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screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: Gilligan on February 12, 2012, 02:48:45 AM
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I just printed a few shirts and this was black on white on my manual.
Granted it's a static frame (200 mesh) and the tension is weak (11n-13n)... but still my off contact was high enough that I WAS actually clearing the screen... it just wasn't as clear as I'd have liked it to be... maybe I'm expecting too much.
I've read over and over you should be able to do one hit black on white and I'd agree with that. But I can't get it... well, I do but not as well as I would like. Not enough ink being laid down.
I'm flooding the screen firmly (as Bill Hood would say, "fill stroke") and then I try to push with as light of a stroke as I can to not bury the ink into the shirt. When it's all said and done it looks "good enough"... but every now and then I get one that just a little weak in some areas and all the rest are so close to being weak. This job was some half tone work so I couldn't really double stroke it or it would add too much dot gain... Granted part of that problem is my 25lpi being too large to make my halftones really pretty... but still, I should be able to do ONE hit right?
I tried slowing down, that seemed to help a bit. I'm also using a triple durometer squeegee that is fairly sharp (certainly not dull).
What else can I do?
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There ia lot going on here based on some of the same stuff we discovered.
My first thought is you are trying to to hard to not to press too hard on the print stroke.
Being human the physical consistancy we apply is never the same twice let alone twice in a row. add to that you awareness of dot gain and weak screens you are what I will call limit faulting. You have set in mind a careful energy limit to the print stroke and every pass that does not acheive that target falls short thus your resuklts.
On the other hand when you have no concern for over pressure the limit fault becomes typical fault in that sometimes you way over print and sometimes way under print but then will reprint when you visually identify a weakness of the ink deposit.
Bottom line it is in you art, lpi, weak screen tension / off contact and mostly your tecnique and awareness .
One last comment and this will get me banned possibly...i have stopped reading anything Bill Hood wrights, he seems, in my opinion, to have a purist + utopian view of the the world he lives in which I find absolutely no relative association to reality. Bill, i believe, prints on another planet where everything always works perfectly first time every time.
mooseman
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To Gilligan, I'd say that you either need more muscle or thinner ink. Also, if there is any consistency at all to where the ink doesn't clear, you may want to look at your pallets for unevenness.
To Moose, I have to reassure you that your particular comment here about Bill will not get you in trouble, and I will even point out that though I have tremendous problems with his delivery, I will be one of the first to say that he is a fountain of knowledge. Just bring your rain gear.
And I also like the term "fill". We are in fact, by flooding the screen with ink, filling the image area, in preparation of transferring it to the substrate.
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Yeah, one hit white on black seems impossible no matter how many times I watch his videos so I can appreciate your point of view there. I only used it as a reference to exactly what I am doing as not to confuse anyone when I tried to describe what I did (and save you guys a paragraph of my typing. ;) )
Frog, pressure I think I got... I mean these were light weight tri-blends but I was getting ghost images on the platen at times so I know I was pushing hard... this led me to lighten up thinking I might be driving it too deep. I actually find it hard to lighten up (in my perspective) when you use a push stroke... My squeegee is at maybe 20-30 degree angle (from vert). I feel if I want to lighten up I have to increase my angle or I can't get the squeegee to get moving with out adding downward pressure. Again, I'm sure my technique lacks a lot.
As far as consistency and possible platen problems... I guess I might should clarify what I mean by not completely clearing. It almost leaves the screen with a slight peppered look. It's not blotchy it's just specks of ink in certain sections.
I attached a pic that has a slight example... I'd say I had a little bit more of that going on in my screen last night.
This is why I tend to think it's just the amount of ink getting laid down. Maybe I should thin the ink? I stir my ink a good bit before I load the screen and then I work it in the screen a bit too. Once I start printing I print at a decent rate (30 seconds a shirt), not blazing but I'm keeping the ink moving. It's not ridiculously cold in my shop or anything... upper 60's lower 70's maybe? I didn't have the Central Air on but it was cold as hell out last night (my building is well insulated).
