[raineydaze]

Michael's Craft Stores now have the YUDU!

I called my local Michael's at lunch today (SW Florida) and they had just finished setting up the display, getting ready for their demo this weekend. None of the items are on sale, buy they are offering a $50 gift card when you purchase the machine. I was stocking up on supplies and went ready to shop. They honored all of my Joann Fabric and AC Moore coupons + my regular Sunday paper Michael's coupon.

[raineydaze]

Yesterday my order of Speedball Ink came in and I tried it. It worked well, cleaned completed out of the screen. Actually, it took less time to clean the ink off the screen that the YUDU ink. I did a side by side comparison of the same design and we couldn't tell which ink was which. Be prepared, the speedball ink is thinner than the YUDU. The first time round, I was caught off guard and had to clean my screen and start over. The scrapping out of the jar and directly onto the screen wasn't working for me (possibly that I was just gun shy over the thinner consistency), so I filled an empty YUDU bottle with the Speedball ink. The best positive is that the Speedball ink didn't dry as quickly as the YUDU as I was working, so there was no little gummy spots appearing. The ink is thin enough that I even stopped priming the screen. I still put on the BIG strip across the top, lower the screen and scrap straight to the shirt. Since it is thin and I'm still a little nervous working with it, I just left the jar open and scraped the extra ink building up on the squeegee directly into the jar.

I asked a true (professional) screen printer today and
1) there is no way to thinken the ink, thin it down-yes, but not thicken it.
2) that white and black tend to be the 'thicker' colors and the others like red, blue, yellow, green, etc. are typically a little thinner. When I ordered the Speedball, I went with the 6 color starter pack, so I guess we will be finding out.

She has some other inks (all waterbased) that I'm considering trying out. She even has the ink that looks kinda clear until the UV rays from the Sun hit it and then it changes color. I'm really thinking about what I can use it on first!

[Lili]

Thanks for keeping this thread up with your experiences. I really want to buy a Yudu sometime this year, and its great to hear how its working for you.

[raineydaze]

Lili, on Mar 27 2009, 03:32 PM, said:

Thanks for keeping this thread up with your experiences. I really want to buy a Yudu sometime this year, and its great to hear how its working for you.

My pleasure! I've really found myself addicted to it. I've never screen printed before and regardless of what it is, love a good challenge and figuring things out * espescially in a cost effective way.

The hair dryer trick for getting a second coat of white ink on dark fabric also worked.

I'll keep posting. Keep an eye on ebay, they have tons of machines, new in box w/ free shipping and no reserve listed with more being listed every day and you might find just the right deal for you budget. I'm keeping a tight eye on things there to stock up on supplies.

[mohop]

Metallic Speedball ink is also pretty thick (because the color particles need to be big enough to carry some sparkle) - so you could add some silver to your colors, which will not only slightly thicken it, but also make it prettier ;) I'm always adding silver to my printing ink...mmm, sparkles!

I think I would hate the Yudu ink - I do plan on getting a machine myself in the near future - but I'm always feeling like speedball is too thick (I add water to it), so that Yudu ink is definately not for me.

[raineydaze]

My first few bottles of YUDU ink I did water down a little unitl I got the hang of the thickness. I just finished another dozen shirts with the Speedball ink. I actually mixed a bottle of YUDU in with the Speedball and it worked well.

I just found that Amazon has YUDU supplies and machines. Also, Joann.com finally has supplies listed for purchase online.

Do you put your Speedball ink into another container to spread it across your screen or do you just spread it across with something directely from the jar?

[Josh]

I am about to buy one of these bad boys and wondering if anyone can help me anser this question.

Can you use different emulsion than the sheets.

Ok so I am wondering if there is any reason you couldn't use a different Emulsion. I'd like to use a different option because then you can lower your costs.

Is there some reason you have to have the plastic sheet on it? or has anyone tried this. Please let me know.

Josh :)

[tbach]

Hi - new to the forum. My wife gave me a Yudu for Father's Day this year, and I finally got a chance to use it. Fantastic!

