I'm new to the screen printing world. any help/tips would be appreciated and thank you for the help/feedback. I have not been able to find a consistency in being able to print with white water base ink. with other waterbase ink's like black I have been able to print with them since its really watery/runny.
I am using a manual press 2 color one station, a 70 durometer squeegee, I am using spray adhesive for the shirts to stick to the platen board (even heat them up so glue can be more sticky), I am coating my screens which are 156 with macdermid plus 6000. I have my screen set up so it is 1/8 of an inch away from the platen board and I even put a washer at the end to make sure it stays consistent. The inks I have been using are green galaxy's comet white water base ink ( from ryonet) and permaset opaque white (which I bought from mclogans). Before I even put it on the screen I like to stir/mix it around. I live in los Angeles so weather isn't to bad to use this ink.
I was thinking and next thing I was going to do in a different container to add/mix the white ink and a little bit of water to make it thinner. I don't mind if I have to do extra passes so the shirt wont show. I just want to be able to print using white ink. Has anyone tried this? what are the results of doing this?
I am able to print out 1-3 shirts at the most at times that come out good/decent or not even being able to get one shirt done. the other problems I run into with the shirts are shirt's will lack ink on the shirt, ink not getting on to the shirt in some spots when I make a pass and the screen getting stuck with the shirt.
I have tried a variety of things to be able to succeed but still not able to have that consistency. I have done pull and push strokes but mainly using pull strokes. I feel one of my problems is not knowing how to properly have the pressure for the stroke and the proper angle for the squeegee. I have tried hard and soft pressures and just can not find the right way to print. sometimes when I do a semi-hard stroke the screens gets stuck to the shirt and sometimes it does not.
if it comes out right at times I usually have a spot where it missed ink or lack of ink and ill dry using my heat gun and then do another pass to hopefully get that spot it missed.
2 passes then dry and another two passes is what I do if it gets to this point.
I do have a flash dryer but not enough room to be able to use it to dry my shirts and print at the same time.
any questions or info that will further help please let me know.
thanks -ZPM-
I am using a manual press 2 color one station, a 70 durometer squeegee, I am using spray adhesive for the shirts to stick to the platen board (even heat them up so glue can be more sticky), I am coating my screens which are 156 with macdermid plus 6000. I have my screen set up so it is 1/8 of an inch away from the platen board and I even put a washer at the end to make sure it stays consistent. The inks I have been using are green galaxy's comet white water base ink ( from ryonet) and permaset opaque white (which I bought from mclogans). Before I even put it on the screen I like to stir/mix it around. I live in los Angeles so weather isn't to bad to use this ink.
I was thinking and next thing I was going to do in a different container to add/mix the white ink and a little bit of water to make it thinner. I don't mind if I have to do extra passes so the shirt wont show. I just want to be able to print using white ink. Has anyone tried this? what are the results of doing this?
I am able to print out 1-3 shirts at the most at times that come out good/decent or not even being able to get one shirt done. the other problems I run into with the shirts are shirt's will lack ink on the shirt, ink not getting on to the shirt in some spots when I make a pass and the screen getting stuck with the shirt.
I have tried a variety of things to be able to succeed but still not able to have that consistency. I have done pull and push strokes but mainly using pull strokes. I feel one of my problems is not knowing how to properly have the pressure for the stroke and the proper angle for the squeegee. I have tried hard and soft pressures and just can not find the right way to print. sometimes when I do a semi-hard stroke the screens gets stuck to the shirt and sometimes it does not.
if it comes out right at times I usually have a spot where it missed ink or lack of ink and ill dry using my heat gun and then do another pass to hopefully get that spot it missed.
2 passes then dry and another two passes is what I do if it gets to this point.
I do have a flash dryer but not enough room to be able to use it to dry my shirts and print at the same time.
any questions or info that will further help please let me know.
thanks -ZPM-