What purpose does the screen printing trough serve?

The trough is an indispensable tool when preparing a screen printing plate. Thanks to the trough, the emulsion is distributed with great precision, so the trough is always useful when precision is required. Thanks to the even distribution of ink on the matrix, the resulting print has a uniform thickness, so the use of the trough has a positive effect on the quality of the prints.

Importantly, the gutters are cut to size and the sides are removable, making the gutter very easy to clean. The gutter is made of aluminium and the sides are made of plastic. Thanks to special grooves in the sides, the application of paint is quick and easy. The grooves allow both ends to be kept at a distance from the mesh, which guarantees that the screen printing ink is evenly distributed over the entire matrix. Depending on the screen, the gutter allows the emulsion to be applied on one or both sides.

A few words about screen printing

In screen printing, the preparation of the matrix, i.e. the printing mould, is crucial - it is a mesh with small meshes on which the design is applied. The ink only penetrates through the open slots, as the non-printing areas are blocked.Once the frame has been prepared and the graphic has been applied to it, emulsion is applied, the excess of which is collected with the help of a trough. The screen with the applied emulsion is left to dry and then exposed. Importantly, the screen must be shielded from light before exposure, while the exposure time depends on the light source and its intensity.

The screen must be thoroughly covered with emulsion, but the mesh must not be soaked and the ink must not drip during drying. This is why it is so important to use a trough, which allows for a very precise and even distribution of as much ink as is currently needed, which is not insignificant for the quality of prints on various substrates.