How to screen print a skateboard - step by step tutorial

[@tallboycan]

I questioned the spray paint part but then when you said the spray paint beneath gives it the effect of a multi-color print I realized that’s genius. Nice!

[@Hermit_Hollow]

someone's breathing inside my skull

[@ManakSkates]

Mine too! 🤦‍♂️

[@taterstoolboxskates]

Love watching you make boards Bro, and yes JB is a pillar of the skate community,thank you both🙏🏻💯🔥🤙🏼😎

[@jamiexoxo]

sounds a bit crazy, but use a exacto knife to make a tear all the way down either side (longest side) of the screen. Make sure you do it before you coat or anything, and tape it up VERY WELL. Like 4/5 layers of tape. It loosens the screen up and lets the edges flex toward the concave of the board, and then you dont need to worry about missing edges. I was taught by a skateboard screen printer, and my decks became much better after doing it :)

[@ManakSkates]

Yes, that is a great technique for factory stretched tight tee shirt screens. We make our screens from wood and pull the mesh ourselves so we can control the tension. The mesh wobbles if you shake the screen but our new concave is really steep, so it can be challenging getting contact on the edges of the deck.

[@tallboycan]

Whoa, great tip! I’ve screenprinted shirts and want to print decks but could never figure out how to deal with the concave. Thanks man.

[@gepettowins]

just to clarify, because i want to try this: when you say tape it up, do you mean tape over the tear? like effectively taping it back together? and you just cut one side, all the way down?

[@jamiexoxo]

@@gepettowins both sides, all the way down, tape over the cut :)

[@lockandkey_creative]

Good stuff! Something that might help you get better contact on those outside parts of the graphic, is to use wider screens. The mesh near the edges of frames is always the tightest on the screen. So if you use wider screens, the graphic is farther away from the edges, making it far more flexible on those sides of the graphic. If youre having a hard time getting the squeegee to contact the deck and push ink through those sides, the mesh is prob too tight out there. I just did some CMYK prints on some decks and used 23x31” frames instead of standard manual 20x24” frames. That extra width made a huge difference. The screens were stretched to 10 newtons, as opposed to the 20-22 newtons needed for frames for printing apparel or flat stock substrates. Anyway, thank you for sharing! 😤😤😤

[@ManakSkates]

Totally! I just made wider ones for that reason. They worked great! Tighter mesh for better registration and the width give great flex. Here’s the wider screens I’m action. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJvPYZmMZrStqMU

[@knedlozelowear6243]

Thank you Ryan, the tip about the amount of stretch as opposed to standard screens is very useful!

[@VintageEvolutionSkateboards]

Vintage Evolution Skateboards bought one of your boards and we love it!!!

[@ManakSkates]

Thank you so much for the support! We appreciate you!

[@gutwounds]

A neat trick is to saw the center of the squeegee handle all the way through but leave the rubber in tact, it leaves you with two connected handles that bend to the concave

[@ManakSkates]

Yes, that is a very effective trick and well adopted by skateboard printers for sure. I've tried it, but broke the squeegee mid run and it was really frustrating. That frustration led to us pressing our own on our own concave to replicate the board geometry. Check it out - kzbin.info/www/bejne/npq6fn14art5eZI

[@jameslowe2979]

Love this, I think it's really great what you're doing here.

[@ManakSkates]

Thank you!

[@cs3807]

Great video. Just finishing up some 4 color printed boards with tight registration graphics and there are some great points that I can use for future prints from this video. Thanks for sharing.

[@ManakSkates]

Right on! Thanks for watching!

[@GoodRoads]

Super helpful dude, seriously there is so much good info in this vid. Thanks for putting it out there!

[@ManakSkates]

Thanks Chris!

[@OrkusMalorkus]

Thank you so much for this video. I’m just getting started and I’m planning on diving into a 5 color this weekend after only doing singles a couple times. Glad I watched this video and got some great pointers. Hopefully it goes smooth 🤞

[@ManakSkates]

That's great! Good luck with the 5 color print!!!

[@ramwoodburns2225]

Awesome video might have to give this a try.

[@ManakSkates]

Give it a shot!

[@michaela3865]

You da man! Thanks Manak

[@dirtysep]

Thank you!

[@ManakSkates]

✌

[@deathbreathskateboards]

Super helpful, thanks!

[@138FrOsTy138]

Quality content

[@stuckinbabylon186]

Great tutorials and info! Thanks!

[@BrianLevyDesign]

This is the video I've been searching for. Thank you. I've done a few boards and always struggle with getting a good impression at the edges.

[@ManakSkates]

Happy to help!

[@gepettowins]

what about putting a base coat on the board? I got some BBS blanks, with just whatever random stain color happens to be on each one. For my design, I don't really want to print right on the stain, I'd rather have a solid base color that's the same on every board. Would you just tape off the sides and spray paint the base coat? Or brush it on or something? I imagine full-bleed printing a base layer with just a blank screen isn't an option because you wouldn't be able to reach all the edges due to the concave...

