What do you mean by (best value)? Cost-wise, Capillary films are pretty much the same. "A little high for me", but some people like the slightly more durable features of Film verses Emulsion.
Chromaline makes the best films with a wide variety of uses from plastisol and other solvent based inks to water-based inks.
You can buy Pro/Cap, (for plastisol and solvent-based) for $104.00 for a 26"X30' roll. Magna/Cure, (for water-based inks or plastisol) runs at $153.00 for a 26"X30' roll.
You can find them at ( VictoryFactory.com ), plus they make the best screens.
( WildSideNorth.com ) also sells that film and many other supplies. You can find other capillary films for a little less, but they don't work as well, don't last without cracking or is as easy to apply as Chromaline.
To me, that's "Value".
But hey...I'm still an Emulsion-Baby, where you can coat a screen for around $2.00.
At the edge of dreams lay the far-flung ideals of true creation.
Submitted by Calibrated on Tue, 07/17/2007 - 20:13
The best "value" is to not use it. Unless you have an actual need for use capillary film the best value is to use liquid emulsion to coat your screens. The cost savings can be over 300% less vs even an affordable film.
While its not a easy to use at first, emulsion is really the better option and is why 96% of all screen printing shops use it.
Submitted by mpax_graphics on Tue, 07/17/2007 - 22:13
Well, then if emulsion is better, do you have any tips to get the best coating. In best I mean, how thick does it need to be? How to keep it consistent all the way up the screen? Drying tips.
Thanks guys. I may use capillary film in certain circumstances, but it is good to hear a different point of view from what I had heard.
Submitted by Greg hamrick on Wed, 07/18/2007 - 07:50
Get a scoop coater for emulsion. They are fairly inexpensive and make coating easy. Just fill the coater, press it against the screen, pull it slowly to the top of the screen, turn the screen and coat the other side. If it gets to thick, just hold the coater at an angle that will not put more emulsion on the screen and shear the excess back off. Emulsion does not need to be thick. If it is, it will sag and small driplets will form all over the screen and dry like that. Now if you want a thick film, just wait for the emulsion to dry and recoat the (shirt) side of the screen. You will only need to do that if your printing something like white on a dark colored shirt or you get bleeding dyes out of the shirt.
Dry the screens flat. You'll need a drying rack to hold the screens, which is easy to make a home-made one, and keep them dry and in the dark.
At the edge of dreams lay the far-flung ideals of true creation.
I used to use Agabe Unifilm 3D. They no longer have a distributor in America. I have had to go back to Capillary film. I hate using Cap film. Does anyone know of any emulsions that would be comparable to the Unifilm by Agabe.
:eek:
Submitted by Jaxx Shirts on Mon, 10/29/2007 - 02:23
mapx, I use capillary film exclusively, and it's wonderful. It's so much easier to use than emulsion, and it's saves a lot time. So if time is important to you, then you have to consider that in your value comparison. Capillary film produces considerably better quality stencils than liquid emulsion also. And you also get consistency in your stencils. They don't change with a change in humidity.
Keep in mind that with cap film, you can degrease and coat your screen in 1 step, with no drying time between (which saves time). Also you will NEVER have any pinholes when using cap film like get with emulsion. And you have no messy cleanup. You'll never have to clean a scoop coater again. You don't have to worry about dust or ling getting on the screens while they are drying. You don't have to worry about the humidity in your drying environment.
Granted, it costs more than emulsion. But you have to weigh all the options, not just the material cost. It costs around $2 per sheet +/- .50 cents. So if you are doing a $300 job that uses 3 screens, you are talking about $6 for your film compared to say $1 for the liquid. It's not that big of a deal to me. If my profits was the most important thing and I was trying to scrimp and save every penny, I guess I would look into emulsion, but I wouldn't enjoy it :-)
I use Ulano CDF film. It's one of the best in the business.
Re: Capillary Film
What do you mean by (best value)? Cost-wise, Capillary films are pretty much the same. "A little high for me", but some people like the slightly more durable features of Film verses Emulsion.
Chromaline makes the best films with a wide variety of uses from plastisol and other solvent based inks to water-based inks.
You can buy Pro/Cap, (for plastisol and solvent-based) for $104.00 for a 26"X30' roll. Magna/Cure, (for water-based inks or plastisol) runs at $153.00 for a 26"X30' roll.
You can find them at ( VictoryFactory.com ), plus they make the best screens.
( WildSideNorth.com ) also sells that film and many other supplies. You can find other capillary films for a little less, but they don't work as well, don't last without cracking or is as easy to apply as Chromaline.
To me, that's "Value".
But hey...I'm still an Emulsion-Baby, where you can coat a screen for around $2.00.
At the edge of dreams lay the far-flung ideals of true creation.
Re: Capillary Film
The best "value" is to not use it. Unless you have an actual need for use capillary film the best value is to use liquid emulsion to coat your screens. The cost savings can be over 300% less vs even an affordable film.
While its not a easy to use at first, emulsion is really the better option and is why 96% of all screen printing shops use it.
Re: Capillary Film
Well, then if emulsion is better, do you have any tips to get the best coating. In best I mean, how thick does it need to be? How to keep it consistent all the way up the screen? Drying tips.
Thanks guys. I may use capillary film in certain circumstances, but it is good to hear a different point of view from what I had heard.
Re: Capillary Film
Get a scoop coater for emulsion. They are fairly inexpensive and make coating easy. Just fill the coater, press it against the screen, pull it slowly to the top of the screen, turn the screen and coat the other side. If it gets to thick, just hold the coater at an angle that will not put more emulsion on the screen and shear the excess back off. Emulsion does not need to be thick. If it is, it will sag and small driplets will form all over the screen and dry like that. Now if you want a thick film, just wait for the emulsion to dry and recoat the (shirt) side of the screen. You will only need to do that if your printing something like white on a dark colored shirt or you get bleeding dyes out of the shirt.
Dry the screens flat. You'll need a drying rack to hold the screens, which is easy to make a home-made one, and keep them dry and in the dark.
At the edge of dreams lay the far-flung ideals of true creation.
Re: Capillary Film
I used to use Agabe Unifilm 3D. They no longer have a distributor in America. I have had to go back to Capillary film. I hate using Cap film. Does anyone know of any emulsions that would be comparable to the Unifilm by Agabe.
:eek:
Re: Capillary Film
mapx, I use capillary film exclusively, and it's wonderful. It's so much easier to use than emulsion, and it's saves a lot time. So if time is important to you, then you have to consider that in your value comparison. Capillary film produces considerably better quality stencils than liquid emulsion also. And you also get consistency in your stencils. They don't change with a change in humidity.
Keep in mind that with cap film, you can degrease and coat your screen in 1 step, with no drying time between (which saves time). Also you will NEVER have any pinholes when using cap film like get with emulsion. And you have no messy cleanup. You'll never have to clean a scoop coater again. You don't have to worry about dust or ling getting on the screens while they are drying. You don't have to worry about the humidity in your drying environment.
Granted, it costs more than emulsion. But you have to weigh all the options, not just the material cost. It costs around $2 per sheet +/- .50 cents. So if you are doing a $300 job that uses 3 screens, you are talking about $6 for your film compared to say $1 for the liquid. It's not that big of a deal to me. If my profits was the most important thing and I was trying to scrimp and save every penny, I guess I would look into emulsion, but I wouldn't enjoy it :-)
I use Ulano CDF film. It's one of the best in the business.