When not to use off contact?

Always Always Always use off contact!! When the screen is in the "down ready to print" position, the screen should be roughly a width of a quarter above the shirt on all 4 corners of the platen. Sometimes there are exceptions to the rule.. example: If the image area is big and there is a lot of ink going through the screen, you may want to raise the off contact just a hair more just so the ink clears the screen from the squeege pass alone if that makes sense. Also keep in mind, the higher the off contact, the tougher it is to keep the job in registration

when process (CMYK) printing you don't want off cantact (or very very little).

rudi said:

when process (CMYK) printing you don't want off cantact (or very very little).

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I am going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this.. The number one enemy to cmyk printing (assuming the seps were done correctly) is dot gain!! One of the number one causes of dot gain besides the obvious (too much squeege pressure) is incorrect off contact. With no off contact, there is no where for the ink to go but through the screen and then spread out on the shirt. 22 years of hands on printing has taught me this..

I find that the more off contact you have the greater the squeegee pressure is required (which can cause bleeding).

rudi said:

I find that the more off contact you have the greater the squeegee pressure is required (which can cause bleeding).

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This is where squeege durometer (i think that's how it's spelled)/squeege angle/squeege stroke speed come into play

what is dot gain? im new..lol

is there really a time you DONT want off contact????

so what I gather from this. Is you should always print with off contact. Thank you for your replies

Soft hand printing thru high mesh counts uses little to no off contact.

Here's my point of view. Use plastisol inks then apply off-contact. Use waterbase inks then apply with full contact.