Problems or Mistakes Refine Our Processes — An Update on my Screen Making & Sales

byKLThayer

597 followers

6 months ago

Hello my WA friends and community!

I wanted to take some time to provide you with a long-overdue update to what's been happening with my screen production and sales since I began this venture around February of this year.

My initial idea to do this was the result of a mistake... SEVERAL mistakes, actually!

That's right! This whole venture, which has earned me several thousand dollars of income this year, was actually the result of a series of mistakes, or "trials and errors" that I'd been experiencing over the years.

In order for me to explain what I mean by that, a little background information is necessary.

The machine that I am producing and selling these aftermarket screens for is called a Yudu Personal Screen Printing Machine. You can see one pictured here:

Manufacturing of this machine was discontinued in about 2013, and the primary reason for it's ultimate "failure" is, I believe, due to the poor-quality accessories the manufacturer, (ProvoCraft) originally provided to be used with the Yudu.

Accessories such as screen printing inks, squeegees, emulsion, and most importantly, the mesh screens that are necessary to create your pattern stencils and print the ink onto your canvas, whatever canvas you may be printing on.

Now, you'll notice that I used the word "Failure" in describing this company's decision to discontinue the Yudu machine. I try to avoid the use of that word whenever possible because I believe that the only true FAILURE comes when a person, (or company, whatever) FAILS to continue to try and improve; to keep going no matter what setbacks you encounter.

Failure, in my opinion, only happens when someone gives up and stops trying.

The Yudu machine is actually an awesome product, but only when used with the proper, QUALITY accessories. Had ProvoCraft come to that realization from the "mistakes" of their poor-quality accessories, then they might still be producing and selling this awesome machine today!

I bought my first Yudu in 2011, after having seen advertisements for the product and wanting a way in which I could produce my own t-shirt designs and start selling them. I thought the Yudu machine would be the ideal product for what I wanted to do, and I was correct!

However, I soon realized after purchasing the machine and utilizing the company's crappy accessory products, that it might not be the great machine I'd originally thought that it was.

As I began teaching myself the many facets involved in screen printing, and experiencing the hundreds of mistakes I ultimately made in doing so, I happened to stumble onto a screen printing supply company that was offering a "package" they called "Hacking the Yudu".

This company explained how the Yudu was a great machine, but that the accessories sold by the manufacturer were junk! They had put together a package with an instructional video, and most importantly, they included a sources where quality aftermarket Yudu screens and other quality accessories could be obtained.

The picture below is one of the crappy original Yudu screens that the manufacturer provided. These screens were actually two pieces of thin metal that were taped together using some kind of aluminum foil tape. The mesh was not set to the proper tension, and after only a few uses of these screens, the aluminum tape would start to wear off, and the entire screen would be rendered useless.

The next picture is one of the original aftermarket Yudu quality screens I had found and began using, quite successfully, for many years after finding the company that was selling them. These aftermarket screens were being sold by a screen printing supply company called Ryonet.

Unfortunately, the mesh on any screen printing screen eventually wears out after numerous uses and needs to be replaced. This created a problem in that I was purchasing new Ryonet aftermarket screens, (which was getting quite expensive) when the ones I purchased wore out, and I was collecting a mass of worn-out screens that were no longer of any use to me unless I could learn to replace the mesh on them.

Thus, I began educating at myself on how to do my own screen mesh replacement, and what equipment and supplies I would need in order to accomplish such.

I had already learned that the mesh fabric gets stretched over the frame using a special machine designed to accomplish this. I found the stretching machines available for purchase, but I didn't have the few hundred dollars available at that time which was required to purchase one, so I began to search for other solutions to this particular problem.

I found plenty of YouTubers showing me ways that I could build my own screen stretching machine, and that seemed like the answer I needed, so I began to design, and eventually build my own version of a mesh stretching machine.

It was a process which I found EXTREMELY intimidating, not to mention I was busy with life and trying to live paycheck to paycheck, it was a difficult time in my life financially and otherwise. This being the case, I procrastinated the project for a few years before I finally buckled down, faced my fears and just built it.

Below is a picture of the screen stretching machine I built and began using to replace the mesh on the many aftermarket frames I had lying around needing mesh replacement. On the stretching machine is one of the Ryonet steel aftermarket screens shown prior to replacing the mesh on it.

