Screen Printing Frames, Aluminum vs. Wood Screen Printing Frames how to select.

The advantage of an aluminum screen 

printing frame is the durability and longevity it retains. Unlike wood

silk screen printing frames when exposing frames to water in a dip tank 

or washout sink aluminum frames will not warp. This will insure a flat frame 

through thousands of prints to come. Aluminum frames can also be stretched and 

re-stretched many times. The mesh and glue are simply removed from the frame 

using a professional tool that doesn't damage the aluminum. Once cleaned, the 

frames can then be re-stretched which will give you the ability to use that 

frame for years of hard work in your shop.

Aluminum frames are also light weight which makes shipping 

less expensive and saves you money in the long run. If you're looking to 

maximize performance in your shop, aluminum frames are a great item to add to 

your screen printing equipment.

More about screen printing mesh size: Different mesh sizes are used for different 

applications in the screen printing process. Mesh size is measured by how many 

threads of mesh there are crossing per square inch. For instance, a 110 mesh 

screen has 110 threads crossing per square inch. The higher the mesh count, the 

finer the threads and holes are in the screen. The size of the mesh has a lot to 

do with how detailed your image is and how thick the ink you are using is. If 

you have an image with extremely high detail, a lower mesh screen won't hold the 

high detail. The fine lines or dots in the image will simply fall through the 

holes in the mesh not giving you a correct representation of what your image 

should be. Also if you are using a thinner ink, the ink will also flood through 

the larger holes and soak onto your shirt or substrate making your image blurry 

as the ink bleeds. On the other hand, if you are trying to print a thicker ink 

(such as white) through to high of a mesh screen, barely any ink will print 

through the mesh. You will notice that different companies have different sizes 

available. If the mesh count is fairly close, such as the difference between 

155 vs. 156, 196 vs. 200, or 81 vs. 86, the difference is so negligible and 

small that it will not matter in your final results.

Since there are many variables involved in

silk screen printing we 

can't tell you exactly what mesh sizes are used for what applications. However 

we can give you a general outline of what sizes to use for certain types of 

printing. Your basic and most standard mesh sizes are 110 and 156. 110 mesh 

lays a fairly thick layer of ink down. It's great for block text letters and 

larger spot color designs. It's also a recommended mesh for white flash plates 

because many times you will only have to make one print impression which speeds up production time. 156 mesh also lays down a little thicker layer of screen 

printing ink but offers you some higher detail ability in your image due to 

the finer mesh. Also if you are printing with a little thinner viscosity colors 

of inks, you may want to use the 156 mesh so not too much ink is passed through 

your screen. Lower mesh counts like 40-86 are used for shimmer and glitter 

inks. These inks have particles in them that will not pass through the typical 

mesh sizes. Therefore you need a lower mesh count with large holes in order for

all the particles to pass through properly. Shimmer plastisol inks have finer particles in them so you could probably use an 86 mesh while glitter inks have much larger particles so it would be recommended to use a 40 or 60 mesh screen. 200 and 230 mesh are used for finer detailed images and thinner inks. These mesh sizes can hold larger half tone dots but are not 

recommended for four color process prints or fine detail half tone printing. 

Also graphic and solvent based 

silk screening inks that are much thinner should be used with these mesh 

sizes. Also if you would like a softer feel to the ink on your shirts you can 

print through these higher mesh counts which will let less ink through the 

screen giving you a much softer feel on the shirt. This can get tricky however, 

many times a duller distressed look is wanted for the artwork but if bright 

vibrant colors are desired (especially white) you will have a hard time getting 

the opacity thick enough using these higher meshes. 305 mesh is used for 

extremely high detail textile printing and fine halftone four color process and 

simulated process prints. (Learn more about process printing here.) Fine half 

tone dots need high fine detail mesh in order to hold and expose on. Higher 

meshes such as 355, 380, and 400 are used mainly for graphic printing with UV 

inks. UV inks are extremely thin and many times are used for high detail 

printing on signs, banners, or CD's. Using a higher mesh allows the automatic 

printers used in UV printing to regulate the amount of ink passed through the 

screen.

Exposure Notes: Different mesh sizes hold different 

amounts of emulsion, due to how big the holes in the mesh are. For instance a 

110 mesh screen will hold much more emulsion then a 305 mesh screen. While the 

difference isn't extreme, you will have to vary your exposure times slightly for 

different mesh sizes. A finer mesh screen that holds less emulsion will expose 

faster then a lower mesh screen that holds more emulsion. However, the 

difference is small so you may have to only vary as slightly as 5-10% in either 

direction and depending on mesh size in order to get maximum exposure 

performance.