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screen printing => Screen Making => Topic started by: mk162 on April 11, 2017, 02:24:20 PM
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So we've ordered a few batches of s-mesh statics from Spot Color and I have to say I couldn't be happier with these things. If you are on the fence about s-mesh, get off it and make the move. It's seriously changed our print lives. We get better ink film, better opacity and much better prints overall with s-mesh.
We started using 180s instead of 155 mesh and it's amazing how much better they are. We aren't crazy about the 225s yet, we found that WOW printing over an underbase isn't great with these, but I think we'll use them on the next halftone underbase job we need. We've only just used up 6 of them, so we are still playing around with those.
We are going to start going through all of our traditional mesh screens and converting them into s-mesh. Again, this 180s especially are amazing.
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Co-signed! Manual printer here. We have been loving 135LX for everything that needs a flash. 225S has been great for most colours onto light garments. Printer finds it easier to clear the mesh which is a bonus. Less pressure and brighter prints.
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We use the 150s, 180s 225s and 330s is on the way to me now. All from Spot Color. If you are not using these, you are working to hard! These are that much better! And Brannon does them RIGHT!
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Agreed. I use nothing but S-mesh from Spot Color. I love the permanent blockout and calked inside of the frames, feels like I have extra protection along the edges. I'm going to try their 305 saati mesh screens next for the wet on wet stuff. 135, 150 and 180 are mainly what I stick to right now.
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Coincidentally, I am getting a 135/53s mesh from Spot Color in couple days. At the same time, I'm also ordering a couple Dynamesh 135/55 and will compare.
I spoke with Joe Clark and he suggested giving the Dynamesh a try (for the same purposes of the S mesh) on his synergy base white. He seemed to think that Dynamesh might work out for the better (with his whites). We will see.
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Have had some newman rollers with Smesh for a while and still have some with regular mesh. I'm always bummed when I have to use the regular mesh. Just wish the Smesh was just as strong as the Tmesh or whatever it's called. Have broken a few Smesh and that's not fun. Please someone out there make a Smesh that is super strong. haha dreaming.
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We only had one issue when we bumped a screen with the corner of another. It wasn't bad enough to lose the screen, but we did realize how much more careful you need to be.
It's worth the trade-off though.
I am bummed when we have to print white through a regular mesh screen.
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Bout time :)
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I've got some Dynamesh screens had them for years now and they are really good screens, don't know why I didn't buy more, but believe it or not these screens are still around 16 and 18 n not bad in my book for these old screens. I bought some S-mesh awhile back 135,150 and 180's and I'll say they are as good as advertised, gotta give spot color a call and get some from them.
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Regarding the re-stretch from Spot Color, have you been able to get rid of tape with their permanent block out/calked edges?
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We use water base from Virus and Amex exclusively with Murakami S Mesh stretched on Shur-lock frames , I have found that anything less than 225 mesh and the ink drips through the screen if we stop the press for even a short time.
It is more of an issue with thin viscosity colours like green, and less so with white but it is an issue.
I've tried using higher mesh counts, but then opacity becomes an issue. It's a conundrum that I have not found an answer for.
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We use water base from Virus and Amex exclusively with Murakami S Mesh stretched on Shur-lock frames , I have found that anything less than 225 mesh and the ink drips through the screen if we stop the press for even a short time.
It is more of an issue with thin viscosity colours like green, and less so with white but it is an issue.
I've tried using higher mesh counts, but then opacity becomes an issue. It's a conundrum that I have not found an answer for.
I got an answer but you and the WB boys won't like it :)
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We use water base from Virus and Amex exclusively with Murakami S Mesh stretched on Shur-lock frames , I have found that anything less than 225 mesh and the ink drips through the screen if we stop the press for even a short time.
It is more of an issue with thin viscosity colours like green, and less so with white but it is an issue.
I've tried using higher mesh counts, but then opacity becomes an issue. It's a conundrum that I have not found an answer for.
I never had that issue. Not on 150-S which is the lowest we go. No discharge dripping. Do you gotsome thick layer of ink sitting on top of the image area?
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Yes, it occurs when we stop the press and the screen is flooded to prevent the ink drying in the image.
