Left chest print on black hoodie -> underbase or dtf?

[OhNoPrinting]

Hey,

i got a job for a left chest print, a logo with quite fine details (lines and text) and it is supposed to be in bright pink on a black hoodie.

I did a print in yellow (print/flash/print) on black and it worked nice, but the design was more chunky.

Because it is only 40 pieces and small, i was tempted to do DTF and just heat press it. But then i don´t want to betray the screen printing idea, but i am quite sure I won´t manage to underbase it because of registration issues.

I will do now a test print with (print/flash/print) and see how bright the pink will come out.

I never did an underbase so maybe I am overthinking it, but what would be the smallest line size you would safely print underbase/plastisol?

[balloonguy]

I think you will get much finer lines and better detail with screen printing than dtf. I would try a lower mesh screen like a 156 or even 110 and use a hi opacity ink. It is a small order so p/f/p the same screen. If you have to add another f/p  it is not a big deal.

[Sbrem]

It's hard to tell without seeing the image. If it's just some fine lines and text, then a p/f/p scenario will probably work best, but if it needs halftones, as a left front, then I would use DTF, as the inkjet resolution is much finer than a screenprinted halftone would be. I'm proud to be a screenprinter for a long time, but DTF has really changed the game.

Steve

[Scobey Peterman]

I would be printing this on a manual printer with a special board I use for heart prints. It keeps the seams out of the way.

Pre shrink and let it cool.

Two coats of white underbase.  Let it cool then the pink ink.  Both screens on 150.  The pink even on 200 mesh.

If it feels rough after going through the dryer, 4 second on the heat press and it should be as smooth as a baby bottom.

Yes, it is a lot of work but you want to put out a good product and it is a small order.

[blue moon]

I would be printing this on a manual printer with a special board I use for heart prints. It keeps the seams out of the way.

Pre shrink and let it cool.

Two coats of white underbase.  Let it cool then the pink ink.  Both screens on 150.  The pink even on 200 mesh.

If it feels rough after going through the dryer, 4 second on the heat press and it should be as smooth as a baby bottom.

Yes, it is a lot of work but you want to put out a good product and it is a small order.

This! It will get you going and give you results you need with low risk.

Ultimately the most important thing is taking care of the customer. If that means DTF right now, thats what you go with!

Long term you really want that to be as efficient as possible. The best possible result would be one stroke of underbase and one stroke of top color with one flash in between.

pj

[OhNoPrinting]

so i did a test print and went with my first underbase :-)

in preparation i changed the design slightly to be a bit thicker and also shaved off a bit from the white/underbase screen.

and yes, the color is so much stronger with a white underbase:



But I still get little white "blitzer", so I think I will redo the screens and take a little more off from the underbase. (also the test print was on a shirt, no the hoodie and the white ink is thick like gum (maybe I am moving the shirt a little that way)

[cbjamel]

Print flash, print flash and maybe print flash with pink done over from fighting underbase.

Shane

[ebscreen]

I am moving the shirt a little that way)

Given that your base is only showing in one small area this is likely your problem.
If it's out of registration/base not choked you will see it all on one side.
Try glueing the chit out of one pallet to eliminate that variable, no need to make
new screens.

It looks like you are getting the opacity you want otherwise, so congratulations
on your first underbase.

[OhNoPrinting]

I tested a bit more and came to this point:



Left is print/flash/print but with more force on the squeegee and right is underbase white/pink..

I think this time i go with pfp but i am happy that "underbase" is not that scarry anymore :-)

I guess my underbase problem is: not to choke it enough (i did only a stroke 0,02 cm: looked a lot on screen, but isn´t printed) and worse: I could move the screen slightly, even so all the knobs are pretty tight

[Admiral]

It may be worth trying to get that underbase smoother, that will fix the issues with colors being spotty on top of it.  Squeegee angle may be too wide, screen tension may be too low are a couple areas to start with there.

We typically would do 2 hits underbase for light, bright colors that aren't opaque on fleece.  Lower mesh count for the pink may help too even.

[blue moon]

Try leaving your underbase unmodified and adding 1pt of stoke (in adobe illustrator) to the top color. This is not an option for everybody as it requires less opaque ink, but it maintains your fine lines in the artwork.
pj