Hope I will be welcome on this forum even though I am not a woman . . . or currently in business. I was a contract needlecraft finisher for 30 years - recently moved to Oregon to be closer to our grandchildren. With my interest in music, sewing and other creative pursuits, my dad always told me I would make some woman a great wife . . . believe it or not, it wasn't a putdown - he meant it in the most supportive way. I just think he sometimes had a difficult time understanding my choices. So I figure that should "grandfather" (or "grandmother") me in. Being creative is a prime directive for me. Music and creative pursuits still occupy a large part of evey day . . . along with my grandkids and lots of exercise.

Printed my first shirts on yudu this afternoon, and had a blast (once I got past the emulsion thingy . . . got it too wet and it took FOREVER to dry). Creating designs has been fairly easy since I have years of experience with CorelDraw and Photoshop . . . and a large library of clipart.

FYI - speedball ink works fine, and you can add a retarder to slow the drying so you can print more shirts before having to wash out the ink.

I also have a heat transfer machine and plan to use it to cure the printed designs. I know it works, because I have done it before. Took a silkscreening class at a junior college 10-15 years ago and used it then . . . just can't remember heat or pressure setting.

Found my old notes from class, my "real" squeegies and even an emulsion tray. After my experience with (1) finding someone with Yudu emulsion sheets in stock, and (2) trying to get the bugger to work, I think I might be trying the old fashioned emulsion eventually. It's a little messy, but a lot less expensive.

I will check in from time to time to see what you folks are doing with your Yudu. It is sure a great product!

[tbach]

raineydaze, on Mar 27 2009, 07:50 PM, said:

My pleasure! I've really found myself addicted to it. I've never screen printed before and regardless of what it is, love a good challenge and figuring things out * espescially in a cost effective way.

The hair dryer trick for getting a second coat of white ink on dark fabric also worked.

I'll keep posting. Keep an eye on ebay, they have tons of machines, new in box w/ free shipping and no reserve listed with more being listed every day and you might find just the right deal for you budget. I'm keeping a tight eye on things there to stock up on supplies.

Found your posts enlightening - new to Yudu. I printed my first shirts today. I did use Speedball ink and retarder, and they worked great. Also will be using a heat transfer machine that we acquired over the years. It does work - I used it when I took a junior college class in silkscreening 10-15 years ago. Don't remember pressure or heat setting, but I guess I'll be finding out soon.

You are obviously an intense Yudu user - your suggestions are great, and they show that you are creative in many ways.

Looking forward to future posts.

Tbach

[diyTeeShirts]

ericaburnsdesigns, on Mar 20 2009, 12:00 PM, said:

I got a Yudu a month or 2 ago & I really really love it so far! I have also tried it on wood & it works like a dream! This is my new best friend. & it is very fun!

You can coat your screens with liquid emulsion and it's a whole lot cheaper.
diyteeshirt.com/?p=52

[tiethatbinds]

Yay! I bought a yudu for my small wedding business last week. I tried my hand at the first screen- unfortunately I didn't get nearly the amount of detail as I needed. I've read a lot about the 110 screens not getting details, so I was really discouraged. My design includes flourishes and type... I lost hope! However, I bumped the exposure time down to 6 minutes the second time around, and it came out beautifully!

[teristanaford]

youtube has several videos about using less expensive supplies with yudu. such as direct emulsion. try ryannet screenprinting supplies on youtube they also have a website not sure if i spelled ryannet correctly

[raineydaze]

Well, it's been over a year now that I've been working off the YUDU and I'm still Loving It!

Things I've changed in my process since my last post several months ago.

1. Still using the SpeedBall Ink and still loving it! I buy it in Quart size bottles from DickBlick.
2. White ink on dark fabrics: SpeedBall Opaque Ink and a 'true' screenprinters squeegee. Don't be stingy on the ink you squirt on the screen, just scrape what you haven't used up but it back in the bottle.
3. I like the design of the YUDU ink bottles so I use Ketcup (Actually candy making squirt bottles bought from Michaels) and store them in a little rack upside down so that I don't have to shake the bottle to get to the ink.
4. I've learned that with the good squeegee you don't have to push as hard to get great covereage, thus you don't have bleed-thru on the shirts and I was able to eliminate using the cardboard.
5. I print 'ALOT' of shirts, some months over a 100. I'd find that the finer details of the screen will start to fade. So I tried buring two sheets of emulsion (one at a time of course) and using it. The concept worked great, but didn't hold up any differently that using the single sheet of emulsion.
6. Tape. I'm still using the nice blue painters tape after I say a screen printer use it. Harbor Freight has the best price for this, so I buy multiple rolls at a time. Just becareful as the ink may leak under the tape, but using tape on the back side of the screen to make sure you don't end up with extra spots works just fine.