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Gilligan: Garment Screen-Printing is an interesting process where sometimes the solution can be counter intuitive to what you would expect. For example, you’re not getting enough ink lay down so the obvious answer is to push harder, or to use a softer squeegee and/or an increased squeegee angle. Maybe the ink is too thick so it should be thinned down some. But, you’re already getting a ghost image showing through the garment and onto the printing pallet. This could mean that the ink is already too thin, and that reducing viscosity will only add to your problems. What to do, what to do? You need to remember Rule Number 1. and get back to basics, because all of the problems that you are experiencing could be the result of not having your press and stencil mechanics under control.
IMO you need to get set-up with a couple of sharp squeegees of varying durometer, you need to have a selection of screens of varying mesh counts that are tensioned at 20N or greater (25T to 30T is better), you need to ensure that your stencil provides a suitable amount of Emulsion Over Mesh (EOM) to provide a decent gasket to allow the ink to release, your press needs to be set with the correct level of off-contact for the garment and the ink that you are printing with, and finally you need to apply the correct squeegee and floor stroke speed, pressure and angle consistently throughout the run. Bottom line, other than mixing the ink well before printing I would not be messing with it until after you address those other issues first.
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adjust your off contact! that is your problem. From what your describing, thats how I would fix it.
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Well, when you get some decent mesh stretched up on those MZX's you might see an immense difference, check that email.
I had success with one pass white on statics way back using the "what the hell is that long-bearded Texan doing in that video" approach but only on 135 and down which meant they were about 20n/cm. As Mr. Walsh pointed out, this appears to be the line for tension. Under this and problems abound that aren't worth the energy to troubleshoot. Up the tension and move on to happier printing.
Kudos to Bill, bless his heart, for promoting the concept in layman's terms (that Joe Clark lays out in much more technical detail) of plastisol printing being a load/eject process with proper loading and good shearing/pumping being the ticket to laying ink onto rather than into garments. But as you've seen others alluding to, the guy is a little too far out in right field on some things. I've never seen a video of his that showed a true one hit white by my own standards. They are often tan ink prints which makes a very big difference in ink rheology and, if you were to look closely at many of these you'd find them to be inferior to a p/f/p with an underbase on a higher mesh counts.
So don't get juked by those videos into thinking that one hit whites are something you need to be doing on a daily basis. They are very possible and superior to flashing one certain print runs but require the wrangling of many of the variables that seem to be running wild for you right now. Once you get the screens tensioned up, the press in good parallel and the eom under control, revisit the idea.
But you should be clearing your white ink in a single pass. You know from working on press how critical this is to avoid excessive gain and have a smooth and registered underbase. Take that mesh count down and thin the white a tiny bit at a time until it works.
The little pock marks in the print, I get those too sometimes. They're frustrating and a mystery to me but I think it has something to do with the fill stroke and fill/print speed. I often resolve them by doing a dry stroke to clear. I want to clarify that this isn't the shape and texture of the matted down fibers you're seeing but little tiny craters in the white print?
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Your expecting to much, it's just printed underwear for God sakes! Hit it twice, move on and go fishing or hunting would be better this time of year.;)
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I got a batch of black ink from international coatings that was so thick out the bucket that my arms hurt trying to work it. I had to add about 20% reducer to get it to flow right.
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I find off contact or squeegee angle to usually be the culprit. Shear the ink and get a good rolling peel behind the squeegee.
That said, just hit it again and get on with life is good advice.
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Bottom line, other than mixing the ink well before printing I would not be messing with it until after you address those other issues first.
Thanks Peter, I read all of that (not just the quoted part.. just saving space). I agree and I plan on fixing a lot of those issues. As Zoo said, I got some mxz's that I'll be setting up soon. I'm just using what I got now to get jobs done.
adjust your off contact! that is your problem. From what your describing, thats how I would fix it.
Hey Jason, in what way. I'd say I have 3/16s of an inch OC and it LOOKS like it's pealing just find behind the squeegee. I notice when the shirt isn't sticking to the board the difference so I think it is pealing properly behind and that I have enough OC. Unless you are saying I might have TOO much.
