Squeegee marks on garments

[ZooCity]

Is there a post-press fix for this?  It hasn't been an issue when we stack 'em up overnight before delivery but, esp on red fleece, it looks really bad right out of the dryer.  The Gauntlet really exacerbates the issue with the constant squeegee pressure. 

I'm open to suggestions for preventing it on press too but we already use bare minimum pressure to clear/penetrate and all our blades are rounded. 

[whitewater]

Zoo...ive been meaning to ask the same question..When we print on bamboo and organic cottons its there and my customer is not happy with it. I change the blade angle and pressure to minimum but still happens.

Any idea would be great!

[ebscreen]

Jiffy steamer.

[whitewater]

Jiffy steamer.

how do use that on 100's of shirts?

[ZooCity]

Jiffy steamer.

Dang, I knew it.  We sold our garment steamer with the retail store.  Have to fetch another.

honkeywater- you could just have the catcher hit 'em real quick on the belt I imagine.

[Sbrem]

A jiffy steamer is good, and if you don't have one, get a spray bottle and mist the shirt down (on the marks, not the whole thing) rub it out with your fingers and send back down the dryer. Not optimal, but better than eating shirts...

Steve

[whitewater]

i was hoping for an easier fix

[Du Manchu]

I've spent the past few days struggling with the same issue(s).  It's especially bad on pocket pallets with 16" squeegees.  Try Magic Sizing which you can get anywhere (similar spray starch).  Spray, rub, and tunnel or air dry.  It's commonly used to remove embroidery hoop marks.   Not the best answer, but it beats "the bad phone call".

[Frog]

How about rounding the edges of your pallets?

[mk162]

you don't have to rub magic sizing.  It's $1 a can and works wonders on hoop burn, should work fine on shirts as well.

[GKitson]

Is there a post-press fix for this?  It hasn't been an issue when we stack 'em up overnight before delivery but, esp on red fleece, it looks really bad right out of the dryer.  The Gauntlet really exacerbates the issue with the constant squeegee pressure. 

I'm open to suggestions for preventing it on press too but we already use bare minimum pressure to clear/penetrate and all our blades are rounded.

This is what the retailers call shelf appeal!  Not matter that you know the 'fabric mass compression' caused by the squeege stroke will go away with the first laundering it is a 'real' problem as long as the customer says it is a problem.

Red Fleece is a major 'visable' problem because of the extreme color phase shift due to temperature but all colors exhibit the same shift, just not to the same degree.

Customer education, garment selection and post production finishing such as itemized in the other responses all are important in maintaining customer satisfaction.

Most of us print with WAY to much pressure so make sure your press is aligned properly so you are not compensating for a problem on only 1 pallet that is out of alignment by over pressuring your print stroke on all pallets.   This simple calibration will fix many of the nuisance crap we deal with.

~Kitson
 

[ZooCity]

Yep, it's a retail issue.  A great part of our work here goes straight to the rack and it is a legitimate concern.

I'll grab some magic sizing and/or good commercial steamer for when we need it, thanks for the suggestions.

Oh and I absolutely agree on the pressure thing but try eliminating squeegee pressure marks when you're printing discharge and waterbase on fleece on a '92 Gauntlet- no dice.  You can mitigate it on the top and sides but the blade is held in at full pressure in the resting position at the back of the stroke until the dwell times out and the table drops.

[Printficient]

Simple fix.  16" platen - 15" squeegee.  Alternate fix.  16" platen - 16" double bevel squeegee.

[Inkworks]

Option #1:
Round your squeegee ends a bit,
round your platen edges a bit,
use visco buster or other ink thinners
stick to as coarse of mesh as you can
steam and magic-sizing any shirts that need it.

Option #2:
Change over to S mesh and dial your pressure way down and hit almost all screens only once.

We're switching over to S-mesh and screens we would have double hit at 40-50PSI now get single hit with 15 - 25PSI.

Much less pressure and less strokes will cure almost all of your squeegee/platen mark issues.

[ZooCity]

All great advice on the less pressure thing but it won't help you with wb/DC. All our squeegees are rounded and smoothed, we run nothing but S mesh and yes, very light pressure for plastisol and always the most open mesh that will reliably hold the image.  We do run a smilin' jack with the bevel edge as well and still have the marks when printing wb. 

All these on press suggestions are truly excellent ones overall, they just won't eliminate the issue when printing wb ink correctly, nature of the beast when you are looking to saturate through 50%+ of a fabric's thickness.