I am ready to buy my first multi-color press. I'm going to get the 6X2 Silver from Ryonet.
I am wondering if there is a rule of thumb for when and how you can print wet on wet.
I don't have a flash unit yet, that's the next thing I'm going to buy but I will need to do a few jobs with out one so I can get the money to pay for it. I currently use the slow and painful heatgun method.
So printing wet on wet would save me time since I don't have a flash yet.
As long as your colors don't touch, and as long as you don't have to print an underbase on dark garments, you can print wet on wet. Otherwise, you can't.
Use pallet adhesive. I would set the job up least ink coverage to most ink coverage with your trap color last. You want as little ink sticking to the back of the next screens as possible. If you don't, your shirt may pick up off of the platen throwing off your registration.
i tried wet on wet, and my colors aren't touching. When I put the second color, the first color comes off the shirt and sticks on the back of the second screen. How can I stop it from doing that without flashing the first color?
I do wet on wet the majority of the time. The first color you put down will always transfer to the back of the second color screen. This is not a problem as the color will always be in the same place.
better to ask, what problem were you having with the first color on the back of the second screen?
Just my suggestion. I normally put my white down with a 200 mesh on blacks IF it is multiply colors, the color go on 300 mesh. I run my colors on a 300 mesh, printing lightest to darkest. If you don't have a flash of course this won't work. I would run 200 mesh on the colors and maybe a 150 on the Trap (last color) If you need a flash and don't have the money but have some time, go to Lowes, Home Depot, or Walmart and buy a paint stripping gun. (hand held hairdryer looking thing)
i tried wet on wet, and my colors aren't touching. When I put the second color, the first color comes off the shirt and sticks on the back of the second screen. How can I stop it from doing that without flashing the first color?
You can't stop it from transferring to the next screen if printing wet on wet. It shouldn't affect the print if you are printing on a light colored shirt. If you are printing on a colored shirt, you need to flash otherwise the ink that is picked up by the next screen will affect the look of the print.
Wet on wet (wow) is done all the time, on lights or darks. There are so many little rules and procedures to go by to accomplish wow printing that it's going to take a while to cover them all. I'll try and be brief and just go over some of the basics.
Artwork shouldn't have too much trap or overlap, butt registration is good for wow.
Use tight tensioned screens.
Keep mesh counts high for top spot colors that are going on top of the underbase, at least 156, up to 305.
We usually go a little higher for our underbase screens when there are multiple colors going on top, at least 137, up to 230.
The right inks are very important, inks specifically designed for wow printing are recommended. Not just any old plastisol is going to work right.
For light colored shirts, I print from smallest color in the design to largest. Not necessarily light to dark or dark to light.
Dark shirts are more complicated as far as print order is concerned. Some guys go from light to dark after the underbase but I like to take into account the size of the image/color just like I do on lights, and also like to consider the importance of the colors and print the most important colors in the design last.
Off contact needs to be as low as possible but still get a good peel after the print stroke. Depending on screen tension, 1/8" to 1/16" off contact should work. The tighter the screen, the less off contact you need.
Off contact needs to be very consistent from one print head to the next.
Your pallets need to be very consistent in parallelism with your print heads from on pallet to the next.
So in a nutshell, I would consider all those points very important, but the right ink, tight screens and the proper artwork (seperations) are extremely important. I'm sure there are more pointers that I forgot to mention that others will bring up.
Wet on wet (wow) is done all the time, on lights or darks. There are so many little rules and procedures to go by to accomplish wow printing that it's going to take a while to cover them all. I'll try and be brief and just go over some of the basics.
Artwork shouldn't have too much trap or overlap, butt registration is good for wow.
Use tight tensioned screens.
Keep mesh counts high for top spot colors that are going on top of the underbase, at least 156, up to 305.
We usually go a little higher for our underbase screens when there are multiple colors going on top, at least 137, up to 230.
The right inks are very important, inks specifically designed for wow printing are recommended. Not just any old plastisol is going to work right.
For light colored shirts, I print from smallest color in the design to largest. Not necessarily light to dark or dark to light.
Dark shirts are more complicated as far as print order is concerned. Some guys go from light to dark after the underbase but I like to take into account the size of the image/color just like I do on lights, and also like to consider the importance of the colors and print the most important colors in the design last.
Off contact needs to be as low as possible but still get a good peel after the print stroke. Depending on screen tension, 1/8" to 1/16" off contact should work. The tighter the screen, the less off contact you need.
Off contact needs to be very consistent from one print head to the next.
Your pallets need to be very consistent in parallelism with your print heads from on pallet to the next.
So in a nutshell, I would consider all those points very important, but the right ink, tight screens and the proper artwork (seperations) are extremely important. I'm sure there are more pointers that I forgot to mention that others will bring up.
Very good points, all of them. I couldn't have said it better, so I won't.
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Using my 6C Manual press, my 64" Mimaki CG-130EX vinyl cutter/plotter and my trusty shirt and hat presses to keep my bills mostly paid.
Well said Alan802!
You will always get some ink transfer on the bottom of the next screen when printing wet on wet, this is normal and should not effect your print. With proper setup you should be able to run over 5000 prints wet on wet without having to stop the press and/or clean screens.
Wet on Wet Printing Rule 