I'm on an Antec legend with rear clamps and I set it up with a TINY bit of umm.. "slope" from front to back. That way as the weight of pushing on the squeegee happens it makes for "level" off contact. This may be completely wrong but it made sense in my head. I set my OC by pushing on the screen to the platen in the back and seeing if the OC levels out.
Well, when you get some decent mesh stretched up on those MZX's you might see an immense difference, check that email.
I had success with one pass white on statics way back using the "what the hell is that long-bearded Texan doing in that video" approach but only on 135 and down which meant they were about 20n/cm. As Mr. Walsh pointed out, this appears to be the line for tension. Under this and problems abound that aren't worth the energy to troubleshoot. Up the tension and move on to happier printing.
Oh, no I'm not worried about one hit white any more. I'm just using that technique to improve my one hit dark ON light. I was printing BLACK ON white, not the other way around. I will be PFP'ing as that one hit white never works.
But I agree, I'll be getting those mxz's up as soon as possible (with in reason of my lazy arse will) ;).
I find off contact or squeegee angle to usually be the culprit. Shear the ink and get a good rolling peel behind the squeegee.
That said, just hit it again and get on with life is good advice.
Yeah, I think I might try going 35 LPI... maybe 45... but that is part of my issue I think.
This artwork was funky to start with... he approved the test print so I went with it. (no, I don't test print for many people.. he's a friend that had had some bad experience with printers not knowing how to print half tones.)
So basically the enemy that I'm battling here is tension? I can accept that. I'd try to understand that more sense I know so many shops running statics but then again, I also see that they don't do that good of a job with them very much. Their auto's help them get through most of it I think.
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Here goes my spill on newmans vs. static. Newmans are great if you maintain and retension and can build them perfectly. I used them for 14 years and just assumed they were the norm. I recently quit the big shop I worked for and opened my own shop, and guess what? I switched to static frames and I will NEVER look back! By far easier to use, clean, purchase, maintain, and you know what else? I CAN PRINT JUST AS GOOD WITH THEM! There has not been even 1 frame to bust since I started to use them. We used to break mesh in newmans EVERYDAY. Again, if you got a full time guy who can maintain newmans correctly, they are good. But, do you? We ran 4 Large autos and 2 manuals and never had time to retension and maintain them as you should. If you don't, they are not even as good as statics. This is my opinion after 15 years of screen printing.
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But there are small, even one man shops that use them with a different experience.
I'd actually venture to say that you would bust less screens with a smaller operation than a large one. Ask Alan how many he would bust if it was just him. He sees those guys throw them around with out a care for them... that is part of the problem with larger shops. Employees just don't give a crap as much.
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Black ink on a white shirt can be a pain manually. I know what you’re talking about sometimes the ink does not look dark enough. I see this sometimes when I pull the shirt off and put it on the dryer. When this happens I almost always thin my black ink down with reducer. What your doing is not getting enough ink down with enough pressure. The ink that is on the shirt is not penetrating the fibers enough.
Black ink on a white shirt is not like white ink on a black shirt. You don't print them the same. You don't modify your inks the same. Off contact for black ink is not important. Tight screens for black ink is not important. This is the easiest print you can do. You are trying to do it like a white ink print. Thin the ink and print it hard.
In is video you can see the way I print manually. I do a flood stroke then a print stroke followed by a clear stroke. Some people would say its over kill or just another step. I do it to make sure the print is right. With the clear stoke you are making sure all the ink is out of the stencil and on the shirt. (printing this way also works great for white ink)
Hope this helps. 1 color screen printing with halftones on t-shirts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S646tSoBKfQ#)
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Wow... ok, I'm printing WAY harder than that... even when I'm trying to be light about it.
How much off contact is that?
I guess I need to drop my handle down some and increase the angle. I'm coming up way higher and pushing way harder over the top of my squeegee.
Interesting.
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Wow... ok, I'm printing WAY harder than that... even when I'm trying to be light about it.
How much off contact is that?
I guess I need to drop my handle down some and increase the angle. I'm coming up way higher and pushing way harder over the top of my squeegee.
Interesting.
On my manual I set all my screens at zero off contact and then move it up as needed. If the ink is thin it stays at zero. If its a thick ink I may get to 2/16ths.
