Screen Printing Forum

I hope you guys can help me with this. I recently purchased some Enviroline (Matsui) High Opacity Water Based inks to print a multi-color job on black shirts, and I am having a very difficult time getting it to print correctly. The problem is that the inks stick to the shirt and when the screen is lifted off the shirt lifts as well, and is mis-aligned for the next color. I have tried both spray adhesive, and pro-bond adhesive(the stuff that looks like elmers glue). I've also tried adjusting the off contact up and down more than usual. It sticks whether I make one pass or two or three. I can get about 1 out of every 15 prints not to stick, but obviously that just won't do.

I am printing on 100% organic cotton t-shirts (I've tried 3 different brands) and I am using a 156 mesh screen.

Do you guys have any idea why this is happening, and what I can do to fix it?

Thanks in advance for any advice/help you guys can give me...

Increase your off-contact even more. Add some water to thin the ink down a little.

Hi. Couple of things could be the problem. still find the problem comes up occasionally. table adhesive or the glue you mentioned is probably the same is good. It needs heat to keep it sticky. Do you find that the screen starts to stick after a while and not straight off? if so feel the emulsion on the underside of the screen. if it feels sticky that will be the problem. I find making screens in wet weather seems to be a problem. haven't really solved it. Try not flooding the screen between prints. That will keep the wet ink (I assume we are talking water based) off the main part of the screen to stop it softening the emulsion. I also find that some cotton t shirts will stick up to the screen anyway. Off contact will help