# diy oversized platen for oversized prints



## tryplecrown (Jan 24, 2007)

I am planning on buying a couple of 23x31" screens to test on my 6 color manual press. We normally run the standard 20x24 inchers. I've had a few clients ask about larger prints that run up off of the top of the collar or across the chest from sleeve to sleeve. But what really set me off to do this was the Rutland ink ad opposite pg 16 in the current (April 2008) issue of Printwear Magazine. The ad features a lot of oversized prints by West Coast Designz. I asked about platens a while back for this and I know there is a company that makes specialty platens and one has "sleeves" that fold up for loading the shirt and then actually pull down in to the shirt sleeves. Problem is, I don't have $500 for one platen. So my thought was to see if I could build my own platen. I have an extra child's platen that I rarely ever use and was going to take the hardware off the bottom to use. I thought for the actual platen top, I could buy some of the laminated particle board that I've seen at Home Depot. Seems like I saw some shelf panels a while back there that were pretty large. But I figured I could cut it out with a jigsaw and then go back with my router and a roundover bit and smooth everything out. My challenge is trying to decide the best shape / size of the platen. Does anyone have any ideas or photos of what you use as far as platens or setups go for printing these larger type prints? Seems like I read of someone using a large sign platen or something, but I wasn't sure how you would hold the shirt in place? 

Just thought I would check before I make a pattern and start making the sawdust fly.


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## ftembroidery (Nov 25, 2006)

At Home Depot you can buy Melamine in various sizes (ie. 2'x4'x¾") with the smooth, hard white surface. It makes great platens for very little $$$. I would make the platen no bigger than your screen (what would be gained by making it any bigger?). As far as a platen with sleeves (ie. Action Engineering), if you were doing long sleeves, you'd need to place them next to the body of the shirt (picture the wearer with his arms hanging down by his sides), so you'd need a screen that was wider than the body and both sleeves. I'm not sure a 23" wide screen is wide enough (after you take away the width of the frame and the taped/unprintable area along the edges of the screen. Depending upon the artwork, could you make it so that the sleeves could be printed independently of the body and yet, still flow together?


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## tryplecrown (Jan 24, 2007)

I think the melamine is what I saw there at HD actually. That's a good idea. I was trying to find the Action site yesterday but couldn't find it. I just did and picked a few that gave me some ideas like the double half wing and the regular wing. They seem reasonable to cut from melamine and install a mounting bracket for the press. Then again, they had one that they called the AOP (All Over Pallet) which is a bit square. They recommend spraying the inside of the shirt with adhesive to keep it from shifting and then laying it on the big square pallet for printing. Has anyone tried this? Seems like you would have to make some sort of guidelines on the platen to help you position the shirt. 

Thanks for the ideas and input!


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## ffokazak (Feb 23, 2006)

I made a hinged platten out of melamine that went across the whole front of a tee shirt. 
It was a pain in the butt to print on, and didn't last very long. Problem with melamine is it warps. {If you flash it} damn near every job I do is on black or dark shirts, and requires flashing. 

If I could do it over, I would make it the first time with aluminum. Spend the extra money and do it right. Alum will never wear out. 

OK dig this. I bought a M+r chameleon a while ago. Love it, but it only had 16X22" Platens. 
-I bought a sheet of 1/8" Aluminum for 300$
-Aluminum is easy to cut. Its easy to work with actually. I planned out the best sizes for platens I could use, and cut them out with a table saw. {DONT use your wood blade hahaha!}
-I bought some "Natural Gum Rubber" in sheet form From a local belting place. Cost me like 40$ for enough rubber to coat ALL of my pallets twice. like .43c a sq ft. {See how much Action charges! Ridiculous. Same stuff too} Oh and a tub of rubber cement/contact cement. like 10$
-Ok this part was tricky. M+R uses a weird forged aluminum channel with tabs to fix the pallets to the press. Action wanted like 30-40$ a foot for this stuff. I paid a local metal shop like 100$ for over 40 feet that they bent for me out of steel. fit in PERFECT. {its a little heavier, but who cares. }
-So in total, heres what I got for... let me add it up....450$ ish? MAybe a bit more. I used sillicone and epoxy to fix the pallets to the channel. Under 500$. 

-3 20x24" Pallets Big enough for 90% of the oversize I print. 
-3 Sleeve pallets
-3 youth pallets
-1 freaking HUGE 24"X30" pallet. Haven't even had to use it many times yet
-2 cool custom side of shirt/sleeve pallets {Opposite, so I can print left or right, front or back}

Thats it. Don't know what Action would charge, but I have mint aluminum pallets, that fit my press, and will never warp. Oh and if I burnt he rubber I got extra. 

yeah it took some time. And some curse words, But I got waht I wanted, with my budget. 

If you need tips let me know, i'd be glad to share my knowledge.

Cheers!


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## tryplecrown (Jan 24, 2007)

That's pretty awesome. It would be interesting to see pics of your platen arsenal. Sounds like your rubber coated aluminum is the way to go to prevent warping. All 4 of my standard platens are starting to warp, but budget dictates that for now, we just have to make due. That short budget is what's making me look at robbing hardware from one of my other platens to build this oversized or winged platen. My test screen should arrive in our supply shipment today so I'll have to check it out and see what we can do with it.


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## delakissdesigns (Nov 21, 2007)

I built my own custom platens by going to a local sign shop and buying a 4'x8' piece of MDO board. Im not sure what else it could be called; but its regular wood board with a 2 sided white laminated surface. It works perfect. The only thing is that I had to adjust the screens but I easily applied the bracket I had from an extra platen and it worked fine. I dont change my platens offten, so once I adjusted my press, it worked perfect.

