Discuss the different plastisol screen printing inks and curing methods on the market. Share tips on getting the best results with the different ink manufacturers.
hey guys, i have a serious problem. i have an order of 15 black shirts. when i started screen printing my first order was 10 shirts white on black.
and they were immaculate.
now im trying to print white ink on black shirts but the problem is that when i print the shirts it only lays a little amount and then when i go to print again the fibers stick up on the shirt and some even get stuck in the screen.
i have adjusted the off contact and it helped.
then i saw that the shirt was getting lifted with the screen so i used more spray and added some tape rolled up around the image like i saw in a video.
also my ink (ryonet white) was kind of stiff so i put it under a light and that helped out.
im using brand new emulsion, new 16" squeegee, new 4 color press and i also have a flash to go with.
i have all the right tools yet the prints suck.
if someone could help i would appreciate because i need to get this shirts done today.
thanks.
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Almost everything I do is related to being fat.
You could try to thin down your white a little to soften it. Print-flash-print the image for only a few seconds on high- maybe 6-8 seconds. Let the flashed area cool for 10 seconds before you add the second coat. Try a 140 or 156 mesh instead of 110. Push instead of pull the squeege. Make sure your pallets and screens are flat and square.
That would be my guess. Sounds like a thin stencil, so you arent laying down much ink, then when you flash all the moisture is being sucked out of the shirt causing static electricity which is in turn lifting the shirt when you lay the screen on it. Can you feel the build of emulsion on the shirt side?
thanks for all the responses, i took some pics, when i print the image seems to be very broken up, the inside of the letters are printing fine but then the tips have almost no ink on them.
no i can't feel the build up of emulsion on the screen.
the print that i showed in the picture i did a fill stroke then i printed and then pushed the ink back and did a really light stroke.
its kinda of getting to me because this is the second time that i shot this screen. the first time the image didn't wash out and i think it was because it was bad emulsion. i used the new stuff that i have and it washed out just fine. http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...9/PA210098.jpg
are your screens flat?(warped screens can cause ghosting too) The ghosting looks like it may be to much off contact,your shirt lifted off the platen before the second stroke or your screen may have a thin haze where it should be open.
And also you need to really mix up the inks to get rid of the false hand, a paint mixer on a drill will soften it up..I notice white is hard to print right out of the bucket.
Could be a lot of reasons for a bad print.
i was just about to give up and then i threw the shirt on the printing board...
so i thought id do one more print.
turns out my off contact was too high, because when i print with out putting the shirt on the actual board it seems to print quite fine.
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Almost everything I do is related to being fat.
I dont use 110 mesh for printing white on black .......and I dont build up the stencil either , to much detail is lost with a thick stencil......heres how I print white on dark...
screen - aluminum frame 230 mesh
coat method 1/1
emulsion cci dual cure diazo
ink - wilflex bright tiger about a month old sitting in my garage stirred for 30 seconds
off contact - 2 pennies thick
squeegee angle - 80 - 85 degrees
push stroke
p/f/p
very very slow squeegee speed
press - 4c/2s silver tabletop manual
One thing I've gone back to lately with either white on black, or underbasing spot colors on darks, is to use a 156. I'd been using 195's and 230's, but I've had a hell of a time with rough prints . . . even when they seem to be okay after a flash, by the time they're out of the dryer, not so hot. My technique is always the same, flood, print, then a dry stroke to smooth it down before hitting the flash. The 156 lays down enough ink to mat those damn fibers down enough to keep 'em from sticking up later. I'm also going to switch to doing highlight whites with spot color overprints when necessary for brightness instead of a p/f/p base to keep the hand even softer. Just did a job on royal blue shirts that didn't need a p/f/p on the white and it's nice. Can probably get by with a highlight white through a 305 using Union Bright Cotton White.
From what I saw of the pics was you had no ink coverage in the area of the print that was the thinnest. Leading me to believe the stencil wasn't completely cleared of emulsion in those areas or improper print stroke technique was performed. When I'm printing white ink and I have really thin, horizontal lines to shear ink through, it is very important to stroke slowly enough for the squeegee to work the ink all the way through the stencil, and you have to use more squeegee pressure to counter act the skinny "ink well" that it has to pass through.
For something like you're printing, I would put that on a 110, 35 Newtons, 1/10" off-contact and do one stroke, no flash, send it down the dryer and box it up. A design like that is perfect for the "one stroke, no flash" theory. A design like inked showed has more open mesh area and would most likely need to be pfp with any mesh from 110-230. There are so many ways to do it, as you can see by the completely different techniques given just within this thread.
should i give the customer his money back? 
