tapeing stencil

[gozo]

I will tape off some part of the stencil, should I tape on the substrate part or the squeegee side. Secondly should I use masking tape or would packing tape be OK.

[vrooooom]

Substrate. If you do it on the squeegee side, it will either be pulled off by the squeegee + ink, or potentially wear down the squeegee if it's tough enough to stay in position. Do you have blockout fluid?

[paul204]

For pinholes and small details I would use masking tape on print side. If you are taping off larger open areas for future printing I would use packing tape on the squeegee side—if you tape off print side, the tape residue can mix with ink to create a nasty mess for clean-up.

[squeegeethree]

I hate using packing tape as it often eaves a glue residue behind. I agree you blockout for the gutters. We use the same emulsion we coat with then re-expose.

[Andymac]

I tape with 2" packing tape topside around edges. Seal with your thumbnail along the edge, and no wrinkles, to avoid ink creep. Wetting your screen from the backside after printing and letting it sit a minute will usually let you take all the tape off easily with no residue.

Spotting of leaks, reg marks etc I tape from the bottom, as these occur after you have inked. I hate it when you get a leak and it creeps along the tape, then spews out the edge.

[.devolve.]

I used to print shirts and it was sometimes useful to combine front and back layers of the same color on the same screen. IE- a 20x24 screen could hold the red layer for a 8x11 back print and still have room for the red layer of a 4x4 front print on the same screen, since the screens had to be pulled from the press and re-registered anyhow for the run on the other side of the shirt. In these cases I got best results from taping scraps of old useless films on the substrate side to cover the other print area, no squeegee interference and no residue from the tape clogging the screen.

Hope that makes sense and/or helps.

[gozo]

Thanks for all the advise, you've been a great help.

[NeroInferno]

Consider to buy some tapes that haven't got any residue on the mesh. Cleaning the glue is really a pain, especially on the frames.

[huthbot]

I have found only regular old scotch brand clear tape, you know the green package that you used to think was magic when you were a kid cause it would disappear when you rubbed it with your finger nail, will stick to my substrate side once the screen is wet. everything else will fall off or leak eventually. I have also found that regardless of the kind of tape you put on, either before the print begins or once you are in print, if you put it too close to the print image it will cause bleeding. I try and get as many of the holes covered with screen block before going to press. I also re-expose the screens to my light table or the sun preferably to dry and cure the block. For some reason every time I use block that hasn't dried thoroughly it becomes tacky and will leave a residue on the paper or worst case pick up the paper out of the reg tabs.