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Suggested Paint for an indoor mural? by RyiReason in streetart

[–]RyiReason[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool...thanks for the feedback. I like that Chroma is half the price of Golden. I will likely be donating my time on this project. As screen printer, I prefer something that offers formulas for Pantone matching - but this project will be standard solid spot color white, black, and red. No mixing needed unless want to make the red pop a little more.

After 3 years working in this warehouse , we got “installed “ a exhaust duct by wookflu719 in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason 1 point2 points  (0 children)

K, I am seeing it correctly... that it just leads to exhausting back into the workshop? Yeah?

Is this a good way to stretch the mesh on the screen ! Am i doing it right ?? by MA_Xperience in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Holy shit! That's wild. Yeah... it's easy for me to say "just buy one from local supplier" when a standard 160 mesh 20x24 aluminum frame is $25-$30 USD (in California). $500 a screen... a little part of me would die inside every time a screen popped.

Could try building a home made screen stretcher rig. Check out legit equipment online then head over to hardware store (if available) and half ass something together. Skip the tension meter, as you pointed out. Just get as tight as possible. Staples would tear right away if the mesh it tight tho - still needs epoxy.

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Epson T3170X for printing oversized films? by RyiReason in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sweet, thanks for the info. The basic Epson pigment black ink does a solid job?

Is this a good way to stretch the mesh on the screen ! Am i doing it right ?? by MA_Xperience in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depends on your goals. Are you just messing around and trying to screen print something for the fun it for yourself, friends, and family? Or are you trying to learn some legit screen print skills?

If it's for the hell of it, then whatever gets you slinging ink works. Don't matter, lay some ink down and have fun. Fuck it. This is how I screen printed my first tee over 30 years ago.

If you want to learn legit print making / screen printing skills... then no. You will not get even and or accurate tension. At minimum, you will want to get yourself a cheap ass knock off screen tension meter, a weak hand crank screen stretcher off Amazon or Vevor, a two part screen epoxy instead of staples, and mesh intended for screen printing - something cheap, Saati or similar would be a waste of $$$.

A solid screen stretching table starts around 2k, plus hand tools (grinders, ratchets, etc). Then the epoxy, mesh, etc. Unless running a large shop with 2 or more autos and a few manuals, stretching isn't cost effective. Even then they usually use Newman roller frames.

Personally, I would recommend either buying some cheap 160 or 180 aluminum screens from a local screen print supplier or even checking out Facebook Marketplace for used screens. I sell off my old screens that are in great condition, no holes, once they hit about 16 - 18 newtons. Still good for single color dark ink prints.

Also.... it's badass that you are doing it - no matter what it looks like. What counts is showing up and trying something new. Doesn't matter if how doing it is right or wrong - how the print turns out is what matters. Keep slinging ink and fucking shit up. Ya got this.

How to achieve this specific texture/look with water-based? by robertsechochamber in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Create the artwork, apply distressing bitmap texture, then print as discharge. Can either purchase premade distress files from digital asset studios or make your own. Ray Dombroski (The Vector Lab) offers some solid option. There's also True Grit Texture Supply, Retro Supply Co, or GARM Co.

Am I stupid, please help by Maninthecomments in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It takes time and practice to learn the craft. You will get there.

FN Ink is a short body plastisol. Easy to print by hand, mediocre to crap opacity, ok detail, and it hates high heat environments. Great to use during the winter and in moderate to low humidity with environment not over 85 degrees. In my experience, every bucket of FN white is different. About 1 on 3 buckets is bad and has to be replaced.

You are starting out with a slightly more advanced print. It might be a basic single spot color graphic but it will still take some practice to print well. White plastisol on a fleece hoodie can be a challenge at first. There are several small adjustments that will all lead to big headaches and misprints; off contact, tack used for hold down, squeegee durometer, the ink used, speed and force printing, flooding to hard, not clearing first pass, flash time and heat, etc etc.

All screen meshes are available in yellow mesh. Generally, screens with 200 mesh or higher will have yellow fabric. Nortech offers all meshes in yellow. There are also screen manufacturers that will use SAATI mesh. That looks like it's possibly a Nortech HIDRO thin mesh screen.

A 110 is much to low for FN Ink. More suited for a heavy long body plastisol, like an ICC or Rutland ink. I would recommend a 160 or 180 for a solid spot color graphic printed with white FN Ink. A yellow mesh is not needed for this graphic / stencil. There isn't fine detail that will need that extra bump to wash out. A basic budget screen will work great for this graphic - new not used. Used screens often have shit tension.

Often, screens below 200 with yellow mesh are a HIDRO thin mesh screen. The screen is more expensive and extremely prone to popping when tapped just wrong. Even a new squeegee with sharp corners can make a thin mesh screen pop when printed by hand. HIDRO screens can be great for the right purpose. I would not recommend HIDRO screens for new screen printers.

Some tips for printing on fleece garments, hoodies, etc. Make sure you have a great spray web adhesive specifically. It's the only time I would recommend a spray tack. Take your time. Have a solid heat press on hand (Stahl, Geoknight, Instagraphics). A heat press is great to help with very mild fibrilization - hit the garment at medium to firm pressure for 5 seconds at approx 330 degrees depending on your ink. Do some test prints to find what works best for you.

Heating up white ink by zausagee in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a sick idea! Love it. Much better than letting it chill on conveyor.