Oh - While at Joann's you can't use the coupon on the machine, you can still use your coupons on the supplies!

Keep creating!

Raineydaze

[Kitty]

Thanks for the update, Raineydaze! I was just re-reading this thread the other day and wondering how they were working out for people in the long term.

[raineydaze]

Kitty, on Mar 30 2010, 03:02 PM, said:

Thanks for the update, Raineydaze! I was just re-reading this thread the other day and wondering how they were working out for people in the long term.

I've been printing away as normal but rereading the tread made me recheck what's out there. Since I purchased my machine at the end of Feb 2009 - they have added two new boards for printing garments.
a) Sleeve / Pants Leg board and a
B) Youth / Baby item board.
I picked up the sleeve board just to see if it would speed printing along but not so far. Typically I just place the sleeve on the regular board (no more cardboard as I've learned not to push so hard on the squeegee). Just be careful of the center seam of the garment. The draw back I see to the sleeve and new youth board is that they are centered. This means your designs must be centered for proper use. When burning a screen I use every possible area with the main image then will flood all those little areas with extra logos for pockets and tags as they have finer details and deteriate fastest. I'm doing the annual reburning of all my screens this weekend so I'll try this new layout for using the sleeve board. (Joann's had the sleeve board but I didn't see the baby board until I looked on YUDU's main website under supplies.)

Regoogling supplies I've noticed ALOT more people on the web targeting to the YUDU machine, including people that are selling generic emulsion sheets, cleaners, etc. I'm gonna research that a little more for restocking my supply and I'll let you'all know if I have any luck.

Happy printing,

Raineydaze

tiethatbinds, on Aug 23 2009, 12:38 PM, said:

Yay! I bought a yudu for my small wedding business last week. I tried my hand at the first screen- unfortunately I didn't get nearly the amount of detail as I needed. I've read a lot about the 110 screens not getting details, so I was really discouraged. My design includes flourishes and type... I lost hope! However, I bumped the exposure time down to 6 minutes the second time around, and it came out beautifully!

Yesterday I was looking at YUDU's main website and under accessories they show a new mesh screen. Their description was for more paper products vs shirts and apparel.

[raineydaze]

Ok - I've searched again and this time made an order. Since I first purchased my machine just over a year ago, there are many more sites & stores advertising YUDU [i]style[i] supplies. I ordered a 10 pack of emulstion paper (red in color) from a site called yudu-supplies.com and with tax and shipping the final price came to $25 and change. Compare this to the $19 for a two pack at Joann's (less the 40% coupon of course) this new company and it's red emulstion comes out to like $2.50 vs Joann's $6 per sheet.

I'll let you know how this new red emulsion works out.

Raineydaze

[mohop]

I'll chime in too: I've also been using a Yudu for the past year, and it's been working great for me. I tend to use the same screens over and over (to print my logo on the fabric for the footbed of my shoes), and the screens have held up fine, making hundreds of prints over several occassions during the last year. It's super convenient to print whenever I need to, then just wash the ink out of the screen - screenprinting is WAY less of a chore than it used to be for me when I rented equipment and space to do it at a professional studio.

I use speedball inks, and liquid emulsion. I've been meaning to invest in a real squeegee...

[arussell5150]

ericaburnsdesigns, on Mar 20 2009, 03:00 PM, said:

I got a Yudu a month or 2 ago & I really really love it so far! I have also tried it on wood & it works like a dream! This is my new best friend. & it is very fun!

Can you tell me a little more about how it worked on wood? I own a skateboard shop and am thinking about getting one to make shirts. But saw your post and thought I could make my own skateboards. Most companies screen the image on the bottom of the boards anyways.

Thanks,
Alex