screen printing > Newbie

printed my first job on the auto- came out horrible

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alan802:
I don't know how in the hell I missed this thread, just now saw it.  I would have loved to have been involved with this when it was relevant.  I wish there was a horizon here in town that I could go look at to get a good feel of the angles, speed, pressure and all that stuff so I could also help you out.

Pink on black, even the most opaque pink I've ever seen wouldn't have looked good pfp without a good base.  I would probably go lower on the underbase than most are suggesting, just because of the poor opacity in most pink inks, maybe 110-137.  And I've been slowly speeding up our print speeds lately and we are printing 3-4 times faster today than we were a month ago.  And it doesn't make sense, but the ink deposit is much better at those faster speeds as well.

Donnie:
Set your flood bars at 0 angle and your squeegee at 15 degrees. Dial the food bar depth to where the bar makes a slight noise on the screen when you drag it across the screen. Don't mess with the pressure gauge on the front of the head. It won't hurt if you do but a much better way to increase or decrease the squeegee pressure is to dial it up up or down. A good point to start at is around 15 on the bar. If you are printing half tones, this may be a bit much.

Homer:
so you guys are saying MORE ink deposit with a faster print stroke? we have always thought faster print stroke = less ink deposit and less dot gain. I have to try this out Monday. Or tomorrow if I can't wait. I am switching back to Quick white and that is pretty thick compared to the xenon white we were using, I will have to play around with squeegies again, I hate like hell to add some reducer to it. This squeegie from Pierre seems to be badass so far.

alan802:

--- Quote from: Homer on May 20, 2011, 10:33:19 PM ---so you guys are saying MORE ink deposit with a faster print stroke? we have always thought faster print stroke = less ink deposit and less dot gain. I have to try this out Monday. Or tomorrow if I can't wait. I am switching back to Quick white and that is pretty thick compared to the xenon white we were using, I will have to play around with squeegies again, I hate like hell to add some reducer to it. This squeegie from Pierre seems to be badass so far.

--- End quote ---

I don't think anyone would really argue that slower print speed will deposit more ink, but I think that when printing plastisol it's more about getting the best ink deposit and not the most ink deposited.  Depending on the ink your printing with, it is possible to get a "better" ink deposit by speeding up the stroke and ejecting (shearing) the ink ONTO the shirt instead of pushing the ink through the stencil and INTO the shirt  So with a good white ink, like quick white, I think you'll find that giving a hard flood and filling the stencil with ink, then using a faster print stroke will yield you a better ink deposit, more opaque, smoother, etc. than using a slower print stroke.

I was encouraged to try this technique by Bill Hood a while back and I've slowly increased our print speed and have noticed a better overall ink deposit.  I've known for a long time the goal is to print plastisol ink on top of the shirt and not into the shirt, but for whatever reason, I was stuck in the thought process of printing slow to deposit more ink and get enough opacity for the top colors to pop. 

I will warn you that this technique may not work using a thick thread, low percentage open area mesh count, and a really thick, long bodied ink.  It takes the right combo of ink and mesh count to get that perfect shear or ejection of ink onto the shirt.  Your squeegee angle will be very upright, and will act as a tool to basically cut the ink from the stencil.

RichardGreaves:
Not necessarily MORE ink, but all the ink 'metered' by the mesh + stencil thickness. Speed helps the ink flow easily but the mesh thickness determines ink deposit. Granted, because shirts are porous, ink can go INTO the shirt and even print the platen. This is a waste of money.

Wetting, is the ability of a liquid to spread across the surface of a shirt to produce a uniform, continuous film or clear the mesh. If the ink doesn't flow easily, it won't clean out of the mesh - that's why we double stroke. That's why it takes a few strokes to get ink flowing after we let rest for a while.

The straighter the blade, the better it can resist hydroplaning or floating on top, rather than scraping the ink across the mesh.  No blade contact with the inside of the screen, no transfer of ink through the holes in the mesh.

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