Halftones with Discharge/Waterbase

[ScreenPrinter123]

So far, good results with Aquasol right out of the bucket, no diazo with CCI Harden-X.  One thing -- do you guys make your halftones heavier for dc/wb because of less dot-gain and more ink getting into the weave than laying on top?  Seemed like a print today didn't have the opacity needed, so I reverted to a plastisol, which fit the bill.  Have you all just gone up 20% or so in your halftone opacity/transparency for wb/dc from plastisol or am I missing something?

Thanks.

[Dottonedan]

I see most using a high of 230 mesh and about 45-50 lpi
On higher or finer detail. Heard only very few use 305 on discharge. Solid art works best on maybe a 110 - 156 for deep penetration.

[Spreading Ink]

We usually do 45 lpi for waterbase - I have done higher, but honestly 45 seems to do the best overall job - meshes from 230 - 300 depending on detail.

[ZooCity]

I've run DC sim pro on 330s at 55lpi. I think I posted it, it's an illustration with a zebra....hold on, found a pic an a macro.  This is a six color, dan seps.

You need to drive that ink hard through that mesh count and need multiple, overprinting colors going WOW or no, you won't have adequate penetration. I was worried about penetration on this one but no problems at six colors worth of buildup and squishing.

I have no idea what I'm going to do regarding gain on WB v. plastisol.  So far I've just appreciated the reduction in gain.  We get to print precious little sim pro and while I really love doing it, I don't spend gobs of time honing the RIP in since it's not top of mind day to day.

[Spreading Ink]

Looks good Zoo!

[ScreenPrinter123]

I wasn't really speaking of lpi or mesh count (though we typically use 180S mesh for dc with 50 lpi and 30-35 psi and are going to do our first wb next week through 225S mesh) - but, rather, whether or not you increase the opacity/transparency in illustrator/Corel to have fatter halftones to deposit more ink to compensate for less dot gain?  Otherwise, at least yesterday, the shading may be pretty muted with dc/wb but not so with plastisol.

[ebscreen]

Not sure I follow. We tend to see similar/more dot gain with WB, especially if we are trying
to penetrate heavier fabrics. (Hanes Beefies, etc.) It's a tradeoff, like everything. Better penetration, more dot gain.
Gotta hit that sweet spot. On large vector stuff we just crank it, I love how a waterbased white print can look great
forever if you saturate the fabric to 90% or so.

[tonypep]

Classic oldie but goodie
Sericol one screen 355 mesh

[bimmridder]

That's not a self portrait is it, Tony?

(couldn't resist)

[ZooCity]

I found way less gain with WB and that's printing it in what I consider a "sloppy" way on the manual using a pull stroke with a ton of bend on a softer blade.  I've had to actually trap spots out a little as I'll get tiny little gaps with butt reg.

This is real likely to be directly related to how well your ink resists over wicking into the fabric your printing on.  It's a weird balance- you want the ink to wick down into the shirt but not out to the sides.  I think that's why it takes additional pressure to get a good print and why on contact works better than off contact for WB. You're just lowering the stencil gasket. 

If WB inks were made to wick like crazy I bet they would be much easier to print/require less pressure but would look like hell from all the gain.