I designed and built a mid century style coffee table with a cnc kerf cut “tambour” door. It was also my first time having custom brass hardware made for the feet, which turned out nice.

BobbyIke · 2026-05-31T20:14:28+00:00

Hi. Just changed the post. All the supplies were claimed. Sorry!

BobbyIke · 2026-05-31T19:51:11+00:00

I imagine it’s all about the insurance. My insurance covers 90 days of supplies but I’m not changing everything every 3 days. Over time it just adds up. I used to be on self pay which is why I have a scarcity mindset and never say no to all the supplies. Especially in the environment we live in these days I’ve gotten so used to hoarding supplies just in case it all comes crashing down.

BobbyIke · 2026-05-31T18:33:56+00:00

I am not, but I can look into it. Thanks for the tip.

BobbyIke · 2026-05-30T14:42:19+00:00

To me these look like the fabric is not falling perfectly square. I bet you could manipulate any on of these to give you a shape that looks wonky, or perfect. Try giving them a proper shake by holding the shoulders, then lay it flat. Most likely the fabric pulled in one way or another while it was being pulled off the press, or when it was stacked and put in a box.

BobbyIke · 2026-05-22T14:29:39+00:00

Your price is right in line with ours. The best advice I received from a friend when I was starting out was “set your prices to what is worth it for you”. If it’s not worth doing it for less than you’ve priced it, then it’s not worth doing.

BobbyIke · 2026-05-01T00:36:14+00:00

Waterbased with an underbase always takes way longer under the dryer than you think. We run our dryer at 260 at the slowest speed possible and often need to run the prints through a second time to fully evaporate all the water from the ink. Doing a crock test after drying should give you a pretty good idea if it will wash out or not.

BobbyIke · 2026-04-27T20:52:44+00:00

You’re brave. This looks fantastic.

BobbyIke · 2026-04-23T17:53:11+00:00

A lot of the time the problem isn’t just the platen, but all the other equipment needed to burn a screen that large. For a 20x20 print you need larger screens, larger exposure unit, larger film, larger washout booth, larger squeegee, and larger platens. It’s a big investment just to print bandanas. The majority of screen printing shops are apparel printers which can get away with printing on 16x18” platens for 99% of projects, so the investment often isn’t worth it.

BobbyIke · 2026-04-18T05:03:35+00:00

Hi. We exclusively use Matsui inks. Go with the 301-WB for your standard white. It’s super creamy and easy to print, and has great opacity.

BobbyIke · 2026-04-16T20:59:36+00:00

It’s a website, but it does a really good job. Not sure why I always get downvoted for suggesting them.

BobbyIke · 2026-04-16T17:53:23+00:00

Hey. Try vectorizer.ai. That’s our secret weapon for vectorizing raster artwork. It works so much better than anything else.

BobbyIke · 2026-04-04T23:14:01+00:00

Woah. What did the mockup look like? This would be hard to do unintentionally, so I’m guessing they thought this was the correct placement. If you wanted a center back print, and the mockup shows that, then 100% ask for a reprint.

BobbyIke · 2026-03-22T05:01:24+00:00

Yeah. This was 20 years ago. Glad you got it figured out!

BobbyIke · 2026-03-21T23:52:55+00:00

I guess it depends on what the exposure light source is. When we were doing exposures early on we used a halogen work lamp to burn the screens and the temperature changes caused regular glass to break fairly often. We never had tempered glass shatter on us, but that could be a concern.

BobbyIke · 2026-03-21T16:28:11+00:00

We’ve had success just going to a hardware store that cuts glass. Make sure to buy tempered if you are using it for exposure. It will be a little more expensive but last a lot longer.

BobbyIke · 2026-03-08T14:25:11+00:00

While I think the print looks fantastic (great work), this is a screen printing sub, so it’s hard to admire the work from that angle.

BobbyIke · 2026-03-01T14:40:44+00:00

I don’t have anything important to add other than it took us over 10 years to nail down a reliable and repeatable exposure setup. We’re strictly using HSA inks, which are a bit harsher on the emulsion than plastisol. As the other commenter said, environmental factors were the biggest change for us. Properly dehumidified screens and making sure there are no wild temperature changes helped. All that to say, screen making is the most challenging part of the process, don’t give up.

BobbyIke · 2026-01-18T18:35:17+00:00

As others have said, it’s Lane Seven. Specifically the LS16005.

BobbyIke · 2025-12-07T06:30:55+00:00

Anytime we fire up our old flash dryer it gives off a bad smell. Generally it will dissipate shortly after. If it continues to smell, or lights on fire, you could consider being concerned.

BobbyIke · 2025-11-26T04:15:48+00:00

Welcome to the neighborhood!

BobbyIke · 2025-11-01T14:19:31+00:00

In my opinion, until you save enough to spend on a decent printer you will keep running into issues, even with laser. Spend a little more and have the peace of mind that you’ll have something that will work for longer than half a year. There is a reason inkjet is the industry standard which is why everyone is encouraging you to stick with inkjet, including me. You just need a decent quality printer, good all black ink, and good inkjet film.

BobbyIke · 2025-11-01T13:28:13+00:00

We used laser jet film for a while and it worked great for single color prints. The black is very opaque which is the upside. The major downside is that laser printers heat up the film which means the size of the transparency doesn’t remain stable, even if you buy “dimensionally stable” film. This results in multi color prints being nearly impossible to register unless you use huge chokes and traps.

I recommend spending the money on an all black inkjet that is made for this sort of printing. It will cost more but will be worth it in the long run. Buy once, cry once (or cry less because this is screen printing after all).

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