Try printing a shirt the same way I did in the video and you will be fine.
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Black ink on a white shirt is not like white ink on a black shirt. You don't print them the same. You don't modify your inks the same. Off contact for black ink is not important. Tight screens for black ink is not important. This is the easiest print you can do. You are trying to do it like a white ink print. Thin the ink and print it hard.
Heartily disagree with just about all of that. But to each their own of course. I print black almost exactly the same as white- hard fill stroke, medium-fast push stroke to print. In fact, I try to sort of normalize the fill/stroke on all the inks I print to ensure better registration. Two strokes means I did something wrong before printing. I'm printing a full back 11x17ish this way right now on 350 pcs and I'm sure glad I don't have to add another stroke.
I typically add 20-50% soft hand or a mix of soft hand and fashion base to WFX Epic Matte Black. Did the same when I used QCM 911. I found both blacks to print just fine out of the bucket but prefer the softer hand and decreased gloss with them based down a touch. It's weird I hear lots of people having this issue with black ink not clearing but I've never really had a problem. Maybe some brands are using all the scrap pigment to make black and it has bad print properties as a result? I do notice that a fully opaque, spot black needs to get moving, as most all inks do before loosening up.
Tension and OC are always important. Test this yourself. Make a nice monochrome screen of a black and white photo that you'll print with black only and test the difference between that screen properly set up and cleared in a single clean stroke and the way you were doing it in the video.
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The shirt is the problem. sometimes they're so thin you can't get any more ink on or in them.
This could be one of those time when you want a thicker creamier black for better stand up on the fibers versus a thin flowing ink.
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I wanted a distraction to let my achin bones rest so here's a clip and two pics of what I'm talking about.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U7gc4ya-EsQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
(http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad253/Z00_CITY/back.jpg)
(http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad253/Z00_CITY/closeup.jpg)
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Chris, that is pretty much what I was doing towards the end. To be more clear, that is when I would get the LIGHTEST stroke I could do comfortably.
Before that I was doing a good heavier. I'll have to film myself.
This is on Bodek's Next tri-blend 4.3 oz... so it definitely is a THIN shirt!
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Black ink on a white shirt is not like white ink on a black shirt. You don't print them the same. You don't modify your inks the same. Off contact for black ink is not important. Tight screens for black ink is not important. This is the easiest print you can do. You are trying to do it like a white ink print. Thin the ink and print it hard.
Heartily disagree with just about all of that. But to each their own of course. I print black almost exactly the same as white- hard fill stroke, medium-fast push stroke to print. In fact, I try to sort of normalize the fill/stroke on all the inks I print to ensure better registration. Two strokes means I did something wrong before printing. I'm printing a full back 11x17ish this way right now on 350 pcs and I'm sure glad I don't have to add another stroke.
I typically add 20-50% soft hand or a mix of soft hand and fashion base to WFX Epic Matte Black. Did the same when I used QCM 911. I found both blacks to print just fine out of the bucket but prefer the softer hand and decreased gloss with them based down a touch. It's weird I hear lots of people having this issue with black ink not clearing but I've never really had a problem. Maybe some brands are using all the scrap pigment to make black and it has bad print properties as a result? I do notice that a fully opaque, spot black needs to get moving, as most all inks do before loosening up.
Tension and OC are always important. Test this yourself. Make a nice monochrome screen of a black and white photo that you'll print with black only and test the difference between that screen properly set up and cleared in a single clean stroke and the way you were doing it in the video.
I do not disagree with you on your points. When I said it’s not important I should have said not as important as printing white. I print the same way (flood - print - clear) on all my prints Manually. I print it fast, much faster than in the video. I only do the clear stroke to insure that I got all the ink out of the screen. It’s not needed every time but the time you needed it, you did it. I am not trying to print as fast as I can just to get it done. I print to make sure that each shirt is as consistent and accurate. You can get good speed with this print style because you don't have to worry about quality. I timed myself once I printed this way at about 150 white on black and 300 black on whites without having to worry about a bad print. I knew that my post and my video would spark some doubts in the way that I print but I knew showing this to Gilligan would help him with his prints. I was just trying to help Gilligan.
