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Too much bleed through by end of print run (on Flatstock)

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#1 ·
Hi,

I've been testing out Speedball recently (I have used Permaset for years but it was terrible, lord knows why I stuck with it) for paper prints and it prints well, doesn't dry in and generally provides a decent finish, however the first print is always so crisp, by midway through the print run the detail starts to get lost as ink seems to bleed though, I know it's not my mesh size as 100t (255 to Americans) is pretty damn fine for Speedball inks.

I printed this through a 100t Mesh (255 to those from the US) and this is the first print of the run


This was the last print of the run:


As you can see on the black screen the details is lost on the clock especially, it has just bled through.

It is not the screen or stencil perishing, as If I reset it up to print again, the first print will be spot on, midway same thing will happen. It could be off contact? or angle of the pull? My press is as close to the paper as it can get, or is there a trick I'm missing?

Thanks
 
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#2 ·
It's probably not your offset. I used to make posters by the hundreds with a couple hinges and a board with no problem.

Usually, what causes this for my poster runs is one of two things; either too much pressure, which is pushing excess ink through and it's building up and drying around the edges of the stencil causing gobs of it to bleed or just not print along the edges ( In our shop, the best poster printers are always the girls, because they don't want to throw 200 pounds of pressure on a screen.). That's an easy fix, just start using a higher mesh, or check the back of your screen regularly and keep it clean. I typically print posters on a minimum of 305-355 mesh and only rarely drop down to a 255 or 200 for specialty inks.

The other issue could be that your ink is too thick and is drying in the screen. Speedball is the biggest brand by virtue of just being the best known. I don't think they're remarkably high quality personally, and I usually go out and use either the apparel water-based I buy for cheap runs, or I use Golden Acrylics paints, because they come out of the jar with a solid, heavy body and both apparel acryllic and artist's acryllic are high-solids so they print nice and opaque without a lot of effort but stay wet will only a little water for a while. Regardless of what you use, try letting the ink sit out in the screen after 2-3 passes and see if letting it thicken has any effect.

It looks to me like you're having a little of both issues to be honest, which can be solved with a higher mesh and putting less ink into the screen and reloading it more often.
 
#3 ·
Yeah I thought as much, i was told more offset means less bleed, but this seems counter-intuitive, my minimum offset is about 5mm, I can't get any close to the paper than that because the rails the screen sits in prevent that from happening, so i'm wondering if that 5mm offset (which I can't lower) could be contributing to the problem.

In terms of pressure, I think this is definitely a factor, but on a manual press, it's SO hard to regulate and once you pulled one a bit too heavily (accidentally) that bleed through will show up on all prints upcoming until the underside is wiped clean, it's a pain and I need a rail affixed to me press to avoid this.

I know Speedball is far from the best, but in the UK it's pretty much the only option, we can get TW1000 range over hear but it's sold in gallons (pigment & base) which is not useful for small jobs and other than that we have little homebrew brands that are generally terrible and Permaprint inks which are the worst of all as they dry in 255t meshes after 2 pulls. I used to print through 380t (US) mesh but it was a pain to reclaim so I lowered to 100t (255t US), but might jack it up to the middle range 120t (305t US).

Thank you for your help though!
 
#4 ·
In general, the higher offset will mean that your screen is less likely to stay in contact with the flatstock, meaning any wet ink on the screen is less likely to transfer on it's own without being pushed. So a 5mm offset, while pretty big for flatstock shouldn't be killing you.

Something you can do to help minimize pressure issues is to use a harder squeegee, or increase your angle. I typically pull the squeegee at about a 75-80 degree angle for flatstock instead of a 60 degree angle for shirts. Since you're pushing into a hard surface, coverage isn't as much an issue and you can push less ink with less pressure that way.

Like I said, look into using high-quality acryllic paints. Gamblin, Golden, etc. all work pretty well for poster printing, and they come in smaller containers.

I'd also recommend stopping off at gig posters. The site got wiped out a while ago, but there's still a few folks hanging around the forums who might be able to help you and some of those guys are legends in the field.
 
#5 ·
Yeah, I think that run was roughly 80 - 70 degrees squeegee angle, Im looking into Lascaux (System 3 acrylics are a bit rubbish)

Gigposters being wiped out is one of the worst things haha, I've put a message up there but not many responses, odd ghost town vibe that board has these days.

Thanks again.
 
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