[@ManakSkates]

Yes, what you described will work.

[@erdemkavla4353]

What is the brand of clear coat and is that water based? Thanks for your helping to community

[@ManakSkates]

In this video we used Oil Based Deft Gloss. We now use waterbased Poly. Both work.

[@thisisrealitybro]

so good , can you tell me the name of ink you used pls

[@ManakSkates]

Speedball acrylic. You can find it on amazon 🤙

[@bigstunts]

Informative!

[@ManakSkates]

Thank you!

[@gepettowins]

if you print 2 colors, do you need to let the first color dry? i tried printing wet on wet and the second color kind of mixed with the first rather than sitting on top. but obviously you can't flash dry a skateboard or it will warp, so do you just have to let it air dry before doing the next layer?

[@ManakSkates]

With wood, wet on wet doesn’t work as well. I let fully dry before the next color

[@SnoozeVGC]

you have inspired me to try and make my own graphics but try as I might, I can't get my graphics to reach all the way to the edge of the board. I press as hard as I can and I can't get them to print. I'm using 200 mesh 31x23 screens. are my screens too tight? how tight should they be for screen printing on boards and is there a certain durometer of squeegee I should use? I'm going crazy over here haha.

[@ManakSkates]

That’s awesome! Screens sound too tight, they should have a good amount of flex, almost to the point of the mesh wobbling if you shake the screen unmounted in your hands.

[@rebeccasalinas852]

Thanks for an informative tutorial!! I was wondering what type of varnish or polyurethane do you use with your spray gun to seal your artwork? Thanks ❤

[@ManakSkates]

Thank you. We use Deft Gloss. You can find it at Home Depot or Amazon.

[@faizzkader7307]

Hai. What kind of ink you used? It is. Possible use same material for fabric

[@ManakSkates]

Waterbased ink. All different brands. Anything waterbased that air dries will work.

[@jittuhajong4027]

Can I use plastisol inks for printing?

[@ManakSkates]

You'd have to heat cure it which can compromise the integrity of the wood. Water based acrylic air dry ink is what you should use.

[@gl3179]

Hi Johnny, Glad I found your video, because it gives me hope: I just started screen printing boards myself... getting a LOT of weeps :-( using a 10 inch 75A squeegee on 300 mesh screen. Are you using a 14 in squeegee? Can you please tell me what durometer? Thx

[@ManakSkates]

Yeah, I think it’s a 14 or 16” squeegee. For me the wider squeegee works better, I can bend it more.

[@gl3179]

@@ManakSkates Do you know the durometer of your squeegee?

[@ManakSkates]

@@gl3179 70 duro

[@gl3179]

@@ManakSkates I will try this combination: larger and softer squeegee. It makes a lot of sense. Thanks Johnny! Keep on the good work/art.

[@TheZarolis]

what substance are you using for ''gloss'' step?

[@ManakSkates]

Deft gloss

[@alexdiss2713]

Filmer needs to chill on the breathing. Very helpful video none the less!

[@ManakSkates]

yup. 🤣

[@pandapropsncostumes]

Thanks for sharing, are you using a 2k gloss clear?

[@ManakSkates]

We use Deft gloss from Home Depot. 70% gloss, 30% lacquer thinner.

[@pandapropsncostumes]

Awesome thanks! Love your channel, thanks for sharing!

[@reloxis813]

@@ManakSkates Hello, you would have the exact reference of the varnish because I live in France I have trouble finding the right one Please 🙏🏽

[@ManakSkates]

@@reloxis813 We use Deft gloss from Home Depot. 70% gloss, 30% lacquer thinner.

[@reloxis813]

@@ManakSkates do you have a link if you have time? because I'm looking for that in my country I find nothing 😭 but thank you already for answering me it's very nice :))

[@larryeight351]

hey hi, i still have this problem like an 11 mins in the video! Why ? what mesh do you use? great video thank you

[@ManakSkates]

Loose 200 mesh count and push the squeegee into the deck as hard as you can.

[@larryeight351]

@@ManakSkates thanks !!!!

[@mintypicnic2333]

How long have you been making and screen printing decks?

[@ManakSkates]

Around 2 years

[@andreyshto]

What’s paint you use?

[@ManakSkates]

Speedball acrylic ink

[@andreyshto]

@@ManakSkates thank you

[@valentin.Ramosk8]

⚠️😍😍😍

[@ras0ne]

Are you aware your site is down?

[@ManakSkates]

It is? I just went there and it worked for me. Try this link jonnymanak.bigcartel.com

[@itsme9201]

Jesus the guy taping this is breathing so hard I can’t even hear him

[@ManakSkates]

Brought to you by Darth Vader 🤣