All new (to me) roller frames, what meshes to use

[SI]

I will be upgrading to a bigger press in a few months.  Just bought 76 23x31 M3 rollers and 12 25x36 rollers.

The majority of my work is contract spot color jobs.  So I will probably only mesh about 12 of them with higher than 300 count.  The rest will be 230 and below.

So my question is what meshes would you mesh the remaining screens with if you were in my shoes?  I know Im going to go almost all murakami "S" or "LX" mesh on these, my main question I suppose is should I mix it up some, or go all LX?  From what I have read on here LX is suppose to be the better of the two.

[jvanick]

we use S-Mesh/Thin-Thread nearly exclusively here

for our printing:

5% non S  (24, 38, 84 for glitters, etc)
5% 110S -- shimmers, some bases on hoodies, etc
50% 160S -- bases, 1 and 2 color vector work, etc
40% 225S -- top colors, sim process  (we don't do a lot of sim process work at the moment)

[SI]

After reading about how fragile the LX is I will most likely just go with "S" mesh starting out.  Do you use the dyed mesh or white?

[jvanick]

currently, our 160S are white... I'm starting to consider switching over to 150S which comes in yellow due to the yellow handling better detail.

everything above 160S is yellow.

[cbjamel]

How delicate compared to reg panels are s mesh?
Thanks,
Shane

[Shanarchy]

How delicate compared to reg panels are s mesh?
Thanks,
Shane

I find that they are a lot more sensitive to being bumped by another screen and popping. They are manageable. You just need to learn haste makes waste when it comes to screen handling.

[jvanick]

I find that it matters on screen tension as well..

the s-mesh screens at 16-20N are a lot less sensitive than the ones that are at 22-26N.

I personally like nice tight screens at the upper 'recommended' tension, so yes, they are fragile, and bad ink knife technique (we recently banned ink knives) will definitely kill them quicker, as will banging them against other frames, corners on the mesh, etc.

[abchung]

Manual printer with MZX bolt mesh here.

I try to keep my mesh size range as little as possible.

• 160-48 For underbase. Murakami
• 305-34 For top color Murakami or Saati (I don't find any difference in quality). I buy according to price.
• 2 coarse mesh for glitter

I have tried 305-31 from Uni-Rich but they rip like tissue when I do the corner softening.

Before tightening the bolts, I try not to go above 20 or 22 Newtons. After tightening the bolts the tension will go up to 26N.

I have tried higher tension but decided it was not economical for me at high tension.

[Shanarchy]

we use S-Mesh/Thin-Thread nearly exclusively here

for our printing:

5% non S  (24, 38, 84 for glitters, etc)
5% 110S -- shimmers, some bases on hoodies, etc
50% 160S -- bases, 1 and 2 color vector work, etc
40% 225S -- top colors, sim process  (we don't do a lot of sim process work at the moment)

I'm using 150S for white/underbase, 180S for spot colors on light shirts, 225S for top colors and halftones.

Do you think 160S can do double duty for my 150 and 180's?

[jvanick]

we use S-Mesh/Thin-Thread nearly exclusively here

for our printing:

5% non S  (24, 38, 84 for glitters, etc)
5% 110S -- shimmers, some bases on hoodies, etc
50% 160S -- bases, 1 and 2 color vector work, etc
40% 225S -- top colors, sim process  (we don't do a lot of sim process work at the moment)

I'm using 150S for white/underbase, 180S for spot colors on light shirts, 225S for top colors and halftones.

Do you think 160S can do double duty for my 150 and 180's?

we had a few 180S, and really don't ever use them anymore... plan was 45lpi halftones... but the 150S will handle a 45LPi no problem..

[Shanarchy]

we use S-Mesh/Thin-Thread nearly exclusively here

for our printing:

5% non S  (24, 38, 84 for glitters, etc)
5% 110S -- shimmers, some bases on hoodies, etc
50% 160S -- bases, 1 and 2 color vector work, etc
40% 225S -- top colors, sim process  (we don't do a lot of sim process work at the moment)

I'm using 150S for white/underbase, 180S for spot colors on light shirts, 225S for top colors and halftones.

Do you think 160S can do double duty for my 150 and 180's?

we had a few 180S, and really don't ever use them anymore... plan was 45lpi halftones... but the 150S will handle a 45LPi no problem..

Easy enough to test I suppose, but you're saying spot colors like red, navy, black on white tees will print with a 150S and not be too thick?

[jvanick]

no major issues here....

but... we'll underbase with a 160S and then top colors with the 225S...

a pfp with a 160S can be quite thick.

we have been playing with a roller squeegee tho... and even a pfp wtih a 160S feels really nice when 'pressing' the base

[Shanarchy]

I'm going to have to do some experimenting. I'd love to be able to go from 3 mesh counts to 2.

I have a roller squeegee but haven't started playing with it yet. I'm excited to get that into the works.

[jvanick]

I'm going to have to do some experimenting. I'd love to be able to go from 3 mesh counts to 2.

I have a roller squeegee but haven't started playing with it yet. I'm excited to get that into the works.

in my opinion.. SO worth it...  instantly made results better on tougher prints... 'smash' the base... and everything prints so much nicer.

[SI]

Well there were plenty of replies to help me decide what to go with.  Thanks all.  I suppose the only question left is where does everyone get the mesh from?  Tand j is the cheapest I have found so far.