Golden Rule 2 Set up your press the same way each time, with the minimum pressure, the

minimum
flood and, especially, with the minimum fuss. Just insist on getting it right first time. If you are fiddling
with the press after startup then you are either not following Golden Rule 1 or you haven’t followed
Golden Rule 2. Once you get into the habit of minimalist setup you will be amazed at how easy it is to
print. And that’s what makes a great printer. This means that you need a good press. It has to be
possible to set it up the same every time. If you don’t know what your pressures are, if your gap settings
are a bit too erratic because of mechanical problems, if your bed isn’t flat, if your switches and sensors
aren’t robust then you’ll spend all your time fighting the machine rather than screen printing. A great
printer will have most of the adjustments to the machine locked off so that no-one can twiddle. Later on
I will be explaining why the squeegee isn’t so important. This heresy has been much misunderstood. Of
course it’s important to have a high-quality squeegee with a nicely-controlled shape. And of course it’s
important to have a good supplier who gives you the same high quality every time. But if you find that
you are spending a lot of time fiddling with your squeegee then you probably think the squeegee is
important in a way that it’s not. Get into the habit of understanding why the squeegee isn’t important,
then you’ll get yourself a good relationship with a good squeegee supplier and generate mutually
profitable business. Printing 1-2-3 To be a world expert on how screen printing works, you need to be
able to understand 1-2-3. In my time I’ve heard an extraordinary amount of nonsense about how screen
printing works. Hands have been waved, magic has been invoked, the laws of physics have been
ignored. And this is all totally unnecessary. Screen printing is as simple as 1-2-3. So – just 3 steps and you
will be a world expert. Trust me! Step 1 Getting the ink ready to print What could be simpler? All you’re
trying to do is get the lightest possible, even covering of ink as close to the top of the mesh as possible.
The righ