Standard size stroke for spot colors?

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

What is the typical size stroke you use for simple spot colors that touch?....hairline? .5 MM??

[IntegrityShirts]

I use 1pt in illustrator with the stroke aligned to the middle of the path, so it's actually only .5pt

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

I use 1pt in illustrator with the stroke aligned to the middle of the path, so it's actually only .5pt

im using .5mm in middle of path....when i lay my films on the light table it seems even that is too wide...i could go smaller i think...i may do that before i burn a screen...though i was thinking of burning two screens and seeing which is best just to put a nail in the coffin.

[Gilligan]

We compromised at .33.

We print manually on s mesh retentionables.

[Frog]

Are you talking about a trap? A slight overlap to assure no shirt color peeking through?
Is this on designs that otherwise also require a flash?
On these, I do the same as Integrity, or sometimes go down to .75 pt on small images.

When no flash is needed, butt registration really speeds things up on my manual.

[Mark @ Hurricane Printing]

Are you talking about a trap? A slight overlap to assure no shirt color peeking through?
Is this on designs that otherwise also require a flash?
On these, I do the same as Integrity, or sometimes go down to .75 pt on small images.

When no flash is needed, butt registration really speeds things up on my manual.

yes...no color peeking thru....and colors will be flashed

[Frog]

.5 mm is about the same as 1.5 pts.
If these strokes are straddling the line, that will make for a .75 pt overlap, in and of itself not a big deal, just more than a decent press with average screens requires.
The end result is a whisker more gloss where the two colors overlap. Not a big issue, but a little more than you should need.

[Sbrem]

We don't use any if we don't have to, so I guess it's on a design by design basis... I mean, if they are supposed to touch, why would an extra stroke be necessary?

Steve

[Frog]

We don't use any if we don't have to, so I guess it's on a design by design basis... I mean, if they are supposed to touch, why would an extra stroke be necessary?

Steve

Some folks have either discovered, or are afraid that there are slight issues with their equipment holding tight registration.

I don't hesitate to run wet on wet as butt, but also often build in the insurance of a slight trap when flashing anyway.

[mimosatexas]

I output my films using photoshop, and my traps/chokes/gutters are 2px at 300ppi.  Not sure how that translates to points in illustrator honestly, but it is very minimal.  I trap butt registration jobs as well usually just to make it less prone to error and to keep setup times short.  2px overlaps arent noticeable on almost everything I have printed.  I could see not needing a trap on an automatic where squeegee angle/speed/pressure/etc is all exact for every shirt, but with manual printing there are those small variations print to print that can show up without a little trap.

[Colin]

Illustrator:

White base trapping will be .5 pt.

We do not overlap colors ever for regular spot color jobs.

Yes, we have good registration 97.5% of the time

[IntegrityShirts]

Oh sorry I meant 1pt centered trap for top colors over a base plate. Regular spot colors butting up next to each other I usually don't add anything.

[Sbrem]

I output my films using photoshop, and my traps/chokes/gutters are 2px at 300ppi.  Not sure how that translates to points in illustrator honestly, but it is very minimal.  I trap butt registration jobs as well usually just to make it less prone to error and to keep setup times short.  2px overlaps arent noticeable on almost everything I have printed.  I could see not needing a trap on an automatic where squeegee angle/speed/pressure/etc is all exact for every shirt, but with manual printing there are those small variations print to print that can show up without a little trap.

For the folks not quite sure on this, a point is 1/72nd of an inch. So, at 72 PPI (sorry, I just can't bring myself to use DPI when it's really PPI) 1 pixel will equal 1 point. At 300 PPI, a pixel is 1/300th of an inch, so of course, 2 pixels is 1/150th of an inch. A half point would be 1/144th of an inch; so, at 300 PPI, 2 pixels is just over a half point. No quiz later...

Steve