School me on 1-hit whites...

[Printficient]

Back in the day one hit whites were a dime a dozen.  However the white used barely printed on anything higher than an 86 mesh count screen.  running the white on a turnabout for an hour or so before use was sop.  So what happened?  Printers complained about the limited options with said white and the ink companies listened.  Printability improved.  Mesh counts went up.  "Opacity went down as low mesh counts introduced too much ink and consequently the ink went in the shirt instead of on it.  The best white setup (Plastisol) is Russel Grey on a high mesh flash white on  the mesh of your choice.  Prints fast and when out of registration grey is a different color from white.

[3Deep]

To come in on the tail end of this post I've got one hit white on certain color shirts and yes the print area was not that big, for me getting a one hit white comes in to play if I'm using it for an underbase and only trying to use one screen one round one flash.  Another thing is a one hit white for an underbase gives you a very nice print surface for your top colors without it being to thick ( I'm sure everyone that has printed here will agree a nice flat white surface makes any top color printing 100% better) then you don't have to have so much squeegee pressure for your top colors.  Now far as puff in white ink I try my best to avoid any white inks that has it unless I'm doing a white only print, chasing a one hit white is like chasing a ghost for most of us and I'm to the point where it's time to stop and just print.  Like sonny said the ink companies can give a one stroke white ink, but then you'l have to change your setup's and deal with a bunch more headaches.

[Rockers]

One hit whites=waste of time. At least for our shop.

[Printficient]

Our New Mustang White has ridiculous opacity through a low mesh screen.

[alan802]

There are some interesting posts in this thread, some have me shaking my head and others are spot on.  We do one-hits on a daily basis and I can say that you're "probably" wasting your time with the 150 although there is some artwork out there that can be done with a 150.  Being able to do one-hits on a regular basis is one of the reasons why we can do the volume we do with just one auto and 3 production employees, so I'd argue till the end of time that it's worth the effort.  Of course it takes a lot of time to get to the point where you can do it on a regular basis, and if working through a lunch break or an hour or two late a few days a week isn't your cup of tea, by all mean, keep on doing what you're doing and take care of your customers the best way possible. 

I'm wrestling with whether or not I should spend all the time I would need to argue for the use of one-hits when I doubt anything I write would change anyone's mind one way or the other, but I'd do it all over again 10 times in a row to get us back to where we are now because of our efficiency.  I know we're not the most efficient shop on this forum, but I think we're well into the top 10% and a big reason for that is our use of one-hits to get us through the day.  I could throw out our stats from last week's jobs to show how efficient we are and you could relate to the stats because we all know what a 3 color job is and spread it out over a certain number of impressions and you can get a good picture of what a typical day around here consists of.

And our goal with plastisol is 100% opacity with the thinnest possible ink deposit correct?  How does one achieve that?  Use the least amount of pressure possible, sharp blades, fast print speed, thin thread mesh.  And any little thing that doesn't help us with that goal is hurting us, in my opinion.   

Oh, your mileage may vary.

[Brandz13]

Hey all.. My first reply here on SB, But I have been on other forums for years. One hits do not cut it with our customers..at this point how do you lay the shirt fibers down with a one pass stroke? I could say 1. Use the best white you can find. QCM, Wilflex....2) light pressure as stated. 3) A 110 mesh. 4) A sanded smooth round squeegee. Although the post stated production, volume and efficiency. If your customers are fine with it.. Run with it. In our area the one hitters are normally new shops or uneducated screen printers. Our customers are usually amazed at the quality and bright whites we get on black shirts, especially after they have been using other shops in town. I will always sacrifice time effort and energy to produce a better looking product then my competitors.

[jsheridan]

We print 1000s of T shirts, with one hit (one screen two strokes)

LOL.. that's not a 1 hit white 

I've printed millions of shirts and will take PFP with fine mesh and a roller screen with any ink before I work some voodoo with a single screen.

[Sbrem]

4XX multifilament with a bulletnose (half round) squeegee. Absolutely opaque white. And pretty damned heavy print. Did this with a huge run in the early eighties, ran like a charm, a lot of ink went down. Also, please don't do this, it's crazy, but it does work, LOL

Steve

[mimosatexas]

Not sure if this has been linked, but thought it might add to the discussion: http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,3961.0.html

[Screened Gear]

The real test of a one hit white is if you print another layer of white does it get better. If it does then your one hit white is not the best quality you can give your customer. I just printed a job yesterday, I was planning on just running around the press twice but the first and the second pass looked exactly the same. I turned off the second round and printed the shirts and saved about 30 percent of the time. I have about 1 or two of these a month. Really depends on the art. This job was all fine line text. I was using Legacy white on a 155 non S screen less then 15% EOM with a 65/90/65.

[Frog]

The real test of a one hit white is if you print another layer of white does it get better. If it does then your one hit white is not the best quality you can give your customer. I just printed a job yesterday, I was planning on just running around the press twice but the first and the second pass looked exactly the same. I turned off the second round and printed the shirts and saved about 30 percent of the time. I have about 1 or two of these a month. Really depends on the art. This job was all fine line text. I was using Legacy white on a 155 non S screen less then 15% EOM with a 65/90/65.

A test I like is can you cut out a patch, fold over the edges, and defy others to determine the fabric color?

[mimosatexas]

I do quite a few backs with one hit whites, but like others have said, they are all thin line text and adding a second pass doesn't do anything.  Big areas, pfp always.  I can't find the post, but I believe I posted a closeup comparison of a super thick stencil one hit white using 135S vs a pfp with 225S and the opacity was identical, but the 135S you could see the texture of the threads in the top of the ink and the print was way thicker. 

[tonypep]

The one hit whites do indeed apply to graphic content however most we go with DC UB formula often evolved here and available  to most by the mfgrs. (However if its PLS its hit or miss. Large vector plastisol doubtful . Came about from a retired but respected vet.) A little bait and switch there IMO as the miracle ink is no longer available to do its magic ability to no longer be avaialable . We get it mostly done with a few trick formulas.

[Inkworks]

Low count mesh
S or LX thread mesh
Tight mesh!
decent EOM (but remember this really only effects ink deposit right next to emulsion edges)
very precisely leveled press/pallets and even, small and perfect off contact
beveled/smiling jack or the like squeegee
hard flood with mesh-loading flood bar (or even a beveled squeegee in the flood bar spot)
very fast squeegee speed with as light of pressure as you can manage
just right white ink.

[LoneWolf2]

I've managed to get a few 1-hit whites no problem.

110 S-mesh on Newmans, 30N, with a 60/90/60 squeegee, hard flood and semi-fast print stroke at about 25-30 psi.