how can i avoid ink smearing when hitting wet on wet? several jobs i do have a white underlay-flash-top white-flash, then like a lemon yellow, flou green, flou pink and black. after hitting the flou pink it looks great, but when it hits the last screen, the black, it will smear. i have tried flashing the pink first before hitting the black. however, i can't do this on all jobs because of lack of heads. i have also tried slowing down the speed of flood and squeegee, and also angling them. what am i missing?
these are printed with a 10 color sportsman series machine. any input would be great!
Revolver Mode is great! Perfect for a problem like this. I use it on my Diamonback! If you don't know how to setup revolver mode and use it, you arn't getting the full benefit of using M&R! Go to www.mrprint.com and contact them, they would be more than happy to help you program the press... I am sure!
You have to learn how to print wet on wet with an auto. You can't flash after every color or use the revolver mode very often and expect to make the most out of your time. It all starts with your artwork, then proper screens that are high in tension, good stencil thickness, squeegee pressure and angle. There are so many things that go into this that it would be very difficult for me to go over everything. When working with an auto, your artwork doesn't need near as much overlap between colors, butt registration is the best way to reduce your colors from mixing together and smearing. You have to do everything right and wet on wet will work. There should be some articles that might give you more exact details and I know that some reading of these forums will give you plenty of info to get you on the right track. It's not an easy task, and I would say that repetition and experience has really been the difference for me.
Wet on wet on top of a thick plastisol underbase is going to be harder than a thinner one. Also, the right ink will play a role, some inks aren't made for WOW and no amount of technique will change your results.
I would start with using high screen tension, WOW inks, low off-contact and see if that helps.
Sounds like it could be from: Loose screens, wrong ink, too much pressure, dull squegees wrong mesh counts, improper seps, or any combination of the above. Also, there's no need to flash more than once if your doing everything right.
inks smearing- wet on wet 
