Screen printing involves pushing ink onto the fabric through a stencil, while Direct to Garment (DTG) is a modernised method of printing that uses a printer to apply the ink directly to the t-shirt. Read more
We’ve had quite a lot of lovely Sun recently, however it’s still a bit chilly overnight and there has been a frost in some parts. Printers must be aware of the potential that emulsion can freeze it stored incorrectly.
Emulsions that have gone off if they have one of the following characteristics;
If your emulsion is a two part mix, and it’s been frosty, your diazo may also freeze. If the diazo has frozen then thawed there will be moisture in the bottle, if this is the case, the diazo has gone bad and you will need a new bottle.
If you think the emulsion has survived the cold check by giving it a good mix then letting it settle for 3-4 hours. This will release any air bubbles and allow you to test coat a screen.
With the Amex Emulsion we provide we suggest to keep it in its original container between 15°C and 25°C. Once mixed it will last for up to 8 weeks.
SQUARE EDGE the most common squeegees, and are mainly used for textile printing and on manual presses.
ROUND EDGE generally used in the textile industry, when a heavy ink deposit is required.
BEVELED EDGE (“V”SHAPE) are typically used for printing rounded surfaces where high definition is required, also used on high-speed automatic machines.
If screens are taken care of properly, they can last forever! Especially true of retensionable screens as you will be able to retension them and tighten them as necessary, making them as good as new!
The more prints you do it will gradually loosen the mesh, however we are talking about prints in the thousands here. The recommended tension of a screen is 15 newtons.
You should embrace the following practices to increase screen longevity:
See our High Tension Frames section to purchase retensionable screens.
Off-contact is the gap between the bottom of the screen and the substrate (the item being printed). The purpose is to improve printability during screen printing process.
Please note that the off-contact is not the distance between the screen and pallet! It’s the distance between the screen and the garment, because the thickness of the garment can change. Therefore, you will have to tweak the position of the screen when you change from printing t-shirt to hoodies, raising it slightly to obtain the correct off-contact.
When you are printing garments use the thickness of a pound coin as a guide for the right off-contact. The goal of off-contact screen printing is to obtain a good “snap-off”, when the squeegee passes over the design the mesh will ping back creating a sharp crisp image.
Mesh tension also plays a role in the “snap-off”. If the screen mesh tension is between 15-20 newtons it’ll be just right. Any less and the mesh will be too loose to snap back into position.
Yellow mesh absorbs more light compared to white mesh, and stops light scattering, therefore helping expose intricate details.
You will normally find yellow mesh on mesh counts of 90t onwards, as these are the screens you use for finer detailed prints.
Yellow mesh can also be known as dyed mesh.
Yellow mesh takes slightly longer to expose.
