screen printing > Newbie

Ghosting/shadow on print

<< < (2/9) > >>

Gilligan:
Douglas... very thorough reply... I'll do my best to keep up with mine. :)

Squeegee angle and pressure:

I Tried different things here... my wife wanted to try some and she just couldn't get enough ink down to save her life... frustrated her and hurt her fingers trying to push harder and harder.  Push stroke still gave her issues but I think that was because she wasn't "on top of it enough"  There was a definite different in the ink left behind on the top of the screen after she pulled/pushed than when I did it (push strokes were almost squeeky clean, hers almost looked like a flood stroke :)  ). 

So basically we tried soft (unintentional) and hard and I varied the angles... but paid as much attention as I could to mimic what I have seen in videos and at my buddy's shop.  I have also watched his Brown Semi auto up close and paid attention to how it runs realizing that it was probably the optimal stroke given it was done by a machine. :)

mesh rolling

I thought about this myself... they are static wood frames... but they are quality ones (see above post).  Only thing that kept me saying that it can't be my screens is that my buddy's shop still uses static wood frames (larger ones, which I would imagine exaggerate screen tension issues).

Plus it seems that push stroke with no flood while screen was down seemed to have produced some sharp results.

Coins

LOL... simple answer is "what press".

Long answer is thousands of words (see pics attached, don't laugh)

Video

That is the first thing I thought about doing... but I couldn't be bothered with grabbing that tripod out from under my curing table and grabbing a flip camera... but seriously, I was just looking to get done with this job.  If I would have videoed it would have just given me a reason to stop for the night and I just wanted to push  through and get the job done.  110 shirts printed... transfers on about 24 so far. :)

BTW, this is a paying gig, BUT it is for a friend's convention so she is understanding of the few hiccups we may have and I have spares if some don't cut the mustard.

Pics

Don't laugh... I don't really have a lot of room to work with right now and this setup will get me by.  The main intention is to use this press in a "youtees" style.  The screens register to the platen with some "set screw" type of setup and you just pull them off to change colors vs rotating.  Obviously this slows down production but as I don't have a conveyor there is a bottle neck to speed right there.  Plus this system is said to have tighter registration then a cheap rinky dink carousel press.   But I'm already longing for a conveyor dryer as this job was a two step cure due to the size of the print and I would have been printing almost twice as fast if I had a conveyor.

This whole process is teaching me a LOT... it's also causing me to really pay attention to each print and I worry that I would get in a rhythm and miss some things... like I got a pin hole (for those that know my stencil method, don't ask :p ) I caught it on the 2nd shirt (granted it was getting progressively worse).

Gilligan:
Oh and yes, those are small bungee cords on furniture clamps helping keep my screen up and out of the way... MUCH better than the first way I was doing it (all manual).

This is mostly prototyping to see how well those attachment points work on the screen and such.  If I put those "micro tuners" on the screens then they may just attach to those when used in a single color job and I won't have a need to add another screw to the screen.

That being said... this setup never really got in the way at all and I am lazy. :)

Pic of someone else's but essentially the same micro tuners.

inkman996:
If you are getting a fuzzy edge when you do both a flood and print stroke that tells me either you are flooding much to hard and actually squeezing ink through the stencil or that you are flooding the screen and slightly contacting the shirt while doing so, if thats the case the flood is acting like a print stroke but in one direction then the actual print stroke is going the opposite direction creating the fuzzy edges. Simply make sure you are lifting the screen high enough off the platen before you flood and only flood enough to fill the mesh in. In fact take the time to flood and look under the screen and see if ink is being pushed past the stencil, if so lighten it up some. Amazingly once you get it figured out once it will be like riding a bike for you.

JBLUE:
What mesh count are you using? I did not see that in the post. All of the above could be the issue. If your having trouble clearing the mesh and having to smash the crap out of it that can also give you a halo because now your smashing the ink out of the image area. Its just one more variable to think about.

ebscreen:
I'd figure out another way of achieving off contact as well.
Coins hitting the mesh is going to do some weird stuff to your
mesh tension/off contact dynamic. Try shims under the screen in the clamps,
and a shim on the screen where it hits the top of the platen. (if it does)

Valiant first effort and better than my original attempts. I just used to hold
the screen in place and hope for the best. Even printed on my bedroom walls that
way.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page