I wanted to add I also use alot high mesh than most. I don't even own a 110 screen (ok this is going to spark more people) That is another reason for the clear stroke. I try to make all my prints as thin and smooth as possible. The added work is well worth it to me.
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Hope I didn't offend and copy that on the dry/clearing stroke and it being a nice buffer when working long runs. It's easy to get distracted on these and miss a bad print so I do that to from time to time. But I know it's avoidable so I strive for the one stroke. Likewise, not judging or getting up on high horse, just trying to help both you all out as I learned most of this the hard way but much of it form other printers on forums like this. We should all be ripping each others technique apart and driving each other to improve, even where we don't agree.
Also, this ties back into Peter's suggestion to try everything else before messing with the ink. Find the lowest/highest acceptable mesh counts for your inks, unmodified, and use this as a start point.
And honestly I don't have much of a choice. I shed some staff last year and am now doing all the printing for as long as I can hold out. Some days it's a battle against time if I want to avoid pulling another all nighter....and speaking of, I better get back to it.
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Hope I didn't offend
I was not offended. I do things different than most. I have tried every way to print manually. I ended up where I am now not for speed, ease of printing or the right way of printing. I ended up this way because it gave me the best repeatable quality and at a fast pace.
Something to try: After seeing your video I would like to suggest a change to your printing. Not to be right but to save you on wear and tear on your shoulders. When you do your flood stroke put the screen down. Don't hold it up like that. If you have off contact you will have no problem with making contact with the shirt. You will also have a more controlled flood since you will be using 2 hands. Just try it and see how much easier it is on the arms. I am a one man shop and when your doing alot of printing small changes like this can make getting up the next day easier.
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Tension and OC are always important. Test this yourself. Make a nice monochrome screen of a black and white photo that you'll print with black only and test the difference between that screen properly set up and cleared in a single clean stroke and the way you were doing it in the video.
Zoo,
I wanted to show you one of my black prints on white I did this last week. This was on a 156 with about 18n static, OC next to nothing with unions black ink printed manually flood/push print/clear on a gildan 6.1.
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Well that there is a good looking print coming off a setup like that. I guess it proves that you have a lot of room to work with in certain scenarios. The low-tension static with no o.c. and a double stroke yielded similar results to my fancy roller frames, triple-duro blade, careful off contact and fill stroke method. If you think about it, a lot more labor went into my setup pre-press than yours but yours did the same job when it came to spot color fills of black on lights.
Here's the catch though- if we did a side by side on this with white ink on darks we might see another result. My approach is to treat every screen the same no matter how difficult or simple the print. I probably lose a little on some work and win a little on others with this approach.
Thanks for the tip on not lifting the screen. Sucks for me but I can't leave it down with the hard flood. It would inevitably print the shirt on the flood. I had one employee use his belt buckle/stomach to rest the top of the screen and do the flood two handed. If you listen in the vid you can hear the blade whistling on the flood. There's about as much pressure as a print stroke going on there.
It's a trade-off: One thing that the method in the quick video allows is consistency across printers. If you have the mesh type, tension, eom, off contact and ink under control you can have multiple printers pull identical, and I mean really close to each other, prints with the hard fill method as it meters out just as much ink as the stencil allows during the fill stroke. It takes a lot of the high-level skill out of the process and lets your printers focus on their stroke pressure, speed and angle.
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Keep it coming guys... I'm reading every bit of it!
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Well that there is a good looking print coming off a setup like that. I guess it proves that you have a lot of room to work with in certain scenarios. The low-tension static with no o.c. and a double stroke yielded similar results to my fancy roller frames, triple-duro blade, careful off contact and fill stroke method. If you think about it, a lot more labor went into my setup pre-press than yours but yours did the same job when it came to spot color fills of black on lights.
Here's the catch though- if we did a side by side on this with white ink on darks we might see another result. My approach is to treat every screen the same no matter how difficult or simple the print. I probably lose a little on some work and win a little on others with this approach.
