ok, so its embarrassing that im having a problem printing on a white shirt, printed these last night. The image looks fine when you lay the shirt down, but when you pick it up you can sorta see thru it, and you can see where the ink dose not look consistently thick. I was printing thru a 160 mesh screen at around 25 newtons, pull flood, push print (push print twice). When i would finish the print stroke it would look like i was still leaving ink in the screen, but just a very small mottled look, almost like there was dry ink stuck in the screen.
what did i do wrong ?
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If your not clearing the screen then it's either not enough squeegee pressure or your screen is clogged.
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Try a lower mesh count. I was printing some shirts, navy ink on yellow shirts on our automatic press with a 220 mesh screen. After we finished the next day the customer wanted one more so i did it on our manual press with the same screen and it just seemed like no matter how many passes i gave it it would do this.
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It looks like you need to spray some screen opener on the screen. It definitely looks like the result of a clogged screen.
-Jim
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-Jim
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Sometimes when you use a push stroke it will put more ink on the shirt. Are you only laying down 1 layer of ink or are you doing a print flash print?
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Is the screen mesh new? After a screen has been reclaimed many times, it can become more difficult to force ink through it which can result in weak looking prints. A quick fix is to give each print a couple of extra strokes.
Make sure your stroke completely clears the stencil so the ink will shear through the mesh and onto the shirt. Experiment with speed, squeegee angle, and pressure until you get the feel for it. You'll know when it feels just right. Some inks will require a slow stroke at medium pressure, and others will require a rapid stroke with higher pressure.
Make sure your stencil is good by holding the screen up to a bright light. You should be able to see clearly through the open areas of the stencil. If it looks foggy or splotchy, chances are that the screen was underexposed. If so, rinse it very thoroughly with water and see if you can open it up. If it is underexposed you will be able to see some scummy stuff rinsing off on the squeegee side of the screen. Continue rinsing until all of this is gone.
Make sure your stroke completely clears the stencil so the ink will shear through the mesh and onto the shirt. Experiment with speed, squeegee angle, and pressure until you get the feel for it. You'll know when it feels just right. Some inks will require a slow stroke at medium pressure, and others will require a rapid stroke with higher pressure.
Make sure your stencil is good by holding the screen up to a bright light. You should be able to see clearly through the open areas of the stencil. If it looks foggy or splotchy, chances are that the screen was underexposed. If so, rinse it very thoroughly with water and see if you can open it up. If it is underexposed you will be able to see some scummy stuff rinsing off on the squeegee side of the screen. Continue rinsing until all of this is gone.
This is easy to fix. I don't know what it is about red ink but it just seems to feel different compared to other colors. I'm assuming you are using standard opacity ink for the white shirt. If you were using high opacity red you won't have that problem. Some people like doing that but they are just wasting ink. This is what you do. When you push the squeegee try and keep the angle almost straight. When you are ready to do the print stroke make the squeegee straight up then angle it toward you a little. It may feel weird at first but once you do it many times it will eventually feel natural. Do the same for the second push stroke, make sure there is enough ink left on top of the design to do the second push stroke. Don't just stroke the squeegee just for the sake of clearing the screen. Having leftover ink when you do your second push stroke will keep the screen lubricated. If you stroke too fast on a dry screen you might cause enough friction to clump the ink on the screen, but that is not the cause of your problem. Just fix your angle and it will be corrected. I'm going to assume everything else checks out (screen tension, off contact, etc.). Just print two push strokes with standard opacity ink with the almost straight angle. No flash off-course. Save time save money save power.
im using a 160, i guess i could try 110, only have a few more to do, so probably just stick with what i have for now.
just doing a pull flood, then 2 quick push strokes
its not new but no more than 3-4 reclaims with maybe 200 prints thru it total, ill take a closer look before i print the few more i need to do, and im going to try a little slower with the push stroke.
its no longer on the press, but we have a piece of cardboard taped to the top of the platten where the screen lands to always keep the off contact
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