XTool Screen Printer

Hey, all. I recently picked up the XTool Screen Printer, and was wondering if anyone else has already started experimenting with the settings to cut the emulsion on their screens?

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as far as i know, nobody has actually tested yet. i have one and i haven’t gone beyond unboxing yet. and i know of one other person who bought it and I don’t believe they’ve done any testing yet either.

but let’s use this thread to start talking about it as we test and figure things out.

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This is intriguing!!

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I had no idea this was a thing. Thanks for pointing it out.

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here’s a video that shows you some of how it works.

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Yeah, I saw that, but they walk you through how to engrave the screens with their laser. I was just wondering if anyone had cut one with a Glowforge yet.

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not yet. it’s on my list to mess with this weekend and see how it goes.

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This is cool. Could be a new project for me

Following

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It’s kind of an updated Print Gocco, eh?

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It’s closer to an updated Yudu than a Gocco :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

(How I wish someone would properly resurrect Gocco, I’m still safeguarding a hoard of that luscious ink)

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dunno how i missed the yudo back in the day.

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It had the build quality and functionality of an easy bake oven, not long lived :joy: A friend still has one in her garage she’d probably be happy to part with of you’d like to give it a whirl.

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no, i’m good. i’m happy (pre-implementation of mine) with what i got. i’ll give xtool credit. when unboxing it, the build quality feels pretty good in general. i’ll get a better sense of that this weekend, but it’s no plastic box. it’s solid and heavy.

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“Properly” would nice.

A few people are certainly trying to recreate it:

I have been playing with Ikonart’s stuff a little. It’s a bit more involved than making Gocco screens but, easier than coating your own photo screens. I got some chipboard to try making a Gocco-style mount for those.

In addition to the Print Gocco model that was available in the USA, I lugged a fancier model back from Japan that has a better registration system. It would be fun to get more use out of that. I do still have exposed screens I made for it and, a handful of unexposed screens. I am not optimistic those are still good at this point, though.

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Well that link sent me down quite a rabbit hole - all the way to hectographs and the origins of mimeographs! Thanks for an entertaining afternoon!

Have you experimented with Risograph master paper and thermal printers? It looks promising, but I haven’t gathered all the supplies yet.

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I have not yet tried that. Too much stuff to play with on the list right now. I will be excited to hear about your experiences!

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Likewise!

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Anxiously awating your update. I resisted the urge to back the Kickstarter and since then, I’ve been wondering if I made a mistake… I’m super curious about how this works with a Glowforge…

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so, first round of small scale testing tonight. minimum effective settings for me were 1000/55/340. that was the highest on the first round (i did 1000/45/270, 1000/50/270, 1000/55/270, 1000/45/340, 1000/50/340, 1000/55/340 ) and 55/340 looked clean. i ran a second round starting at 55/340 running up to 80/340. didn’t really see any visual difference from 55 to 80.

tomorrow or friday (have plans tomorrow night, not sure if i’ll be able to test during the day while i’m working), i’ll run a real design at 1000/60/340 (or maybe 65), just to be a little safe and it doesn’t seem to have any negative effect to go higher. then i’ll run some ink through it and see what happens.

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I got mine just before the new year, and basically settled on 1000/70/270. I ran from 10-65 power at 5 power increments before I got there. I spent some time looking at the xtool guides before I just finally started lower and increased, every time, taking it out and looking at it through the light until there were no artifacts. The tshirt I printed looked really pretty good for a first attempt.

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