Stroke Technique

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perimus
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Stroke Technique

Post by perimus »

I'm still pretty new, and I'm still having a lot of problems with WHITE dye. I try to print with it, and it makes me cry. It doesn't lay down evenly, or it sticks in the screen and gets all blotchy, and it dries like super glue and will not wash off like the other dyes, and it gloops and gets all over my pants and makes things really messy.

Anyway, getting to the point...

Lots of people keep telling me "It's all in the technique" but from there, they're really vague. Can somebody please post some details about different techniques, how to tell if you're doing it right, doing it wrong, and the most important things to look for? Any details about the following would be greatly appreciated.
- Angle
- Pressure
- Stroke Length
- Flood strokes
- Push stroke vs pull stroke
- Common problems and how to solve them
- How to recover when things get really bad... like scumming etc

Thanks!
Anonymous

Post by Anonymous »

First of all are you using plastisol ink or a dye like you mentioned?

Are you printing on textiles?

If plastisol on shirts here are some tips.

Make sure you stir your ink well before you put it on the screen. It will change consistency and be easier to print.

Use a sharp squeegee.

Make sure your off contact is close to 1/8th inch. This lets the screen snap off of the printing surface after the squeegee passes separating the ink from the screen.

Once you have done the above it comes down to technique.
Pressure, angle and speed of stroke will really affect your print quality.

Do not press too hard or you will drive the ink through the surface rather than lay it on top. Press hard enough to make good contact.

Angle will change the amount of ink that is laid down with the squeegee. If you hold the squeegee vertical you will get very little ink. Hold it at a 45 degree angle and you will get a lot. Most prefer holding the squeegee at about 15 or 20 degrees when using a 70 durometer squeegee.

Make sure that there is enough ink in your flood coat.
Travis_Underground
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Post by Travis_Underground »

tips above are very good...

When I was teaching at my highschool this is how I would explain "the Stroke"

Hold the squeegee at about... 45 degrees, give a nice soft flood stroke where you are just placing ink onto the image area not actually pushing thru the screen.
Give a decent amount of pressure down on the squeegee you're not trying to kill the shirt but you do need to press enough so that the ink will reach the garment.
I use one to two PULL strokes, I only push when I need to. (art is bad and needs some "fixing" on press... if the image is off a little in art you can push to get more ink in different directions)

I usually only mix my inks up if they are very stiff, or White :D
White does have a tendancy to be thicker and become stiff if its left set for a while... I've never heard of it becoming SUPER GLUE-esk... so can't really help there.

If you wish to get that ink out of your clothes, we use Acetone blown thru the garment with a pressure gun.
Travis
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jdaniels313
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Stroke Technique

Post by jdaniels313 »

One thing you all overlooked is screen tension. After almost 30 years on manual AND automatic presses, two of the most important factors many times can be screen tension and squeegee sharpness.(the 3rd of course squeegee angle!) If you are new enough to the industry to not know what the term 'newtons per centimeter' means, then lets just say that you should be able to thump your screen with your thumb Nd forefinger (in the center after emulsion is dry) and it feel kinda like a drum head(musical) and make a fairly high pitched "thumping" sound. That may be an archaic description, but the bottom line is 'TENSION RULES'. If you do know what it means, minimal tension for manuals would be 15 nc and for automatics @ 25nc or higher.(preferred)
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