Yes, you need a squeegee for screen printing. The seemingly simple design of squeegees can trick you into thinking they are not important for screen printing. However, that’s far from the truth.
In fact, squeegees are far from the definition of simple. They are a complex component of screen printing. Generally, these materials serve a number of functions, which we will discuss succinctly in this guide.
With no further ado, let’s dive right into it.
Why do you need a squeegee for screen printing?
Squeegees, also called blades, are a vital piece of the screen printing puzzle. To drill things down, we categorize these materials as printing squeegee and ink return plate squeegee.
What does the printing squeegee do?
In essence, this material helps you squeeze ink. This squeezing aids its transfer through the screen printing plate aperture and transports the ink to the substrate’s surface.
What does the ink return plate do?
In essence, the ink return plate is what oversees scraping the printer ink to its original position, serving as the primer for the subsequent printing task.
So, as a high-level overview, here are four of the primary functions of a typical screen printing squeegee.
- Maintaining optimum contact between the screen and the substrate
- Reinforcing the ability to print various shapes
- Transferring ink to the substrate via the screen
- Removing excess ink from your screen.
If you’re carrying out a manual screen printing process, the squeegee plate and ink return plate can come as a unit. However, for general screen printing processes, they usually come as separate components.
The scraping component of the squeegee is, in most cases, a rubber material, since natural rubber is the cheapest. However, more recently, polyurethane and neoprene and positioning themselves as the more suitable material. The other component, the ink return plate, is often metallic usually made of aluminum.
How to get the best out of your squeegee?
Even if you have the best squeegee material, the best way to get the best out of its functionalities is proper maintenance. For instance, when you’re printing using aggressive inks, it is advisable that you should not use the squeegee blade for over four hours. If you fail to adhere to that, even the best squeegee will fail at some point.
To get the best out of its lifespan, you have to implement a maintenance rotation schedule. Rotating your squeegee with another at specific intervals will dramatically surge its lifespan more than you can imagine. So, use one squeegee for four hours at a time and replace it with another. Keep the cycle going.
Also, never use your squeegee till it fails, swells excessively, or softens. This could result from excessive ink buildups. So, always be sure to check for that and keep it in a cool dry location.
Further, always remember to resharpen your squeegee at consistent period intervals to maximize its lifespan.
In a nutshell
Now, you’ll agree that squeegees do more than you can imagine for your screen printing. However, the key to getting the best out of this functionality is choosing the right material and practicing the best maintenance practices. If you’re looking for help in any of these areas, be sure to reach out to us at pengde2@pengde-pu.com and we will be more than willing to help.
