Any experience with silkscreen?

[jsandidge]

I'm about to put a new face on my gauge faces. My plan is to re-paint the base color and then silkscreen all the print. So far, I have re-created all the print areas with CorelDraw. It's close to factory, but not exact. I've bought a pre-coated screen to burn the image on.

I have no experience with this, but I'm giving it a go. I have several questions.

What type of paint should I use for the matte brown base color?

Any recommendations on a light to use for exposing the screen, and how long to expose it?

If this works out well, I'll offer this service to other members if there's any interest.

[dantodd]

If you have the design you might consider just having them vinyl cut instead. That would also allow you to sell them to others if you want without having to do a bunch of screening and painting.

[jsandidge]

I could do that, but I'm concerned about the print on the vinyl fading. Is that not a problem with vinyl?

[fastbysuzuki]

I think most decent quality vinyl has a life of 10 years or more now.

[Guest]

I have seen bikes with the vinyl on there for years, no problem.