Friday, March 02, 2012

building a screen printing table

I've for some time been thinking about constructing myself a small screen printing table for the studio. I figured out how to do it myself and it was almost as easy as I had thought!

I wanted the table to be easy to store away so some parts should be removable.
Old vacuum cleaner and the Ikea side table Lack. I chose "lack" because it is hollow - and cheap.
I then draw myself a grid and drilled many holes. 
Then I turned the table around and drilled a hole for attaching the vacuum cleaner. I then discovered that Ikea had added som kind of cardboard cells to strengthen it - most had to be removed or I wouldn't get the right suction.
To attach the vacuum cleaner in a smarter way I went and bought plastic curved pipe (for plumbing). (Middle-aged men looked at me in a weird way when I walked around with the slang of the vacuum cleaner around my neck as a snake and tried to attach it to different plumbing pipes.). 

As the pipe wasn't a perfect fit for the drilled hole - which I didn't want it to be - I made it bigger with several layers of black electrical tape. It then got more flexible in the connection, which means removable, but was still tight enough. (I had first thought I would put silicone, but realized I wanted to be able to turn the pipe to be able to attach the vacuum cleaner in different angles to make the table more flexible) 

I had bought special hinges for screen printing, as a short-cut, which I then mounted on the side. As I had discovered the the table was weaker in constructions than I had thought I glued a piece of wood on the border and attached the hinges there.

(You could construct you own hinges with screws for attaching the screen printing frames, I'm sure)

As I wanted my table to be placed on other tables I bought short legs. When I found these legs I got extra happy - this ways I could secure my table to the bigger table! I plan to drill holes in my other working bench and attach the table legs' screws from in-under.
Voilà - it is ready!
I've test printed and everything works smoothly.

8 comments:

Daniel Milton said...

DIY-impressed!

Designer/Artist said...

Oh, what a great screen printing table, well done.
I like that!

Helmi said...

Wow, this is fantastic!

Veja cecilia said...

wow!

Julia da Franca said...

i am deeply impressed!!!

Gracia said...

Impressed by your DIY brilliance (and suitable documentation of the process). Can't wait to see the prints that spring from this industry!

booklet printing said...

I think everyone's already said what I wanted to say: this is impressive.

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