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screen printing => Screen Making => Topic started by: Prosperi-Tees on May 11, 2018, 12:35:50 PM
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Curious if anyone using 225 S-Mesh can get the same detail on it as you would a standard 305T mesh screen.
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Depends on the line count of the halftone, but it is pretty close until you get down to less than 10% tonals. Consider that the 4-5% can be smaller than the thread diameter. So with a really good microscope I can measure the halftone in microns and compare to thread diameter for a quick check. Simple answer, you will lose some, especially with ink jet. Real film may have a more solid 5% eclipsed almost entirely by the thread, but that remaining crescent not eclipsed by the thread may still image whereas ink jet will suffer burn through along the edges or undercutting of stray pico liter dots. The lower the haltone count the more likely you can, the higher the halftone lpi, the more data that will be eclipsed by threads.
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from what I can remember, I feel like you can get more detail out of a 305, but 225 does remarkable well. Lets say we can hold a 5% dot on a 305, you'd probably be OK with a 7-8% on a 225. For spot color prints with fine lines, there would be no difference. Sim process you would see a bit if you are fully dialed in.
ink volume on the 225 should be significantly higher though. You can go directly onto a white shirt with it while a 305 would not deposit enough ink for good opacity.
pierre
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Awesome, thank you, I don't print nothing high end, this is for the occasional 1 color monochrome black or white image for reunions, funerals etc so I am not dealing with retail quality high end prints.
Really what I am doing is converting to all S-Mesh because I have developed pain in my hands and wrists from fatigue and the result of fatigue is poor technique which then results in joint pain. I have found the S-Mesh relieves the pressure needed to print and also helps not get labored so that your technique suffers.
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You will love the 225 s mesh then. We use it on quite a bit of projects here. For us 60lpi is standard.
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Depends on the line count of the halftone, but it is pretty close until you get down to less than 10% tonals. Consider that the 4-5% can be smaller than the thread diameter. So with a really good microscope I can measure the halftone in microns and compare to thread diameter for a quick check. Simple answer, you will lose some, especially with ink jet. Real film may have a more solid 5% eclipsed almost entirely by the thread, but that remaining crescent not eclipsed by the thread may still image whereas ink jet will suffer burn through along the edges or undercutting of stray pico liter dots. The lower the haltone count the more likely you can, the higher the halftone lpi, the more data that will be eclipsed by threads.
A lot of that is accurate, more so, pertaining to an un calibrated output using the default installed curves for inkjet DTs output.
You will not hold 1- 7% using the default curves.
Much of why you can't, is due to the 600dpi output using inkjet. ironically, WAX output is identical. The .tif files used after ripping via Harlequine rip are 600ppi halftone conversions and are identical to inkjet. The difference between the two is that the wax puts down a blob of wax that looks nice and round only because the cannot reproduce the exact shape of the pixels in the lower % tones of a 600dpi. That negative aspect is a positive for printers as the shapes of the dots look "rounder". Still, as you stated, it's all in the size of dot and the mesh thread.
The D-max on inkjet however, is excellent as well. Measured with a densitomitor at 4.8 So with "compensation" or control, one can resolve starting near 3% dot range using wax or inkjet.