White on black

[Sbrem]

A lot of great answers folks, thanks. Where's the lead in the ink when we really need it?

Steve

[Sbrem]

discharge underbase with 230 on the top will give you the paper white print and it will be soft.

pierre

That was one of our 1st attempts, a plasticharge white base through a 150S, with a 150S plastisol on top, but the Next Level 3600 didn't discharge well enough, a G2000 came out better. Would you be thinking a discharge base, with less than usual amount of white so the plastisol sticks better? We know the plasticharge works with plastisol on top, and I've read enough on this here (this came up sometime in the last year, and it was said to use a regular DC base, with less than the usual amount of white) to know that might be the way...

Steve

[numbercruncher]

Kudos to all of you - haven't printed in a while and the options/recommendations discussed are clear and the willingness to share this info speaks well of all of you - thanks

[alan802]

We will use some lower mesh counts that most will cringe at but our main mesh for what you're talking about would be a 120/54 printed one stroke, 35-40"/sec, flash, one stroke fast again.  Most of our customers want the white to look like it does in the bucket and printing with 180's and 225's never satisfies most of them.  And some that we'll do a 150 flash 150 and see a few tiny shades of fibers don't like it when I think it's damn near a perfect print with bright white and very thin deposit.  I'm always creeping our mesh counts higher and higher until a customer complains then we'll go back down and start all over again.

Have you maxed out your print stroke yet?  How are you flooding?  Filling the stencil or just flooding?  You should be able to get the stark white look with higher mesh counts when you get a good ink that will shear with high speed.

[Sbrem]

We're running them now, 81, double stroke, flash, 110S double stroke. It's pretty damn white. We did multiple samples last week, and this was the one he liked the most. Still, there was the ever so slight "evidence" of the shirt fiber, but since the customer is heat pressing them all before packaging (he took unpressed samples and heat pressed them with his own equipment) he knows what he's getting. Normal flood, enough to fill the mesh, but certainly not over-filled. I almost want to use a bullet nosed squeegee, which sounds crazy, but worked like you wouldn't believe when my old shop did a gigantic order for Burger King and Coca-Cola. 4XX mesh, bullet-nosed squeegee, one stroke. Triangle Ink, circa 1980. When a guy recommended it to me, I said "absolutely no way" but was proved wrong when I put it to the test. The biggest problem was the 4XX mesh, which was only good for about 5000 prints. The run was 150K, and the screens were hand stretched and stapled, about 30 of them...

Steve