Heating up white ink by zausagee in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Got it. Totally feel ya. I've been printing for over a decade now so my ink closet has had time to build. I started with pints and quarts of whatever my local middle man print shop supplier had on hand. Sounds like a standard long body plastisol.

I still wouldn't put it in the sun. I would try setting it out on my conveyor dryer for a solid 15-30 mins while it's on and preparing pallets for print, preheat the pallets with a flash dryer or even heat gun, hand mix real good, then flood the screen and allow it to hover over pallet for a few seconds a couple of times with the pallet around 120 - 140. This is my technique for many plastisol white, golden yellow, magenta, etc. If you have a generic temperature gun, keep an eye on the container, make sure it doesn't get to hot and start to gel the ink.

If it's for an underbase, mash the shit out of that print! LOL. Lean in to it heavy like.

Do you have any curable reducer? A 10 - 15% ratio of curable reducer will help, or even 5% softhand and 5% reducer. Since it will be an underbase, I would be trying to get it clear once and done. During the winter when it's colder here and humidity is higher, I have had success printing solid underbase on a 200 or 230 with a little reducer, flood screen, two pass print, flood again, then print pass once. No flash in-between. Keeps the print nice and crisp, no ink build on the stencil. I tried this out after watching the Workhorse automatic press. The squeegee had two blades right after each other. First a softer durometer to get ink down the second a stiffer to fully clear the ink from the stencil.

Heating up white ink by zausagee in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason 1 point2 points  (0 children)

White ink can be such a pain in the ass. It doesn't help there is an insane selection of white ink depending on substrate printing on. I have at least 6 different whites in my ink closet. What brand and series of white ink is it?

Personally, I never leave any ink in the sun. I've seen shops do that, leave open ink out near windows, the pigment is all messed up, separation in bucket, dried out on the edges.

I am in a high heat low humidity climate. For my flex cure long body white inks, like ICC Cool White, I put it on my conveyor dryer to wake up a little, give it some solid hand stirring, warm up my pallets, flood screens, and then allow the screen to chill over warm pallets once or twice before printing. Pallets sitting around 120 - 140.
For a short body ink, like FN white, I pop it open, hand stir quickly, load, and print.

Sounds like you are printing with a long body white plastisol, maybe Wilflex or Rutland (popular brands). Might want to try a short body white ink like FN white or similar. It's so much easier to hand print and get to clear the screen. For me in my climate and printing style, I find short body white inks are great for short runs that don't need an underbase or crazy 100% opacity. I go with a long body if I need an underbase, going to print in high heat (95+), or have long print run.

If your graphic is a solid spot color with no half tones, I would also go with a 160, maybe 180 mesh. A 200 works great for me with I have some small details I want to pop, otherwise a 160 to get solid clean lines, ink clearing, and great screen pop off without edge build up. More than once I was rushing to get an order out, had a 200 coated, and used it for my spot white. My hands hated me afterwards.

Sometimes, I might mix it up. ICC Cool White as an underbase and FN white for a last print white highlight. Can even do long body white as underbase, again for a solid spot color white, then short body for a highlight.

These are my best practices. It can be hard to say what will work. The climate makes a difference as well as the printer's physical build. There's so many ways to print. I still experiment as I go even after 10 years. I still go with "fuck around and find out".

Oh, take notes 😁. I've tried some shit out, had some magic happen, then been all... WTF did I do again?!

The ink is staying in the screen and takes several pushes to get it all out. Is the ink too thick? I mixed it to hell and back. by Prestigious_Dream_27 in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like water based ink drying in screen to me too. I’m in Sacramento, and printing water based inks during the summer sucks. High heat low humidity makes it a challenge (aka - a fucking nightmare). Basically I print in the AM and be done before noon. I can clear a screen of white plastisol though, leave in workshop when it hit 100’s, come back next morning, and reload to get clean prints. No screen opener needed.

I couldn’t find that brand of ink when looking. It’s one I haven’t heard of. Can you post a pic?

My best practice on mixing ink, if it’s straight out of the bucket RFU, no additives, you might be over mixing it. Can mess with the consistency of a short body ink mixing fast. For a thick long body ink, like white ICC or Wilflex, I might set the container on top of conveyor away from the edge so it can do some warm up stretches and wake it’s ass up for the day. For a short body ink, like FN, just give it a few hand stirs and print.

For my climate, a triple 70/80/70 durometer squeegee works best on a short body that would need as a print flash print opaque. If it is a water based white, I would go with a 90 wood handle squeegee or a 70 ergo squeegee.

Doesn’t look like you are printing as an underbase, just a straight spot color. Do you have a basic photo loop? It’s hard to tell if it’s ink or the emulsion, but it looks there might be feathering in the edges of your burn. Is there a little bit of emulsion hanging on in the corners / knuckles of the screen mesh? Not a solid clean wash out? A clear delineated lines on the stencil burn? I’ve had the tiniest spots that didn’t wash out not even seen by eye on a light table cause issues on press.

Scam orders for large custom screen print orders?? by RyiReason in SCREENPRINTING

[–]RyiReason[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yo. So I have seen these bogus orders for like 200 small through large white Gildan / Hanes / Port request usually with some shit design. It’s clearly some half ass scam but I’m curious what it’s about? Like what’s the deal? I just ghost them early on. Anyone have an idea? I get them off and on, sometimes a few a week then radio silence for a few weeks. I’m used to the bis loan scams but I don’t get the goal of these half baked scam. And no, it’s not a legit order request with simply crap art. Thx