This machine DID work, but not adequately. It worked well enough for my purposes, however; and I used it for several years before I went "Professional" and began making them to sell earlier this year.

The Mistake That Triggered my Epiphany to Begin Creating and Marketing my Own Product

In 2022, I found, and joined the Wealthy Affiliate platform. I had never intended for my humorous t-shirt and screen printing business to be a "final destination" in my business pursuits. I had other ideas, and I'd also learned about the different ways of making money online. More importantly, I fully believed that if others could be successful at something like affiliate marketing, then certainly I could succeed at it as well.

I'd been searching for, and joining various "programs" or platforms over the years, but never really finding what I was looking for until I found WA.

As I began to progress through the WA training, and chose what I thought would be my ideal "niche", [screen printing from home], I dove in and started creating relevant and useful articles for my website.

I had learned over the years that there were many small screen printers, such as myself, who were devoted users of the Yudu machine, and naturally I just assumed that the aftermarket Yudu screens being made and sold by Ryonet would always be available.

Going on that assumption, I wrote a very in-depth review article on the Yudu machine, listing all of the pros and cons as unbiasedly as possible, while still portraying that the machine was a good investment, (as there are still plenty of them available on eBay and other "classified" sites).

Of course, I wrote the article and published it prior to having all of my affiliate links actually set up. I intended to do that later, which I did.

However, when it came time to set up my link for the aftermarket screens from Ryonet, I was very disappointed to discover that not only were they not offering an affiliate program any longer, (they had offered one years before when I had checked) but what was even worse was that they were no longer making or selling their Yudu aftermarket screens!

Momentarily I was stunned and wasn't sure what I would do next. This initially seemed a major setback in my particular niche, because up to that point, I'd never actually used a "real" screen printing press, so my decade of screen printing experience was all Yudu-related.

The mistake, therefore; was not checking before I wrote my review article to see if the Ryonet aftermarket screens were still available, because without quality screens, the Yudu machine truly WOULD be useless junk just like the accessories that originally came supplied with it!

I desperately searched the internet for any other companies that might be supplying a Yudu aftermarket screen, and I even contacted Ryonet to inquire about why they were no longer selling their Yudu screens. They informed me that their manufacturer had stopped supplying them.

I did find another company that had previously offered their own version of a Yudu aftermarket screen, but their version was no longer available, either.

Having no other options, and not wanting to delete my Yudu review from my website, (not to mention render my four Yudu machines utterly useless) I began to toy with the idea of creating my own version of these aftermarket screens.

Conducting another internet search, I found enough evidence to convince me that there was still a loyal following of Yudu users who either had been, or would eventually be looking for Yudu aftermarket screens.

I took one of the Ryonet frames I'd purchased, and found a local metal fabrication shop and took it to them to see what it would cost to for them to reproduce the frames for me.

Ryonet's screens had been manufactured using a heavy steel frame, which I believe was to make it stronger, where the Yudu screens are quite thin in design so that they'll fit as they're intended to on the Yudu machine. However, the quote from my metal fabricators for steel frames was WAY too costly and would not have been profitable.

I then explained to my metal fabricators what my product was and its intended purpose, and together we determined that an aluminum frame, (which is what most screen printing frames are made of, even though they're much thicker) would still be strong enough. Cutting the frames from aluminum stock would also be an advantage in the sense that it would make them much lighter in weight and easier to use, as well as being much more cost-effective.

Thus, I took a HUGE leap of faith, used my own capital, (actually my credit cards) to invest in not only my first 30 frames, but also the mesh, glue, stretching machine, tension meter, and other supplies I would need to get started with this new venture.

My initial investment to get started was probably around $1500.00, and it would have been a huge waste if my instincts about an existing market for these screens had been incorrect. Luckily, they WERE correct!

New Problems and Mistakes to Overcome

When I started this, I was not a complete novice. I'd been running my screen printing business for over 10 years and had a plethora of experience having worked many jobs in differing occupational fields.

I felt quite confident that I had sufficiently done all my homework prior to starting this venture, or at least I thought I had done so.

I'd purchased all the supplies I knew I would need, including finding a source for a professional-grade cyanoacrylate adhesive to adhere the mesh to the frames, and watched training videos, (what were available, anyway) on how to use the mesh stretching machine and tension meter.

