Ghost/Shadow Issue

[Nation03]

So I recently had my new auto installed and started to get rolling with it the last few days. Everything is going well except for this issue of ghosting/shadowing. It usually happens with white, photo below. This is my first auto with choppers so I'm still learning, but they seem to be more harsh on 135-S mesh, photo also below. I've tweaked angles and pressure and saw it somewhat get reduced but still not 100%. Any tips for this? Screen was about 20 newtons, fair amount of off contact, tried printing anywhere between 40-50psi with varying angles. Any help is appreciated!

[mimosatexas]

Couple possible causes. Your flood pressure is too high and moving the screen in a way that it is picking up ink on the flood when double stroking then transferring that ink as a ghost on the second print stroke. OR your combination of angle, pressure, mesh count, etc means you are pushing too much ink through the mesh and this is essentially directional dot gain for lack of a better way to describe it. Too much ink with no where to go means it will squeeze out at the bottom of the image. OR something is not locked down and is shifting. Could be pallets, squeegee, screen clamps, etc. Could be glue related as well, but that wouldn't be as uniforms typically.

[mimosatexas]

Follow-up: what press? What squeegee durometer? What angle? How much off contact? What white ink and has it been modified?

We print ELTs white through 135S mesh all day. 55/90/55 squeegee at zero angle, just under as fast as the squeegee will move at about 25 to 30 psi. Extremely soft flood typically. Double stroke at even lower pressure when we need to eek out a little more opacity or smooth a fuzzy garment and don't want to setup the roller squeegee. Other variables change a bit, but that's the basics for us.

[1964GN]

What they said but my first guess would be a hard flood.

[Nation03]

Follow-up: what press? What squeegee durometer? What angle? How much off contact? What white ink and has it been modified?

We print ELTs white through 135S mesh all day. 55/90/55 squeegee at zero angle, just under as fast as the squeegee will move at about 25 to 30 psi. Extremely soft flood typically. Double stroke at even lower pressure when we need to eek out a little more opacity or smooth a fuzzy garment and don't want to setup the roller squeegee. Other variables change a bit, but that's the basics for us.

Okay cool, thanks for the info. Press is an M&R Diamondback S. I'm using the stock squeegee blades still, I think they're 70-75 durometer. I gotta measure the off contact but I think it's around 1/8". White is Wilflex Perfect white straight out of the bucket, no modifications. My flood is definitely too hard probably. I have the blade pushing on the mesh a bit so I'll back off on the pressure. As for angle, I tried anywhere between 0 to 20ish with varying pressure from 40-50psi.

Pallets were locked in and tacky so I'm guessing the flood will set me straight. My old press had the v-squeegee and for whatever reason cleared ink with a single stroke every time with no issue, but I had no idea what the pressure was since I was just going based on squeegee flex. I'm finding that my base print needs a double stroke usually with the choppers because i don't want to go much higher than 50psi since that seems to be overkill. My memory is a little fuzzy but I think I've only experienced this so far with the 135-S mesh. I did a small 24 piece order on a 150-S screen and the white was very crisp, no ghost/shadow anywhere from what I remember.

Thanks again for the help!

[Nation03]

White print on a 150-S mesh screen today. Lighter flood, 50psi and an angle of about 5-10. 2 strokes, flash then single stroke. Came out great. Thanks again for the help.

[rusty]

Yeah, this drove me nuts when I first started on my auto. Was the hard flood issue.

[Nation03]

Yeah, this drove me nuts when I first started on my auto. Was the hard flood issue.

Haha glad I'm not the only one spinning my wheels trying to figure out the issue.

[mimosatexas]

Get some of the 55/90/55 serilor material. Super awesome results compared to stock 70 duro rubber. We only use it for white.

[Nation03]

Get some of the 55/90/55 serilor material. Super awesome results compared to stock 70 duro rubber. We only use it for white.

Sounds good. Most suppliers carry this duro? I was a big fan of the 70/90/70 on my last press but I'll give that one a shot for whites.

[mimosatexas]

We use the triple duro for most other inks, but still use 70 euro for some basic spot stuff on lower meshes just because we have them.  I buy the 55/90/55 from tech support. They were the only place I found that carries it and that sells it by the inch. Their shipping prices suck though, so try to pair it up with some other stuff you need that they carry. If anyone else knows of a source for the squeegee with better shipping I'm all ears!

[Zelko-4-EVA]

We use the triple duro for most other inks, but still use 70 euro for some basic spot stuff on lower meshes just because we have them.  I buy the 55/90/55 from tech support. They were the only place I found that carries it and that sells it by the inch. Their shipping prices suck though, so try to pair it up with some other stuff you need that they carry. If anyone else knows of a source for the squeegee with better shipping I'm all ears!

https://sourceone.nazdar.com/P/2922/Serilor-LC3-Triple-Durometer-Squeegees

is that the squeegee you were looking for? 

[Frog]

We use the triple duro for most other inks, but still use 70 euro for some basic spot stuff on lower meshes just because we have them.  I buy the 55/90/55 from tech support. They were the only place I found that carries it and that sells it by the inch. Their shipping prices suck though, so try to pair it up with some other stuff you need that they carry. If anyone else knows of a source for the squeegee with better shipping I'm all ears!

https://sourceone.nazdar.com/P/2922/Serilor-LC3-Triple-Durometer-Squeegees



is that the squeegee you were looking for?

That's the stuff, Nazdar has it by the 144"roll  but Mimosa mentioned wanting it by the inch.
Here's another spot for him who'll sell it by the inch. http://www.spsi.biz/screen-printing-supplies/Squeegees/serilor-txs3-squeegee

[mimosatexas]

last time i ordered it, nazdar would only sell the roll and had a super long fulfillment time on it.  I dont remember if I contacted spsi or not, but that price is more than twice what you'll pay at tech support.

[Nation03]

I'll give Nazdar a shot. They're in the same state as me last I remember. I don't order much from them but they have a few more items I want to try out so I'll put an order together.