"He who marches out of step hears another drum." ~ Ken Kesey
have you ever thought about hiring a consultant/trainer?
Quote from: Frog on October 29, 2018, 06:01:59 PMhave you ever thought about hiring a consultant/trainer?haha seems like i need one right? i actually have thought about it. i obviously dove into the deep end really early in this industry. any recommendations to where to look into? are you one?
I'm thinking that the problem you are currently having, is not a mesh issue, but an exposure issue. (Not washing out, and when it does, it washed out all of the detail). Sounds like, the emulsion is too thick for the exposure time.My first suggestion is to be sure that you have the right thickness of (EOM) or emulsion over mesh ratio. That is to be between 10-15 micons on higher mesh and anywhere between 10-20 on lower mesh (in a ball park). Most people starting out won't know how to measure that so that's another discussion. To get the basics of (just the right amount) of EOM, refer to this article. http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,2621.0.htmlA step before this article, is to be sure you first wash and then while washing, you roughen up your new mesh a little (abrade) the mesh. Just a little. Not too much. There are brushes for this that people here can suggest. This helps the emulsion bond to the mesh.i have a lot to learn. reading this article now, which are leading to more questions and more articles. thanks Once you have a decent or more accurate emulsion coating, you can then do an exposure test. I suggest using the stouffers 21 step test. http://www.stouffer.net/using21step.htm Look for a good 7 to wash out.Lastly, there is good news for your recent purchase. You can adjust your halftones (at the film output stage) to be larger so that they can be held easier on your lower mesh. You may be hearing to use 55lpi as a standard but you can go lower and get very good results. Try 40lpi and 45lpi.The general rule of thumb is to divide your mesh you want to use, (lets say 200 mesh) and divide by 4.5 = 44.4 so round off to 45lpi.There is more to know, but the above, would be a good start.
Quote from: Fleetee on October 29, 2018, 08:44:20 PMQuote from: Frog on October 29, 2018, 06:01:59 PMhave you ever thought about hiring a consultant/trainer?haha seems like i need one right? i actually have thought about it. i obviously dove into the deep end really early in this industry. any recommendations to where to look into? are you one?Look up printficient in the members here. He's in your general vicinity of the country. And it looks like Tonypep is available as well. Can't go wrong.