Mesh for one screen white.

[GaryG]

He's looking for advice on getting a quality print without having to Revolve or use 2 screens.
A 2 stroke white on a regular basis is the norm, but... the Title is one "screen" white, not one "stroke" white.

[alan802]

I think this is the thread Dave was talking about.  I could write a book on what we've done and how far we've got, but I'll try to keep it short.  I look at this as a system.  But if you're a shop that isn't dealing with deadlines (I mean having to do double-time to get jobs finished on a regular/daily basis) very often it's probably not going to pay off to chase this.  I can tell you that the amount of labor time that we save by regularly getting one-hits (it's not just white, but for other things like getting a bright red on a steel gray without a base) is in the hundreds of hours per year.  If your shop rate is $75/hr then do the math, that's all profit if you're doing it right.  I'll give you an example of a job we do about 12-15 times per year.  This job has 4 different colorways/variations, black ink on red/gray/tan, white ink on black & navy, khaki ink on military green and gray on charcoal.  This job used to take the better part of a day to get done because it's two locations, and usually a few hundred pieces per variation.  It was 8 2-color setups.  Now, due to the system we're using, it's 8 1-color jobs, which all of you know the difference between a 1 and 2 color can be huge when the colors have to be registered spot on.

The system is made up of several parts, thin thread/low mesh on rollers, a fill stroke (not a flood stroke), fairly calibrated press, good quality/shorter bodied inks, shearing the ink instead of pushing the ink through the mesh, and printing with speed.  There's a little more to it but those are the big ones.  It doesn't take a lot of time and money to transfer into this system, and just doing one or a few of these things by themselves would increase your print quality and production efficiency without a long learning curve.

The system is really a byproduct of trying to do the most work with the least amount of effort.  Running jobs as fast as we can isn't what we're all about, but if we can get the same, or better print quality running the press at 800/hr versus 500/hr, I choose 800.  Because we're going to be able to take advantage of that ability hundreds of times per year, save a boat load of money, that's why we do it.  I like doing videos and posting them to show how fast we are but it has nothing to do with why we do it.   

[zanegun08]

I like doing videos and posting them to show how fast we are but it has nothing to do with why we do it.

Post a video of your 1 hit white, or 1 hit red on heather grey.

Then bring those prints to ISS and I'll buy you a beer if I think they look as passible as a double hit white.

Need to be on a Next Level 6210, or a Gildan 2000,

See you next week

[mimosatexas]

I havent ever gotten a one hit white to look good on a shirt like the NL6210.  The G2000 is pretty much ideal fabric for it though.  Other shirts that work really well are some of the comfort colors (even though I hate those shirts), Cotton Heritage, The Gildan Hammer (H000?), etc.  Those CVC shirts are super fuzzy if I'm remembering right and I just couldnt print with light enough pressure to both matte down the fuzz and get a smooth print.

[Frog]

Way back when my business was getting going, I remember one of my first clients in particular who came to me because he was unhappy with the folks who had printed his last order. As became my S.O.P. with new clients like this, I asked about the specific complaint. It was because the white was not white! The other printer actually gave him some excuse like "oh, that's our standard printing. If you wanted a whiter white, it costs a little more" Kinda like well drinks rather than a requested brand at your bar! (btw, back in those days, whites were not nearly as friendly and took a lot more effort to print)
So, although twenty of so years later, the translucent look became popular, especially with soft hand plastisol and the rise of expensive WB designer shirts, I have always shot for white being white.
I contend, that unless there is the understanding beforehand of sacrificing opacity for, hand, an intentioal vintage look, or in some instances even price, a white print should leave no evidence of what color shirt it is on!
That said, Maxie did start this thread out by saying that his client was not looking for high quality in this instance.

[mimosatexas]

I only consider it a one hit white if it is 100% white with no fuzz or roughness to the print. We do names and numbers and other finishing stuff of shirts already printed by a bunch of other shops in town,  and I'm shocked how horrible some of them are at actually printing. Just yesterday we had shirts couriered over that were definitely print flash print white on black and the image was less opaque white than our standard single stroke base white through a 150S. They also weren't even properly cured...but that's a whole different issue. This was from a 3 auto shop with decades of history too.

[CBCB]

and I'm shocked how horrible some of them are at actually printing. Just yesterday we had shirts couriered over that were definitely print flash print white on black and the image was less opaque white than our standard single stroke base white through a 150S. They also weren't even properly cured...but that's a whole different issue. This was from a 3 auto shop with decades of history too.

Do you tell clients about this? How? We have a similar situation locally where some of the work is just so bad. I don’t understand why clients don’t care and I want to show/tell them the difference.



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[mimosatexas]

We handle it diplomatically when appropriate.  We would never contact the end client and throw another shop under the bus when that shop is our client and we are just doing finishing work.  If the client brings the work to us, we usually will casually mention actual issues like curing, placement, etc and frame it as us simply informing them so they can handle it with the other shop if they choose to.  If the client mentions the issue or just being unhappy with the results we absolutely will say it doesn't meet our standards, show them how and show them our samples, and go from there.  Mostly I am just shocked at how shitty other shops are on basic stuff a lot of the time, but I wouldnt ever encourage straight up bashing another shop...