Product Info Tip of the Week 8/15/2012 - Selecting Squeegees

[Blick Art Materials]

Tip of the Week – Selecting Squeegees

Sometimes it is hard to know what squeegee to choose for screen printing.
Here are a few simple guidelines:

How hard should it be? The hardness of squeegee blade material ranges from a soft durometer of 45 up to a bone hard 75 durometer. A harder blade can be good for pushing thicker ink. I find that a 60 to 75 durometer squeegee may be used for a wide range of screen meshes and ink viscosities.

Square edge or round edge? A square edge works the best in most situations. I do not find a rounded blade to be effective with any normal screen printing situation. An extremely coarse mesh or an uneven surface would be the only reasons for using a soft rounded edge squeegee.

How wide should it be? I choose one that is at least one inch smaller than the width of the inside of the short side of my screen. I prefer wooden or metal handles but have worked with plastic handle squeegees from Speedball that worked just fine.

Jim
Product Information Specialist

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