# Registration Marks For Multiple Colours Screen Printing



## shirtmaniac (Feb 20, 2010)

Guys, I have 3 colours design .. how do i make a screen mark for both 3 colours and align it?

I make my block by myself and they are not really same size block. What is the trick to register this 3 block colours without having to buy a very expensive screen print machine?

do help me =\


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## scottyjr (Sep 12, 2009)

What graphics program are you using? - Scotty


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## shirtmaniac (Feb 20, 2010)

photoshop, vector. being seperated using color seperation


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## out da box (May 1, 2007)

Quick seps has a great auto registration plugin for photoshop. You can design your own and save the registration mark selection as a channel and copy it to all of your channels or copy the marks to all of your layers.


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## red514 (Jul 21, 2009)

I use my own custom registration marks i made in illustrator, this way i can place them as i need. I use four corner registration marks, the printers find this helps with tight registration. I also provide a center line mark to show where the center of the design is relative to the garment. All of these marks are given the 'registration' mark color so they print on all films.
I use this even for my bitmap separations and place them in the vector program so i can use my custom registration marks.

what condition is your press in? It's important to make sure your press is fine tuned as much as possible and make sure all platens are level and not warped. A poorly maintained press can cause major issues with registration.


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## shirtmaniac (Feb 20, 2010)

I dont have any press.. All I have is the 3 blocks, and the shirt only.

How can I allign it? I don't have any screw or whatsoever attached to the blocks.

Like what you said, you have press, but i dont. So how can I do it manually and cost effective?


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## scottyjr (Sep 12, 2009)

Is what you are calling a 'block' a screen? So then you have three screens of different dimensions and wish to line up the screens to register them correctly. Is this correct? - Scotty


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## red514 (Jul 21, 2009)

shirtmaniac said:


> I dont have any press.. All I have is the 3 blocks, and the shirt only.
> 
> How can I allign it? I don't have any screw or whatsoever attached to the blocks.
> 
> Like what you said, you have press, but i dont. So how can I do it manually and cost effective?



What's a 'block'? is that the screen you're referring to?


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## shirtmaniac (Feb 20, 2010)

yes.. the screen..


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## shirtmaniac (Feb 20, 2010)

scottyjr said:


> Is what you are calling a 'block' a screen? So then you have three screens of different dimensions and wish to line up the screens to register them correctly. Is this correct? - Scotty


yes scotty, you're right. I don't have any screen press machine or watsoever. I only have the 3 screens and the tshirt. Is there any way I can do on the shirt to register the mark? Or there's another way of using clamp?


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## red514 (Jul 21, 2009)

what's your current setup like?
i used a DIY press for multi color jobs, it was just a table with a bracket in one corner. We would place the screen tightly into the bracket and register each screen that way using cardboard strips to adjust the registration. we also burned the films using a grid system so all films were in the same location on the screen and all the screens used were the same size and frame type. This isn't very accurate, we did allot of trapping in our separations to help make registration easier.

if i had to make another DIY table i'd just use these plans http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t53718.html#post318575 that a forum member posted.


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## shirtmaniac (Feb 20, 2010)

red514 said:


> what's your current setup like?
> i used a DIY press for multi color jobs, it was just a table with a bracket in one corner. We would place the screen tightly into the bracket and register each screen that way using cardboard strips to adjust the registration. we also burned the films using a grid system so all films were in the same location on the screen and all the screens used were the same size and frame type. This isn't very accurate, we did allot of trapping in our separations to help make registration easier.
> 
> if i had to make another DIY table i'd just use these plans http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t53718.html#post318575 that a forum member posted.


bro, do you have the photo to your rig?

I don't really know what bracket and cardboard strips you're talking about. Maybe a picture could tell a thousand words?


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## red514 (Jul 21, 2009)

shirtmaniac said:


> bro, do you have the photo to your rig?
> 
> I don't really know what bracket and cardboard strips you're talking about. Maybe a picture could tell a thousand words?


sorry that was over 10 years ago and i don't have a pic. The bracket was just a flat bent piece of metal a fixed to a table. you would place the screen on the table and push the corner of the screen into the bracket.
this way the screens were always aligned in that corner. This really was a terrible way to do it but it worked. We would have to hold the screen with either one hand or use your stomach (if you have a beer gut you can put it to good use ;]) to keep the screen in place. The cardboard strips were just away to adjust the registration by adding thickness to the frame.

you may want to take a look at the DIY press thread in the Philippines section, they have pics of several table set ups.


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## shirtmaniac (Feb 20, 2010)

red514 said:


> sorry that was over 10 years ago and i don't have a pic. The bracket was just a flat bent piece of metal a fixed to a table. you would place the screen on the table and push the corner of the screen into the bracket.
> this way the screens were always aligned in that corner. This really was a terrible way to do it but it worked. We would have to hold the screen with either one hand or use your stomach (if you have a beer gut you can put it to good use ;]) to keep the screen in place. The cardboard strips were just away to adjust the registration by adding thickness to the frame.
> 
> you may want to take a look at the DIY press thread in the Philippines section, they have pics of several table set ups.


how did you allign the bracket once you have screwed them in? i mean like move to left and right


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## red514 (Jul 21, 2009)

shirtmaniac said:


> how did you allign the bracket once you have screwed them in? i mean like move to left and right


it was just one bracket, we had it on the table at the back left corner of where the screen will be placed. you place the screen on the table and then just slam it firmly into the bracket, as if you were pushing it against the corner of a wall. the problem is that the screen is free to move the other 2 directions, that's why you have to hold it in place. you could make a clamp to lock it i guess. this was just a very basic simple way to work, not ideal at all.


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## scottyjr (Sep 12, 2009)

Pin registration might be a solution. Vertical pins would be mounted to the shirt board (platen). Your screens would have to have fabricated receptors mounted to them to match the pins. The registraion marks on the positives you use would be positioned so that they would line up with one corner and one edge as shown in the image. I am only familiar with Corel Draw and Paint but I do believe that Photoshop also has a Registration Mark color. When this color is used for the registration marks in your design, all separations will be printed with the registration marks; they will be precisely in the same place on every page of the separations. There is no need to create a separate page with nregistration marks for every color. - Scotty










This system will not result in great registration but considering what you have to work with, it might do.


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## bReed (Nov 21, 2009)

out da box said:


> Quick seps has a great auto registration plugin for photoshop. You can design your own and save the registration mark selection as a channel and copy it to all of your channels or copy the marks to all of your layers.


 Mind sharing the link?


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## turboinferno (Dec 15, 2009)

or maybe something like was mentioned earlier " screen printing table " [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjeNBQzhjNU[/media]

check out the diy screen printing table section of this forums Asia sub forum section for more info .


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## red514 (Jul 21, 2009)

The pin registration system is an ok idea but leaves no room for registration adjustments. You need to burn the stencils all in the exact same place on the screens, so they all fall in registration on press. Your separation will most probably need trapping also.


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