Emulsion for high density

[Rick Roth]

I don't know all the statistics for every emulsion but a quicker exposure is not always better.

We have printed hundreds of thousands (literally) of shirts with high density ink and I don't know why you would want to try and do it with liquid emulsion. Just figure out how to do cap film. We use Saati cap film and I'm sure a rep will show you how to do it. Murakami cap film is also good for printing HD. We have not found any of the others to work well in our shop and I think we tried them all.

There are a few situations that you would use a thinner stencil (liquid emulsion) and HD inks, but there are not many. 300 or 400 micron cap film is usually the way to go.

[ABuffington]

The difference between Murakami Thick Film and Aquasol HS is what are you printing.  If you are printing High Density Inks and need vertical sharp prints with super sharp corners Thick Film is the way to go.  If you are just printing Gels, Glitters, puffs, etc then Aquasol HS is a less expensive solution.  It coats wet onto wet, its the dry time that is very different.  I can make a thick film screen in about an hour with a good drying oven.  Aquasol HS is overnight with a fan on.  Both have to be dry to use propertly. 

Al

[Orion]

Using cap film is definitely the way to go, that's the easy part. After that, finding the best HD ink brand will be another challenge. We always found International Coatings to work well for us. Art considerations, print/curing parameters are the next step. Good luck!

[RICK STEFANICK]

when printing HD inks I have had better results using 150 - 200 micron film and more layers. this will give you cleaner crisper edges. remember to slighty and I mean slighty choke your top layers to ensure clean edges. also bump your mesh up on the top layer to eliminate mesh marks giving you a nice smooth finished print. now with gels the 400 micron is my choice. alsowhen printing minimal flood pressure will save you lots of problems

[ABuffington]

Another trick we used was to attach a 3" tapered piece of wood to the bottom of the screen so the squeegee rides up on a ramp right after printing.  This separates the mesh from the ink quickly to avoid ink points and to get a sharper edge to the print.  Quite often the squeegee pressure would cause the bottom of the screen near the end of the print stroke to stay in contact with the ink.  having the squeegee ride up a ramp separated the bottom of the screen far quicker than waiting for the print stroke to finish.

[RICK STEFANICK]

Another trick we used was to attach a 3" tapered piece of wood to the bottom of the screen so the squeegee rides up on a ramp right after printing.  This separates the mesh from the ink quickly to avoid ink points and to get a sharper edge to the print.  Quite often the squeegee pressure would cause the bottom of the screen near the end of the print stroke to stay in contact with the ink.  having the squeegee ride up a ramp separated the bottom of the screen far quicker than waiting for the print stroke to finish.

YES Shimming the screens is necessary when doing multiple layers to keepe clean edges. also minimal to no flood. DO NOT FILL THE IMAGE ON THE FLOOD STROKE.