introduction

[gozo]

Hi to all,
My name is Ino and I come from Malta, a smal island in the Med.
I,m interested in trying to print on vinyl sheets,mostly health and safety signs, one or two colours at most.
Since I,m quite new to this I have quite a few questions that I hope can be answered.
Instead of emulsion could I use the ulano rubylith or capillary films for my stencils.
If in the negative. What type of emulsion should I look at.
Thanking you all for any help you might give.

[boatdreams]

Welcome! I have a friend who currently lives in Malta.
You cannot use rubylith as a stencil. It is a film for making stencils by the photo process. I'm not so clear on how capillary films work, but I bet someone on here is.

Different people use different kinds of emulsion, and everyone has their reasons. A lot of folks here use QTX because it exposes quickly, but there's a ton of stuff out there. It's a matter of personal preference and using the right emulsion for what you're printing and what type of ink you're using.

[Fools Gold]

I went on a vacation to Malta a few months ago. It was rad, welcome.

Capillary film is basically emulsion on a roll that you stick to a screen. Look for something that is designed for the type of ink you are going to be using (solvent/oil based inks, or waterbased inks)

[Andymac]

Maybe you are confusing rubylith with hand cut stencil film? You can use that if you can find it, you cut out and remove the parts you want to print, you stick the remaining stencil on the screen. You can run it through a vinyl cutter to make stick on stencils, or use a knife like the stencil cutters of the 1920s-1970s, but hardly anyone does this anymore, and if you have small type it will look like shit.

Ruby (lith, amberlith etc) is cut, but you expose it as a film positive.

Photo stencil systems are either:
a) direct emulsion (a liquid you coat on the screen) which is used by probably 89% of all screenprinters because it is, cheap, easy to use, and stands up to cleaning and abuse.
b) indirect emulsion ( a stencil material coated on a clear backing) this was what I learned on. you can turn around a screen in less than an hour, and it prints almost the best detail of any film, but it comes off the screen if you look at it sideways, and comes off easily if you have to clean it. It's also about 5x as expensive as direct emulsion.
c) capillex (a brand name) or direct/indirect - this gives you the detail of indirect, but with a better adhesion. this might be the other 10% of the stencil types. Because it requires no 'coating skill' (2 minutes with a proper scoop coater) and more importantly because it can be bought in various thicknesses (very important in electronics and industrial printing applications) people use this. But it is 5x as expensive as direct emulsion, and you have issues around it's water resistance, which becomes an issue if you use waterbased ink.

But that's a whole other story.

And Welcome.

You are a premium member, good on you. If you have questions about something, Use search first.

Read the newbie thread.

Start printing. It's the only way to learn.

[gozo]

Thanks Guys for your welcome.
Just for this piece of advise I,ve already recovered my premium cost.
Cheers.

[kim_a]

Any post by Andy is an instant refund for the premium-fee.

Andy, so capillex is a direct emulsion with indirect-level detail? Sounds like great stuff.

[Andymac]

mmmmph. over rated, over priced. you can get the same effect by coating your screens properly, and drying them on a rack with the bottom down. spend the money you save on a premium high solids emulsion, a new scoop coater, and a couple of sacks of beer. shit is way more expensive, and it's not way more better. We always had issues using it for large areas, it was ok for small industrial jobs. Prints sharp though.

[kim_a]

Aah, I see.

Sacks of beer > Expensive and tricky emulsion

Makes sense =)