Thanks for the tip on not lifting the screen. Sucks for me but I can't leave it down with the hard flood. It would inevitably print the shirt on the flood. I had one employee use his belt buckle/stomach to rest the top of the screen and do the flood two handed. If you listen in the vid you can hear the blade whistling on the flood. There's about as much pressure as a print stroke going on there.
It's a trade-off: One thing that the method in the quick video allows is consistency across printers. If you have the mesh type, tension, eom, off contact and ink under control you can have multiple printers pull identical, and I mean really close to each other, prints with the hard fill method as it meters out just as much ink as the stencil allows during the fill stroke. It takes a lot of the high-level skill out of the process and lets your printers focus on their stroke pressure, speed and angle.
Zoo,
I am not challenging you in any way. I am the kind of person that is always looking for a better way to do something. Not just better for speed, quality or equiptment but the best of all of them. I have never printed with rollers. I owned about 12 at one time but sold them because they sat for too long. I just didn't have the time to learn something new. (I know I should have tried them, I did make about $100 on reselling them) I have only been printing for 3 years and I have changed my printing style numerous times and this is where I stayed. I am now going through the same steps on my auto. I can print well on it but I know I can do much better. Its not the press its me. I can print great shirts manually, I would challenge anyone on print quality and be confident it would be close. On my auto, I still need to get better. I would say I am about 85% there (I have very high standards). The last 15% will take about a year. I am trying to figure everything out on statics then move to EZ frames. I know tension helps alot but I also know it can be done with less. My statics are 15n to about 24n more are over 20n then under.
Below is a few pics of other prints I had laying around, same print style for white and colors. The close up on the white is at 800% I think.
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Right there with ya. I guess I don't think I feel challenged but if I do, it's in a good way!
On those white print pics- I see room for improvement and, by my eye, I think either tension, o.c. or preferably both would be those improvements and easy ones to make. Note the little columns of ink sticking up in the shape of the mesh, this could go with just a little o.c. or a little more tension. Gotta stick to my guns on that. I've ran statics just like you and I'm here to tell ya, every couple newtons over 20 that you can get makes a huge difference all the way up to about 35-40. Higher than that, you need to make an epic leap to like 60 n/cm to see a big difference. But down at the lower end you really notice it. I wish there was a way you could try just one screen at 35 n/cm. Same mesh as your statics.
I too seem to change at least something in my methods every year or so. Those of us who dedicate themselves to making good prints will do so with all the methods we decide to screw around with is what I've found so far. The rest comes down to personal preference and the market you're serving.
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In response to the original post...If you're printing black ink on white shirts, you are working way too damn hard!
For black on white, use about a 160 mesh at about 25-30 newtons and don't be overly concerned about the specific amount of off-contact. Just set it so there's a slight bit of distance between the shirt and screen, just enough so the screen comes off the shirt by itself after the stroke. It's not that big of a deal for spot color work. Give each shirt a couple of nice slow firm strokes (sometimes I do three if there are big solids...)
If you made a good stencil , this should result in a nice opaque print. Depending upon your preference, you may want to reduce your ink a little, but not for ease of printing...More for a thinner, softer print.
I know I'll get yelled at for this, but I think printing manually with 230 mesh when there are no halftones in the design is excess work and can result in potential problems with no improvement in print quality....
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Well, to clear up this particular job and the whys.
I have attached pics of the artwork.
There was half-tones and the customer was very concerned about them coming out.
At 25lpi I really wasn't happy with them... I guess I need to increase that to get better looking halftones on jobs like this.
Oh, and the image was about 6" wide.
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Note the little columns of ink sticking up in the shape of the mesh, this could go with just a little o.c. or a little more tension.
I was waiting for you to say something about those. I didn't have many shirts around here to take a picture of a white on black print. That was a shirt that I used to test a small 24 shirt run over a week ago. It was the first shirt printed and the ink was not worked up yet. I do use off contact on inks that need it, don’t think I run everything with out off contact. Keep in mind that picture is at 800 percent zoom. You can't see the mesh pattern nearly at all on the shirt itself. The top picture is the same shirt. I know I am missing out on some quality by not printing with higher mesh tension. It is in the works to test some EZ frames and start bringing them in this year. I think if I can stay around 30n on them I will be happy.
