Screen Printing Squeegee

Screen printing squeegee is one the most necessary tools in screen printing. You may invest much of your money on screen printing equipments, mesh, ink, pre-press preparation and other tools but make sure to purchase a squeegee. It is the one that controls the deposit of the ink on the screen that can affect the sharpness and the color of the printed image, which eventually controls the quality of the product. The squeegee has a major role in creating a good-quality product because it does a lot of work such as forcing the ink into the screen, keeping the screen in contact with the material and removing the unnecessary ink from the screen.

It is necessary to understand the available options you have in choosing the right screen printer squeegee in order to achieve the best result. There are two main kinds of polyurethane squeegee- the single durometer and the triple durometer. The single durometer has a single polyurethane material that balances the resistance of the squeegee to the inks as it maintains high resistance to scratch.

On the other hand, triple durometer is used to prevent the use of strip of metal in between the squeegee and the back of the squeegee holder. The functions of the squeegee depend on the height, angle, length, profile, pressure, edge condition, pressure and the durometer of the squeegee.

Remember that the durometer and the angle of the bevel can affect the ink deposit on the screen. For instance, if you print with aggressive and U.V. solvent based inks, you need to change the squeegee more frequently. Make sure to indicate the bevel angle when purchasing your screen printing squeegee.