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screen printing => Separations => Topic started by: Mark @ Hurricane Printing on March 23, 2014, 04:57:28 PM

Title: What frequency/angle should I use for this?
Post by: Mark @ Hurricane Printing on March 23, 2014, 04:57:28 PM: The attached image is one part of an overall design for a customer. There is some coreldraw "fountain fill" effect on the skittle candies...How should I print the film for this? I did one set of sep's already and did a 25 frequency and a 55 angle for ALL sep's involved...its all spot colors...the skittle candies have a halftone from the "fountain fill effect"...but all films are the 25 frequency and 55 angle...i haven't made the screens yet....i definitely have a halftone effect in the films for sure even though so small.

I attached two pics of it..the larger one is just so you can see the what I am talking about..the actual size of the design will be 4.6" wide by 2.2" tall....im thinking it'll be so small it wouldn't matter what frequency or angle the fountain fill is printed at....really im over thinking it i guess...its so dang small in the design.
Title: Re: What frequency/angle should I use for this?
Post by: mimosatexas on March 23, 2014, 06:11:06 PM: 25 will result in enormous dots which won't translate to a nice looking gradient. Ideally you want 22.5 or 67.5 as your angles and the frequency will depend on the mesh you choose, but a frequency of 55 will produce good results and shouldn't be hard to hold on a 230+ mesh (though I often use 45 as I print manually and 55 can be a bear to register depending on the art). The idea behind the 22.5 or 67.5 angle is the mesh is at 0 and 90 degrees, and the knuckles of the mesh are at 45 degrees, so you want to split those angles to prevent having dots fall on threads or knuckles, causing lost detail and moire issues. I won't even go into anything related to film output or things like underbasing and dot gain as others on the forum are much more experienced at that part of it. The angle thing is just simple logic.
Title: Re: What frequency/angle should I use for this?
Post by: Mark @ Hurricane Printing on March 24, 2014, 09:43:23 AM: i have a manual press...I plan on using a 230 mesh for the gradient in the skittles candies.....so 22.5/55 would be good?
Title: Re: What frequency/angle should I use for this?
Post by: tonypep on March 24, 2014, 10:10:07 AM: At a quick glance at least 8 colors. Tricky for a manual.
Title: Re: What frequency/angle should I use for this?
Post by: mimosatexas on March 24, 2014, 10:20:42 AM: I would print it as 6 (since I am limited to 6) with a few edits using the following:

white
yellow
pink
green
blue/purple
red

use halftones to imply the lighter shades. It isnt perfect, but honestly in this case perfect looks like it would be 8 or even 9 colors due to all the different tones of each color.
Title: Re: What frequency/angle should I use for this?
Post by: tonypep on March 24, 2014, 10:46:39 AM: I would be careful....this is a brand.
Title: Re: What frequency/angle should I use for this?
Post by: Mark @ Hurricane Printing on March 24, 2014, 11:36:36 AM: Quote from: tonypep on March 24, 2014, 10:46:39 AM
I would be careful....this is a brand.

its a contract job....i have nothing to do with the design...its part of a bigger design which i did not include.