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Well, to clear up this particular job and the whys.
I have attached pics of the artwork.
There was half-tones and the customer was very concerned about them coming out.
At 25lpi I really wasn't happy with them... I guess I need to increase that to get better looking halftones on jobs like this.
Oh, and the image was about 6" wide.
Why would you print anything less that 40 or 45 lpi on the art like that? I think that 25 is too course for that artwork.
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Well, to clear up this particular job and the whys.
I have attached pics of the artwork.
There was half-tones and the customer was very concerned about them coming out.
At 25lpi I really wasn't happy with them... I guess I need to increase that to get better looking halftones on jobs like this.
Oh, and the image was about 6" wide.
Why would you print anything less that 40 or 45 lpi on the art like that? I think that 25 is too course for that artwork.
I completely agree... I'm not very happy with the outcome of that. I sent a pic of the test shirt and grimaced but the response I got was "good to go".
I don't think I understood how LPI interacted with halftones until this job. I know that's kind of stupid of me, but it was just one of those small things that seem so obvious but alluded me at the time. As I tried to understand why someone could get photo type quality with halftones and I barely got this magnified news print it dawned on me... LPI!
I had run a 25 and 35 LPI test a while back and though the 35 did work I felt the 25 was more consistent and opted for the safer choice not understanding what that choice truly represented.
I've since then started the hunt for a single point, vacuum lid exposure unit so I can improve my screens. I'm using single point now but my "vacuum unit" leaves something to be desired. AND it takes me at least 10 times longer to setup to expose a screen than it should with a proper system.
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I believe that this was 45 lpi print.
Nuarc 40-1K Mercury exposure and ChromaBlue emulsion printed with Ruthland black and 70 duro squeegee on my Antec Legend. I believe, it was on aluminum screen with 155 mesh. I will have to check the mesh count when I get home if you are interested.
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I'm gonna dig up that LPI halftone test I saw somewhere and do another test soon. I think it had 8 columns with different settings all on one sheet.
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I have been using this one. Someone shared this with me about a year ago.
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I have been using this one. Someone shared this with me about a year ago.
That's awesome! Not what I was talking about but it is what I will be using from now on to calculate time.
The one I'm talking about is halftone percentage blocks at different LPI's. I'll dig it up and share it here when I find it.
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Just to throw my $.02 in, I think it's counter-intuitive for most new hand printers to think that light print pressure can put down more ink as long as your getting a good shear on your print stroke. I find the key is (on a push-print) to have the squeegee laid down at a good enough angle. If you're standing it up at 45degrees or straighter you need more pressure, and often more print strokes to clear the screen.
I tell our trainee's "butter the toast (flood) scrape the butter off the toast. (print)" Sometimes it helps to think about scraping the screen as clean as you can rather than thinking about printing the shirt.
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Hey Gear, can I get a close up picture of whatever you used to hold up the squeegee? The thing that the squeegee went "clunk" against?
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Hey Gear, can I get a close up picture of whatever you used to hold up the squeegee? The thing that the squeegee went "clunk" against?
That is the off contact adjustment knob, so the off contact is level with the pallet when you increase it. Its standard on the Workhorse press.
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Just to nit-pick, that's actually the tilt adjustment knob, while the large black plastic knob is what raises the screen evenly for off-contact adjustment. ;D
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Just to nit-pick, that's actually the tilt adjustment knob, while the large black plastic knob is what raises the screen evenly for off-contact adjustment. ;D
Well it is used when doing off-contact adjustments. Frog is right it is the tilt adjustment knob. (you one nit-pickin Mofo frog)
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Screen tension is important, and they say a picture is worth a thousand words. As you can see in the photo, this screen is under twenty newtons and should be remeshed...
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(http://www.endangerous.com/newton.jpg)
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Screen tension is important, and they say a picture is worth a thousand words. As you can see in the photo, this screen is under twenty newtons and should be remeshed...
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([url]http://www.endangerous.com/newton.jpg[/url])
Very nice. If you get hungry the screen will lose some Newton’s.
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hahaha. now I'm hungry...