I am having an issue with 100% cotton t's. When I am printing them, the fibers are pulling up after every print. When this is happening, the prints on the shirts are not coming out smooth (plastisol). I have my off contact about 1/8''.
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
What mesh are you using? Might go a little higher on the off contact if your screen tension is not tight, manual press I assume? What kind of pallet adhesive are you using, are you using enough to hold the shirt in place? Describe your printing technique as in number of strokes, flash time, squeegee angle, pressure, speed, fill/flood pressure, stencil coating technique/coats per side, and what kind of emulsion. Is the mesh completely clear of ink particles before you move on to the next printing step?
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
This can be difficult to do on a manual press, but you need to cut the ink off the screen and not bury it into the fabric of the shirt. You will need an ink with a good sheer (not stringy, able to cut away from the screen easily) and a sharp squeegee. Off contact, set right and a good tight screen. It will take some practice but should fix the problem.
__________________
Mike
If you dig ditches be the best ditch digger you can be.
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
The white is on a 158 screen. I couldn't do a 110 due to the detail of the design. I only did a 1 on 1 for the emulsion, so the stencil is thin. I am also using a new squeege.
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
Are you using film or vellum for you media?If film, coat thicker and build up your stencil.Another quick tip is to heat up the shirt a little and then print the white quick when its warm,it helps the whites viscosity.A quick flood and print might help the laydown and not cause you to drive the ink into the fibers,sounds like your printing INTO and not on top of the t-shirt.Do you get that?
If your white is stiffer,place it by a heat source,NOT DIRECT.Like on top of a conveyor dryer or a sunny window or last resort a heat vent{dont leave it overnight}It will help your white flow a little better.
Also as your pulling the squeege towards you , make sure you see the mesh snapping off the shirt,otherwise,something is sticking.You should be able to put down a decent coat with 2 passes.Good luck.
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
I use film for the media. My setup is poor. I have a fan on one side of the pallet and the flash unit on the other side. I have to use the flash unit as a final cure. So, the pallet is always hot. I do believe that one of the main issues is the thickness of stencil. I am having the problem that the screen isn't clearing if I do a quick pass, just to leave the ink on the shirt and not drive it in. The white I am using is ryonet white if that helps same for the pink too.
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
I would find a semi-heat resistant table of some sort to put your finished shirts on to cure under the flash unit, instead of your working pallets. That will keep your pallets from getting too hot and your pallets will be free to continue printing while your shirt is curing. That ryonet white is the same thing as the ICC 711 I do believe and it's a nice white to work with, I regularly print that through 230's with one stroke. One thing to always keep in mind when printing the underbase, every single ink particle needs to be cleared through the mesh and onto the shirt before you move on to your next step. If you have to press hard enough with the squeegee to put some ink into the shirt instead of all on top of the shirt, it is still better than leaving the screen uncleared. When you're perfecting your printing technique, you'll have a hard time finding that fine line between pushing the ink into the shirt fibers and shearing the ink on top of the shirt. So, until you get the technique down, it might be a necessary evil to have some of the ink into the shirt just to make sure you get all the ink through the screen, that is the most important thing and it will cut down on the hairyness of your print. Then, once you get a few thousand prints under you, you'll be able to clear the screen with one or two strokes without any ink going into the shirt.
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
My guess would be it's your underbasing. A 158 mesh is high enough that you shouldn't get any roughness.
1. Make sure your platen is smooth. Some people put a large sheet of vinyl tape on the platen. This gives you the ability to change over the tape quickly if the surface starts getting rough. But a smooth surface is important for the smooth print.
2. I would use a medium durometer squeegee. You don't want too firm, it will be difficult to push the ink through the screen. Too soft will push too much ink.
3. Make sure your angle of squeegee is around 70%. Too little of an angle, you will have a hard time clearing the screen of the ink. Too much of an angle, and you will push too much ink through.
4. If your first pass of white before flashing is rough, your final print will be rough. If you print quickly and firmly, you should be able to print one pass, then print another pass of white immediately (before flashing) to get a smooth lay down. If there is any ink left in the image area of the screen, try to get it out of the screen by printing without getting extra ink on the squeegee. The point is, you want all the ink out of the mesh and a smooth print on the initial laydown BEFORE flashing.
5. When you flash, make sure it's dry to touch. Don't cure it, but if it's dry to touch, you shouldn't have to do 3 passes of ink to get a bright white. Of course, if the ink is not meant to be a bright white, then you need to switch. I'm sure Ryonet has more than one white ink to choose from.
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
The squeegee I am using is a flat straight edge. I'm new to this, so I really don't know the difference between different squeegees. I have only had this problem since using the white and pink. Would thinning it out make a difference? Also, is there a difference in pulling or pushing the squeegee across the screen. When I tried to do a wet on wet with white, or any color the next pass always hazed/shadowed the outside of the design. When I pushed the ink through, it bleeds on the outside of the design on the screen underneath.
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
dont get discouraged.....EVERYONE has trouble with printing white ink...no matter what they say...they all have problems.......
the Ryonet white is a decent ink to use...my opinion on printing white is squeegee sharpness and angle...and a tight mesh is a must.....I use the push technique when printing white ..I think it lays down a smoother print.
whether you push or pull make sure you push or pull on both passes...dont push one time the pull the other...this will give a shadowed effect or blurry image.
when I print white I use a 230 mesh screen and a 1/1 coat method... p/f/p
I warm the pallet , flood the screen , push then flash 5 seconds the flood again then push again , 80 degree angle , slow stroke...seems to work for me.....
practice makes perfect.........keep trying new things until you find what works for you.
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
My solution to this problem is to use a 'dry' stroke after the print stroke. Just make another pass without a flood and without loading the squeegee with ink. - Scotty
Re: Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing
I had the same problem with Ryonet white (using a 4 color manual from Ryonet), I switched to Union Ink. To me Ryonet white was too thick and I had to reduce it with reducer to make it work. Also union maxopak inks worked a lot better, for me at least. Try a different brand of ink and see if there is a different outcome.
Also try what scottyjr stated by clearing the screen with a few passes. On dark garmets I tend to clear the screen with 2-4 strokes depending on how thick the ink is. So, flood the screen, clear the screen with 2-4 strokes, flash (just as JeridHill states in his Step 5), flood the screen, clear the screen with 2-4 strokes, repeat if necessary for desired coverage.
I'm no pro but it works for me.
Fibers off the shirt are pulling up when printing 