Due to the fact that my stretching machine was designed to stretch mesh over traditional screen printing frames, (which are about an inch thick, as opposed to the 1/4 inch thickness of the Yudu frames) I had to design and build a special platform for my frames to sit on when stretching the mesh over them in order to get it to work. All of this I had to teach myself the processes that couldn't be found at my "YouTube University", therefore I learned much of it on my own through much trial and error, long before I ever made my first successful screen to sell.

I was so proud after completing my first screen that I took it to my day job to show to my boss, only to embarrass myself when I discovered that the mesh I'd attached was beginning to peel off of the frame in some spots, and obviously was not going to adhere as well as I'd intended.

Luckily, I was pretty sure I knew how to solve this problem as soon as I encountered it.

You see, when I'd "practiced" remeshing my own Yudu frames I'd purchased from Ryonet and used my DIY screen stretcher to re-mesh them, I'd not had a problem with my mesh peeling up in places on those frames because of the course surface of the steel frames was enough to adequately adhere the mesh to them.

The reason it was peeling away from my new frames was because the smooth, aluminum surface was not porous enough for the glue and mesh to properly adhere to it. Therefore, I easily concluded that I needed to create a more porous surface for the glue and mesh to adhere to.

I began using a sanding tool with a course sandpaper to roughen up the surface of my screens before gluing the mesh to them. Once I'd done that, I didn't have any more problems with the mesh peeling off, however; that certainly wasn't the end of my problems or mistakes, by any means!

The next major problem, which I previously blogged about here on WA, was that when one of my first few customers purchased 10 of my screens in a single order, he later messaged me to inform me that the mounting holes on my screens were just slightly too big, which caused a slight shifting of the screen to occur when using it with the Yudu machine.

For most users, like myself, this slight shifting issue is not a problem because most Yudu users don't require perfect alignment of their screens on the Yudu mounting pegs. In fact, I was under the impression that this slight shifting was just a Yudu issue, and that perfect alignment was neither possible, nor necessary.

This customer was initially very disappointed, and he let me know it. I felt absolutely horrible, not only because I never want to be the guy, (or company) providing ANY inferior or poor-quality products to my customers.

Besides, if he demanded a refund, which for a few days I was certain that he would, I wasn't sure how I'd come up with that money. I had just taken a loan to cover the costs of my second order of frames!

What made this problem even worse is that the 60 frames I'd just ordered all still had this problem.

Nevertheless, I'd only had one customer complain about this issue, and luckily he'd found some washers that fit perfectly in the mounting holes of my frames and solved his slight alignment problem. Thus, he was ultimately satisfied with his purchase of my screens, which was a very lucky break for me, indeed!

This second order of frames for twice as many was the result of a problem I'd had with my metal fabricators when they had a systems crash, and my order not only got delayed, but inadvertently doubled! I had to take out a loan to cover the additional cost which I hadn't planned on, nor budgeted for.

Shortly after this issue was resolved, however; another customer messaged me to inform me that her husband had cut his finger on a sharp edge of a screen they'd purchased from me.

I'm pretty sure I blogged about this previously as well.

I profusely apologized and offered to refund the purchase price. She stated her husband had sanded down the sharp edge, and since I didn't hear back from her again, I'm assuming that despite her husband's cut finger, they still wanted and used the screen they'd purchased from me.

This problem caused me to re-evaluate not only the finish work I do once the screen is in the final stages of completion, but also much of the prep work I do on the frame as an initial step for getting started on them.

Resolving this problem did raise my overall production time, but ensured that I began to produce a much higher-quality product that wouldn't result in any additional injuries to my customers.

I later refined my gluing process when I learned that my glue suppliers also sold a product called an Accelerator" which not only makes the glue dry MUCH faster, but also provides a stronger bond than using just the glue alone provides.

So, where I lost production time ensuring my screens were better sanded and didn't have sharp edges on them, I gained production time, (and a better bond) by implementing the use of this accelerator I hadn't previously known about. However, it is very expensive stuff, even though only a small amount is required for each screen, which effected my overall profit margin for my product.

I've Become a Professional, but Problems and Mistakes Still Persist

You know that old saying they call "Newton's Law", (I think) which states, "If anything can go wrong, it will?"

Well, I've never really bought into that philosophy, as I typically have quite an optimistic viewpoint of things, and a never give-up attitude and persistence.

