How to make a Squeegee for screen printing?

The durometer is a measure of the hardness of materials such as polymers, elastomers, and rubber. Thus, higher numbers on the scale indicate greater indentation resistance, harder material has less resistance. It is important to note that the hardness or durometer of a squeegee can change over time when exposed to heat, chemicals and ink, so it is important to keep them clean after use and not let them sit with ink on them. 

Step by Step on DIY squeegee for screen printing  

The best RUBBER for Squeege

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The best SQUEEGEE

Best Heat Gun

HEAT PRESS for beginners

Step two: 

Squeegees have either three-layer blades with a softer outer edge and a stiffer center. This minimizes bending, allowing the blade to maintain the correct angle and curvature for optimal printing.  

Step three:

The most appropriate tool for cutting rubber for squeegees are scissors, they do a great job cutting rubber for squeegees. 

Cutting Squeegee Rubber

The next step is cutting. The most appropriate tool for cutting is a pair of scissors. 

It does a great job of cutting the rubber of the squeegee.   

Step four:

Installing the Rubber

It can be a little tricky, especially with all the metric and imperial stuff. Because some types of rubber are a little bit thicker than others. We used to use a hammer and hands, but switching to bench vise has made a difference. They make everything very smooth, very fast, and the fresh knife in the vise holds the tool perfectly while you grind the corners.  

Here is a typical aluminum screen printing squeegee with the most common Wilbur 70 durometer blade. This is fine for thin inks, but for very thick plastisol inks, they are not stiff enough to push or pull the ink.

Higher 80 or 90 durometer hardness scrapers will push or pull to take the ink without bending, but they are too stiff to make good contact with the mesh screen and leave a proper ink deposit.  They have both hardness for ink control and softness for good ink deposit.  

But what if you don’t have those three-inch squeezers, or if you prefer soft squeezers, except in some cases. That’s when our squishy modification comes in handy. It’s quick and easy. All you need is a thin but hard steel plate.   

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