 Typical settings for creating film positives separations for T-Shirt Screen Printing:
Simulated Process Screen Printing: Angle for all film positives: 22.5 Degrees @ 55 LPI. Recommended dot shape: Elliptical Mesh count: 305 Top Colors Mesh count: 200 White Underbase Mesh count: 230 Highlight White Screen Print Order: The print order usually follows a set pattern, however depending on the artwork it is sometimes useful to switch certain colors to achieve better results. The usual print order for simulated process jobs on white shirts is: lemon yellow, flesh, scarlet red, royal blue, light blue, green, purple, brown, gray, and black. On colored shirts, the recommend print order would be: white, lemon yellow, flesh, scarlet red, royal blue, light blue, green, purple, brown, gray, highlight white and black. Note that the highlight white is not flashed. Only the underbase white will require flash printing. CMYK Process Screen Printing: Angle for all film positives: 22.5 Degrees @ 55 LPI. Recommended dot shape: Elliptical Mesh count: 305 Top Colors Mesh count: 200 White Underbase Mesh count: 230 Highlight White Screen Print Order: White Underbase, Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, Black Have a question about screen printing or t-shirt printing? Ask ASPA! -- Get Answers.
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 Heavy fleece material like hooded sweatshirts take longer to cure than light weight apparel like t-shirts. It's a good idea to slow down the belt speed on your dryer so the hoodies stay in the dryer chamber longer.
It's also a good idea to send sweatshirts through the dryer twice to ensure a fully cured print. Consider buying a heat gun to measure the temperature of the screen printed area of the garment as it is coming off of the dryer belt. Plastisol ink achieves full cure at 320 degrees. Have a question about screen printing or t-shirt printing? Ask ASPA! -- Get Answers.  Designing the artwork to allow for a gap at the seam of the seat of the pants helps greatly. This is easy to do if you are printing lettering only. Use a smaller squeegee and stroke down the left side and right side of the sweatpant separately. Trying to print directly over the seam may cause some off contact problems.
If your artwork does not lend itself to being separated to both sides of the pant seam and you have to print over the seam, use a lower mesh count screen. If you have off contact problems, try using some shims under the left and right sides of the pant or making several passes with your squeegee. Hot split or cold peel transfers also work well over the seat because of the pressure applied from the heat press. Have a question about screen printing or t-shirt printing? Ask ASPA! -- Get Answers.  Higher mesh count fabric color is dyed so that when you're exposing a high mesh count screen, the light will not scatter as much as it would with white fabric, this factor having some importance when exposing critical images including halftones. Why there are so many colors to choose from is a mystery, but gold seems to be most common “colored” mesh available from most screen printing supply vendors.
A general rule used in many apparel screen printing shops is to order gold colored mesh for all mesh counts of 200 and up. Have a question about screen printing or t-shirt printing? Ask ASPA! -- Get Answers.  No, it will not ruin the screen. However, it is a good idea to remove the ink from the screen after a print run.
Leaving plastisol ink in the screen for an extended period of time will make it more difficult to clean the stenciled area when the print job is finished. Have a question about screen printing or t-shirt printing? Ask ASPA! -- Get Answers.  You are experiencing “sizing burn-off." When flash curing,
unpleasant fumes are often released into the work area from the shirt during the heating process. Most shirts are treated with “sizing” agents to increase the weight, crispness, and luster of the shirt. When heat from the flash unit is applied to the shirt, these sizing agents begin to “burn off,” creating a characteristic odor. When you first experience this, you will most likely become alarmed thinking that the shirt is “burning up,” but it is only the sizing being eliminated from the shirt. The best way to control this problem is to keep a fan operating nearby to blow the sizing fumes away from the work area. The sizing burn-off problem will be most apparent when flashing fleece (sweatshirts, sweatpants), and certain colors of dark shirts, e.g. (forest green and royal blue shirts). Have a question about screen printing or t-shirt printing? Ask ASPA! -- Get Answers.  Unexposed, coated screens should be "exposure ready" for as long as 6 months. This is assuming that you are storing them in an air tight container that keeps them free from light and humidity.
Screens that have been stored for too long will be difficult (if not impossible) to expose. They will have to be reclaimed and re-coated with emulsion. For a tutorial on screen storage, visit: The Perfect Solution for Storing Screen Printing Screens Have a question about screen printing or t-shirt printing? Ask ASPA! -- Get Answers. |
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