens as well as all the other machinery is either ready to use again or ready to sell to the next budding screenprinter.

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