However, in becoming a "professional" at making and selling these screens, I'm quite certain I've made every possible mistake there is to make in getting there!

For example, after I glue the mesh to the frame, there is leftover mesh and glue around the edges and over the mounting holes that must be trimmed off with a sharp razor knife.

This is a very difficult process and takes an extremely steady hand, otherwise you can slip and the knife will cut through the new mesh which has just been glued to the frame. Unfortunately, I've made this particular mistake more times than I can remember!

Furthermore, once I've trimmed the excess mesh and glue off and re-sanded the sides to ensure there's no remaining glue or sharp edges, etc., I use a propane torch to burn off the remaining mesh fibers around the edges and mounting holes.

There have been a few times when I'm doing this where I've gotten too careless and ended up melting the mesh inside of the screen frame. This makes it necessary to just cut off the ruined mesh, sand down the frame again and start from scratch.

Another problem I ran into recently was that somehow, (I'm still not even sure how) I was getting tiny little glue spots on my screens after gluing them to the frames.

This wasn't a problem I'd been experiencing previously, at least not that I had noticed. It's possible I may have sold a few screens that had these glue spots and I hadn't noticed. But I would think that if I did, I'd certainly hear about it from any customer who tried to use one of my screens with these tiny glue spots on it.

The mesh on these screens is for pushing the ink through to leave your image, or pattern on the canvas you're printing on. ANY tiny blemish or imperfection can render the screen useless.

Not knowing what exactly was causing this problem made it extremely difficult to figure out a solution for it. The solution, when it finally hit me, had eluded me for quite some time.

I just kept thinking I needed to be more careful during the gluing process. And each time I WAS more careful, but I was still getting the unwanted glue spots. I ruined several screens before figuring out the resolution.

When the solution finally DID hit me, I chastised myself for not thinking of it sooner and implementing the remedy from the very start of making these screens!

Out of desperation came the answer which had alluded me for so long, yet was so profoundly simple, I just couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it previously.

My grand solution was to make a "template" of sorts using standard paper I taped together to form the shape that I needed which I could then tape over the screen, (after stretching it but before gluing it) to protect the print area of the screen from these unwanted glue spots.

The picture below shows my screen on the stretching machine with my paper "template" taped over it to protect the print area from glue spots or other possible blemishes, etc.

Such a simple fix, and yet it took me making numerous mistakes and having to start several screens over from scratch before I finally figured it out!

Did I say earlier that I was a professional?! You're probably thinking, "Yeah... sure you are." (Just kidding, I know you awesome WA people wouldn't judge me like that).

Now that I've shared all of this, you'll all know what's been keeping me so busy lately, and distracting me from my regular interaction and involvement with the WA platform and community!

Thus, we now come to the present time, where I just purchased my third order of frames. This time I intentionally bought 60 of them, as they've been selling well enough to justify doing so.

Additionally, I met with my metal fabricators again prior to ordering this round of frames, and resolved the shifting problem with the mounting holes being slightly too big.

But guess what... yes, there's another problem! This time, the mounting holes are slightly too SMALL!!

It seemingly never ends. Luckily, this problem is fairly easily resolved.

The holes are just barely too small, so I am able to use a hole file to bore them out just a little in my frame preparation process. Once I do this, they do fit nice and snugly although I'll have to do it for each one, which will again increase my production time.

While I seem to now have a "handle" on all the problems I've encountered in truly becoming a professional at doing this, I'm sure I'll encounter additional problems as I continue my journey.

And just so you know, this screen making and selling venture I've started is certainly NOT the "end result" that I am ultimately wanting to achieve. This is merely another vehicle to help get me to where I want to go with WA and my business pursuits.

Summary

I know this post has been a long one, and I hope you've hung in there with me to its completion.

I just wanted to describe to you the myriad mistakes and problems I've encountered since I started this venture, and how each of them has taught me something valuable and improved my overall process, actually turning me into the true professional I've become!

Hopefully, this post will help you to look at your mistakes and problems NOT as failures or as a sign that you should give up.

Rather, I hope I've helped you to see that problems and mistakes are not only inevitable, but NECESSARY in making improvements or changes!

In other words, problems and mistakes are our GUIDES and HELPERS along the way to refining and perfecting our processes!

Thank you for reading this 100% human-generated content, I hope that it has benefitted you in some way.

Kevin