I have recently purchased a screen printing starter kit and have just started printing first Tee's. I have exposed my screen which is 43T, it is a block of text and I am printing opaque white on a dark 100% cotton fabric. I am am using a water based ink and when I have printed the Tee the ink goes through the Tee and on to my platten. Is this normal practice? The the Screen printed T-Shirts I have purchased from stores in the past do not have visible ink inside them.
Re: ink going through my Tee and on to the platten
Try less pressure on the squeegie print stroke. A flood stroke before the print stroke and a bit of off contact. I assume 43T is the actual mesh size. What is the mesh count...exmp.110, 165, 230 etc.?
Re: ink going through my Tee and on to the platten
Quote:
Originally Posted by russtle
Hi Everyone,
I have recently purchased a screen printing starter kit and have just started printing first Tee's. I have exposed my screen which is 43T, it is a block of text and I am printing opaque white on a dark 100% cotton fabric. I am am using a water based ink and when I have printed the Tee the ink goes through the Tee and on to my platten. Is this normal practice? The the Screen printed T-Shirts I have purchased from stores in the past do not have visible ink inside them.
I hope this makes sense.
Thanks!
Your shirt can be too thin, your mesh could be too coarse for waterbased inks....could also be your technique.
Last edited by TeddyRocky; June 30th, 2008 at 10:51 PM.
Re: ink going through my Tee and on to the platten
that's what I was thinking too, that the mesh is too coarse.
And yeah, maybe back off of the pressure on your squeegee and find thicker shirts.
But, if your mesh is too coarse, you're going to push it through your shirt, for sure.
Re: ink going through my Tee and on to the platten
Quote:
Originally Posted by MotoskinGraphix
I assume 43T is the actual mesh size.
43T is the metric mesh count, equivalent to 110 in imperial measurements.
So there's been three suggestions in the thread so far,
1) Shirt too thin
2) Squeegee technique
3) Mesh too coarse
It's not the mesh. That's not to say you couldn't use a higher count (although with waterbased opaque white it's probably not the best idea), but 43T/110 is perfectly capable of giving a good print. It could be the shirt. It's probably the technique; ink doesn't need to be mashed into the shirt. Could also be a combination of 1 and 2.
Some ink coming through to the platen here and there isn't unusual (the occasional stuff up basically), but it shouldn't be significant, or happening with every shirt.
Re: ink going through my Tee and on to the platten
Quote:
Originally Posted by MotoskinGraphix
What does the T actually stand for?
I've always assumed Thread, but I could be wrong about that 43T = 43 threads per CM, just as 110 is 110 per inch. The T is basically to avoid confusion between metric and imperial (it helps, but obviously it can still be pretty confusing). On the other hand it (T) also indicates monofilament mesh, versus multifilament mesh having counts like 10XX, etc. So I could be wrong about what it stands for.
One of the things I like about it is it also makes it obvious it's a mesh count: if you have 43 written on the side of a screen it could theoretically mean the screen is 43cm long. If it says 43T you know it's referring to the mesh count. Okay that particular scenario is stretching it, but the point is glancing at a page of numbers it stands out.
Re: ink going through my Tee and on to the platten
Cheers for the feedback everyone!
I bought some Tee material to practice before using actual Tee's. Now I have compared both fabrics, the sample does seen lighter than the Tee. So that is defiantly one factor to considered.
I'll also try it again using less pressure and think I may have been a little heavy on the squeegie.
Regarding the mesh, this is a rough guide I was given by my screen supplier and I used the second down 43T:
Here is a guideline to help choose the correct thread count:
36T-Textiles; Heavy Colour (eg Opaque White) and heavy fabric 43T-General Textiles 48T-General Textiles with finer detail 61T-Textiles;smooth and light fabric, Half-Tone, General 77T-Textiles; extreemely light material, Graphics, General 110-140T Textiles; extreemely light, Half tone Graphics, artwork with finer detail
We recommend using 43T for the majority of textile work.
Hope this makes more sense and thanks for the feedback.
ink going through my Tee and on to the platten 
43T = 43 threads per CM, just as 110 is 110 per inch. The T is basically to avoid confusion between metric and imperial (it helps, but obviously it can still be pretty confusing). On the other hand it (T) also indicates monofilament mesh, versus multifilament mesh having counts like 10XX, etc. So I could be wrong about what it stands for.
