Plastisol Red on Black Tees (Automatic printing)

[Dochertyscott]

Hey Guys,

I've got a decent print run to do of x750 prints 1 colour front, 1 colour back, same size print (330 x 380 mm) on Black tees.
Bright Red Union Maxo ink. I'm gonna run it on my new Auto.
It's a job i do every year for a tee party and is usually white ink (requested by client for single hit for a slight discount) on colours.. standard 59S (metric...160S for you guys?)
What mesh count would most people use for Underbase and Red to get better yeild from inks and still a nice solid red. Would you base down both Underbase and Red?
heres a link to where you can see the print (the latest one).
http://queenstownscreenprinting.co.nz/quest
password = skate

I appreciate the advice

Scott

[ericheartsu]

i'd do 166 or 195 for the underbase, and a 230 or 280 for the highlight, but if it's 100% cotton we'd print discharge through a 160!

[Binkspot]

What he ^ said and do the discharge. Under base would be a 70/30 mix of quick white and under base gray.

[Dochertyscott]

Yep. I would love to Discharge but have almost no experience with it. I'll do some tests with discharge printing before i go running it for clients.

[screenprintguy]

Union Maxo scarlet red is our fave red to print. You can either print flash print it, which we will do from time to time 125 first screen, 160 second screen. Or white ub with a 160, flash print the maxo with a 2% curable reducer by Union with a 180 or 196 and have a bright popping red, soft finish with the reducer and the then underbase of white.

[Dochertyscott]

cool, cheers. Is the UB Grey to mix with white a stock ink that you can buy? What is the purpose of adding the UB grey to white for your UB?

[screenprintguy]

We only use ub grey on really difficult bleeders, like camouflage, blended vests ect. It's pretty thick stuff, at least the Wilfex is. Not sure which white you use, but if you are worried about bleeding, any of the low bleeds, like quick white, street fighter, international coatings ect, "should" be fine. When ever we are a bit worried about bleeding, we will use Super Poly by Rutland, but if these are 50/50 black tshirts, you shouldn't have any bleeding issues with a low bleed white under base and then the finish of red. We've never tried mixing the ub grey with anything, but that might be something to try in the future to loosen it up a bit.

[Dochertyscott]

I'll get a much stronger red by having a White underbase as apposed to x2 Red aye.
And what about trap? would you guys give a 1pt trap? or shoot the same film twice? or even shoot the same film with a bit of transparency between for the base?
Basic questions... I have my way i'd usually do things but interested to hear others especially when it comes to Auto printing.
Cheers

[Dochertyscott]

Its a 100% Cotton Tee so no leaching issues

[Dochertyscott]

I'll be using the Rutland SF-2 Cotton white

[Binkspot]

The Wilflex ub is too thick, expensive and dark to stand alone. We use the 70/30 mix on just about everything, use it as the standard under base. It's light enough to make colors pop, leaves a nice smooth ub to lay colors on top of and flashes quick

[screenprintguy]

I'll get a much stronger red by having a White underbase as apposed to x2 Red aye.
And what about trap? would you guys give a 1pt trap? or shoot the same film twice? or even shoot the same film with a bit of transparency between for the base?
Basic questions... I have my way i'd usually do things but interested to hear others especially when it comes to Auto printing.
Cheers

The white will give a brighter finish in my opinion. What Binkspot is saying would be cool too, but if you aren't worrying about bleeding, no need to even go that route for 100% cotton. Maybe reduce your white base a small percentage to make it lay down better. I woudn't trap my top layer, rather "choke" the underbase by say .50, inside stroke if you are using Illustrator. If photoshop, a 1 or 2 pixel inner stroke to choke the underbase. Not sure if the terminology is what you are used to, or if I'm even saying it correctly, lol, I know what to do on the computer, but some times spitting it out in English properly doesn't always work for me  . The horrible part about trapping is that it always changes the finish of your image, whether it be a graphic or text by adding that little line of fatness. But choking the under base, allows your top coat to remain normal and have that fine edge to over print your under base. I have it dialed in nice for our seps out of our CTS, never seeing the under base creeping out, but never having that feathered edge some have from overdoing a choke or trap. Everyone is a little different in their seps, but I would definitely choke the under base white.

[Dochertyscott]

Yeah in the past i'd put a 1-2 pt (depending on which press its being run on... Odyssey or Sidewinder) 'white' outline on the base in Illy... would .5pt be sufficient.

[screenprintguy]

Yeah in the past i'd put a 1-2 pt (depending on which press its being run on... Odyssey or Sidewinder) 'white' outline on the base in Illy... would .5pt be sufficient.

you will find that .5 is perfect, buuuuuuut, make sure you set your stroke, to the "inside" stroke setting. Zoom in duplicate a top layer in a separate color so that you can turn the top on and off, you will see it's nice and perfect. Sometimes the "inside" stroke setting won't work on all parts of a design, so you can go into the pathfinder, first "select" same fill color, flatten transparency, then go into the pathfinder and merge. While everything is still selected go to your stroke settings and select "align stroke to inside", set to .5 and then perfect. Small text, like on a left chest, I'll actually change those down to like .15, or .25 , Inside stroke to make sure they have a little base print, doing a full .5 sometimes chokes them way too much. Hope this helps.

[Dochertyscott]

Ahh! Setting the stroke to inside is great. i did .6 just to be safe and has worked well. Thanks mate