See if you have a local sign shop. Then you can just cut it and sand the edges down...


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## deuce (Apr 16, 2008)

I just took on an oversized run ( and boy this whole thing is fun! ) 

I ended up building 2 sets of platens .. One for the xs , s, m and one for L , XL ( maybe xxl .. but havent tried one) 

I used the melamine boards ( found at Home Depot or Lowes.) Its about 30+ for a huge sheet that will divide up for many pallets. 

I drew a template from another platen. for the top and cut it out with a jig saw.

Sanded and rounded the corners and edges off and attached the hardware from other platens not in use... 

Worked like a charm. Now that I'm printing on the seem I'm going to route a channel into the board fro the collar, which is going to be loads more of fun getting it right.. but i'm confident. 

I'll hopefully remember to snap a few shots and post them up.


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## darwinchristian (Aug 24, 2007)

ffokazak said:


> If you need tips let me know, i'd be glad to share my knowledge.


any photos?


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## deuce (Apr 16, 2008)

ffokazak said:


> I made a hinged platten out of melamine that went across the whole front of a tee shirt.
> It was a pain in the butt to print on, and didn't last very long. Problem with melamine is it warps. {If you flash it} damn near every job I do is on black or dark shirts, and requires flashing.
> 
> If I could do it over, I would make it the first time with aluminum. Spend the extra money and do it right. Alum will never wear out.
> ...


dude.. Thats great. 

ROCK ON!


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## Grimwood (Sep 25, 2009)

I was also wondering something about platens. I know this is a T-Shirt forum and this is my second post here so i won't take up a lot of time explaining what it is for and stuff. But when you go to make the platen is it possible to have the platen made in a custom shape for something other than a t-shirt? Like i said i know this is a T-shirts forum and that is what i am planning on doing is pressing some shirts out but i have always wondered how hard it would be to make a custom platen for things that have different bends and such in them anyone know anything about that?


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## BillyV (May 8, 2009)

Absolutely!
I have made platens for Sleeves,Tote bags and Fanny packs.
If you can get into the item, you can make a platen to hold.


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## Grimwood (Sep 25, 2009)

AdVanceNetworks said:


> Absolutely!
> I have made platens for Sleeves,Tote bags and Fanny packs.
> If you can get into the item, you can make a platen to hold.


 
If i was wanting to make a platen for lets say some wood with a couple of different angles to it (minor bends) how would i go about doing it?


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## The Youngin (Nov 26, 2007)

Wish I could have thrown in my two cents earlier.... But ya what I recomend is look at what u want to print.... then find the laziest person you know and ask him how he would do it At my facility we actually do this and it works really well... In simpler terms, take someone you wouldn't expect and get their view on it. We have all printed so many things we get jaded. 

As far as construction goes I would start with MDF and a Sharpie. 
We have large format Digital printers and a Newly acquired Plasma Cam, but our guys Still pretty much use the old method:
1: Have your "Designer" draw up the concept 
2: Digitize it in Illustrator, Or just draw it directly on a sheet of MDF
3: Print A Full Size Poster of the Plattten
4: Attach the Poster to a Sheet Of MDF using Spray Adhesive
5: Take a router table and your narrowest flute bit and Cut out the profile of the board
6: Use This new profile as a JIG~ cannot emphasize this enough
7: Use a belt sander to even out Router Marks~ once again, take your time, get it perfect
8: Attach this to another sheet of MDF or Aluminum That is Slightly Larger
9: Using a Trim bit, run this through your Router
10: If your using MDF Repeat for every needed board- If using alluminum use the first alluminum as a new jig
11: Repeat For every Board

NEVER THROW AWAY YOUR JIGS 

If you have any other questions feel to ask. I'm not that good at explaining things so I no this may be vague. We have made board to print on some insane things so I have some concepts if you know what you wanna do.
-Jason 
Matteo Studios


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## mtxmike (Mar 21, 2010)

I'm also planning out building the platens, which is something I do, I refused to pay the cost to have them build so decided to do it myself, I found a Metal Market that sold 6061 Heat treated Aluminum, had them do a rough cut, (because they charge for every cut) and rounded the corners with my jigsaw and file and cut out a templete for the tooling underneath the platen ordered it from AWT in Florida, and bought my rubber from my local screen supplier, the bonding agent for the rubber to metal, I got at home depot, it was a lot cheaper, and my platens are 13yrs old and never given me a problem.
Going to do the same for the AOP platens.
But I wonder if you guys know if it better to use waterbase inks than plastisol inks, because I wonder will it minimize the shirt pulling up after the stroke?


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## bradenjust (Aug 4, 2009)

does anyone have pictures of them building this oversize stuff? cause im very interested in it. Im just getting into screen printing and i have a 8 color press. So if i ever wanted to print on the side of a shirt i need a different platen? or can i just use the normal rectangle one


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## Streamline73 (May 25, 2010)

I have a one color design that my customer is wanting me to print a larger all over fron design it doesnt have to go up into the sleeves but he does seem to want the majority of the front covered. I have been looking into buliding a all over pallet out of a piece of Nu-Alum I have that we use for out door signs its two pieces of aluminum with a plywood core. I think this would work with maybe a piece of felt over it to give a little cusion for the shirt. This is simular to the MDO board that Delakissdesigns talked about using a few comments up.

Do yall think this would work?

Also I was wondering how are you printing your films as large as these prints? My wide formate printer I can only get 13x19 out of im assuming yall must have a larger printer of your spicing your designs?


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## The Youngin (Nov 26, 2007)

We do all of our All-Over and jumbo prints on a 44in epson. 
Jason


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