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I got an answer but you and the WB boys won't like it :)
I'm all ears, there are no rights and wrongs in this game so I am quickly learning.
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Hint: Seaweed
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Care to elaborate? Seaweed?
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Perhaps our Amphibian friend can do a search from a few ys back
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I can't speak for waterbase but of the 100 screens I only had 5 of regular mesh left and they were 156's in perfectly good shape that I scrapped and replaced them with 150's. S mesh has made all the difference here.
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We dabbled in WB inks for a year or so. I decided to try and become better plastisol printers and that's what we did. WB inks have a lot of value for many shops, but not ours. Our plastisol prints aren't heavy handed, of course they are thicker than WB prints. Our customers like what we give them and the ones we tried to move towards WB/DC didn't really like it. I don't want to further derail the thread but my advice was to use plastisol instead. I guess sort of tongue in cheek because I don't expect any WB/DC shop to switch back to plastisol, but I do think about this topic every time I read that someone has an issue with WB inks, or HSA, or whatever. But that's a whole other thread and one that I really don't have the time to argue about these days.
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I like S-mesh. Great detail, faster to coat and reclaim, and it has a great opacity/ink volume ratio with plastisol.
If it took as much abuse as T mesh I wouldn't even consider anything else.
As it is, it's more of a 'magic bullet' for me, but one I would miss if I couldn't get them.
A postscript for the ghost:
Orion found the good post.
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I switched over to almost all S-mesh (murakami statics mostly, couple custom stretched statics using Saati's thin thread option as well). It is incredible. Improves so many things. Don't be a dumbass and the screens hold up just as well as standard mesh. (I have had my share of dumbass moments with both kinds of mesh of course)
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S-mesh. Is that something new?
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Dave you funny ;D, but I know you've been in the game long enough to know S-mesh as been around for many years for a different type of printing and now that type of printng has all but gone digital s-mesh is kind of new to us T-shirt printers.
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S-mesh. Is that something new?
It is absolutely insane that it has been around as long as it has yet is still being used in the vast minority of textile shops. I've said it many times but there is no reason why a textile shop should be using standard mesh counts. The shops that have tried it then went back to standard mesh actually exist (one in my neck of the woods) which makes me even more astonished. The only thing standard mesh counts do better than thin is durability. But I've got 5 year-old 180's and 100/71's laying around and if you handle thin thread correctly then there is no way they shouldn't last for hundreds of thousands of print strokes.
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So now you're calling me old D? (OK, I am)
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I was going to disagree, but instead I'll just add: Good luck newbs! ;D
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Hint: Seaweed
http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,7824.msg79408.html#msg79408 (http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,7824.msg79408.html#msg79408)
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interesting thread. does the sodium alginate cause any issues with screen open time, vibrance, dischargability, washability, etc? I can see that solving some issues when manually printing higher color counts of some brands of DC ink.
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Should I throw a wrench in here and say I use 200s mesh? In between 180 and 225 just gotta be careful with the math on screen moire.
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It is absolutely insane that it has been around as long as it has yet is still being used in the vast minority of textile shops.
There are a lot who have probably never heard of it. I hadn't until reading about here on TSB. Our usual suppliers don't carry it, and I never encountered any articles about it, so it wasn't even on my radar. And I've been kicking myself, because we ordered a bunch of new screens just before learning about it here. Next round of screens, though, you guys have definitely convinced me to get on the S-mesh train.
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Should I throw a wrench in here and say I use 200s mesh? In between 180 and 225 just gotta be careful with the math on screen moire.
I've noticed the specs on the 200 and on paper it looks like a great option. I've never pulled the trigger on testing it out though. I like 225's for top color work, but I've always felt like there was too big of a gap between the 180 and 225. I LOVE having 150's and 180's in our inventory even though they are really close so putting in a 200 seems like a good idea to me. I know it's just another mesh count to complicate things but as long as I'm choosing the mesh counts for all the jobs we never have issues with having so many different counts to choose from. For many shops though, sticking with as few mesh counts as possible is still the safest route to take. It really depends on how/who is making the choices on mesh counts to use and if they have the knowledge to make it work. I think we could get along just fine if we had 20 different mesh counts in our inventory but not every shop would get along well with that setup.