Screen Printing on Mess Bags
 

I've done a good deal of printing on shirts, but want to know if anyone has tried to screen print on condura. Any special precautions? Different inks? Results? I want to spice up some bags for a co-op auction.

I think that you would want to use a more watered down ink, because Cordura tends to make anything that is stuck on it flake off (stenciled airsoft team logos onto Cordura gear before) My best results were with really runny paint, and multiple passes over the stencil.

thanks on my end, that answered my question i was having about that

since cordura has its high and low spots the ink would probably only adhere to the high spots of the weave, making it look not opaque. to get the most ink through the screen id use a mesh with a lower count. screen printing is all about keeping things flat. cordura is not. im interested how it comes out though.

i'd also worry about the capillary action of those high and low points in the weave, it might not be a problem but it might become one if you thin out the ink as people are suggesting

I dont think any acrylic would work because of the mentioned capillary action of the cordura. You'd probably wont to go with a plastisol but then you'd have to heat treat which probably wouldnt work with cordura. What I did was paint a piece of duckcloth (version of canvas) and blind stitch it onto my bag.

I once randomly tried to print on a piece of heavy canvas, and the uneven surface of the material was very difficult to work with. Very little detail. I imagine that cordura would be about the same.

Depending on what you are trying to achieve, a spray paint stencil might work better.

(note: I have very little screen printing experience)

curing platisol is about 350 degrees, which might damage a waterproof liner. plastisol is also significantly thicker than anything that speedball makes.

lotsa ink is what I have been told

I've managed to get terrycloth wristbands to work almost acceptably (probably a worse surface than Cordura). 110 count mesh screen, Nazdar 9500 series ink (waterbase FTW), line art without subtle detail rather than a halftone, whatever durometer squeege I had available. A similar solution worked on corrugated cardboard. I didn't thin the ink at all. Be sure to get a board under the part your printing on, don't have extra layers of fabric in there.

on a side note, where are you guys buying your cordura. I had a good source
at 4 bucks a yard, but A) they were raping me on shipping, b) they have since shut down

I recently had cordura fabric for my portfolio cases screen-printed and had a number of tests run. As coarse as you can go while being able to hold the edges of your finest type ( use a san-serif font ). The heat cure DID affect the fabric because there was a waterproof backing on my fabric. We worked around it by air and spot curing ( one at a time with a heat gun, carefully, slightly lower temperature).

I didn't print these myself, I used a screen shop, but I was a professional screen printer for 7 years and I would suggest that your printer set up the screen with a little "Break" between the screen and your fabric, about 1/8"th or 3/16th's". Generally, like in T-shirt printing, the screens are laying flat on the fabric because the inks are so thick and they don't really bleed around the edges of your stencil. If the screen is a tiny bit off the surface you can run a little thinner ink which is better for rough fabric. A tight screen and a sharp squeegee will only be in contact right where the blade edge is touching and stops the thinner ink from bleeding but you will need to do a flood coat first.

The sequence would be 1.) Place fabric into position/registration 2.) Place ink on back of screen 3.) Lift screen a few inches and pull a flood coat (I liked one towards and one back again) 4.) Lower screen and pull at a firm steady constant even pressure. 5.) Lift a few inches again, flood back, lift screen all the way and remove fabric and rack dry.

If you are going to do this on a T-shirt machine and in multiple colors then you will have to cure between stations.

If i remember correctly, diytactical.com sells cordura. Not sure if they have every color though.

This isn't a full-on mess bag but my friend has it and it's screen printed, I think.
http://www.zambooie.com/stores/Resul...Bags&startat=1
It's an awesome band, too.