Whenever you take a look at your budget you may find that purchasing used printing equipment for sale will be an asset. While you may think that used screen printing equipment is of lesser value or faulty, this is not necessarily the case. Instead, what holds true is that there is a necessity to resell this equipment do to its large size. Just think, these machines are not small, they are room sized instead. This means that their price tag generally isn’t small either.
For this reason, it definitely makes a whole lot of sense for anyone who is just getting started in the printing industry to purchase used printing equipment instead of finding themselves swallowed up by an insurmountable amount of debt. However, there are a few different processes that you will need to have a good understanding of if you choose to purchase used printing equipment. This is important because you will want to be able to ensure that the equipment that you purchase is as “clean” as possible.
The Dehazing Process
Whenever you purchase used printing machine equipment you will need to learn about the dehazing process. This is because you will want to submit all of your screens to this process in order to remove any residue that would otherwise leave a faint trace (a.k.a. a “ghost image”) on any of the print runs that you do. The reason for this haze is because there is ink trapped within the mesh, usually at any points where it overlaps. Once the screens have been through the dehazing process it, along with any of the other used printing equipment that you have purchased, will be ready to be used again. If you are lucky, you may even find someone who has done this work for you before selling the used printing equipment to you.
The Reclaiming Process
You can reuse the silk or the polyester that has been stretched over the top of your frame. However, if you are no longer going to use the same stenciled design, you will need to put the silk or the polyester through the reclaiming process. This process involves cleaning all of the remaining ink off of the silk or the polyester and spraying the stencil with a liquid, gel or powder stencil removing agent. This agent will clear off any remaining emulsion. Powder stencil removers must be mixed with some water before you can use them and thus are often thought of as a type of liquid. They are also safer to use in industrial environments. Once you apply this removing agent you will then need to use a high pressure water sprayer to wash away any of the remaining emulsion. You will then be able to use your silk or polyester again.
In Conclusion
Now that you know what processes your used printing equipment needs to go through after you move it into your shop, it is important to take a little time to read up on each of these processes. Take some time to learn how to do them properly so that you will be well prepared whenever your used printing equipment does arrive. While you may think that they would be somewhat difficult for you to do, you will actually be quite surprised by just how easy they are. Albeit they will take some time, in the end this shouldn’t really matter all that much whenever you stop to consider just how much money you have managed to save. While you could argue that time is money, in this case when you are just starting to set up your new business, you shouldn’t worry about that so much as what you will be able to save in the long run.