The best screen printing results always begin with well-executed pre-press. It’s easy to think of your screen printing press as the backbone of your operation. But remember, a press can only deliver quality prints if it’s printing through quality screens. Your screens deserve as much attention as any other part of your setup, because no […]
How do you reclaim your screens? This might be one of the least liked jobs in the entire screen printing shop, which leads most screen printers to explore all screen cleaning options. If you’ve undertaken the search for the best way to reclaim your screens, you’ve likely come across the controversial dip tank. Some screen printers love them, touting them as time and supply savers, while other screen printers warn against them, saying they waist chemicals and produce hazardous waste.
One of the most often overlooked details in screen printing is mesh tension. While brand new screens might print great, over time, your mesh tension will wear down. Poorly tensioned screens can have a major impact on print quality, even if it’s hard to notice that the mesh has become loose or saggy.
There’s an old adage: “Keep your eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole”. Of course, with screen printing it’s sort of reversed, as it’s most important to keep your eye on the holes in your screen mesh.
As you strive to maintain top quality in your screen printing, one of the most important factors to achieving great looking prints is also one of the easiest to overlook: Your screen tension.
We all know that screen printing with water-based ink brings some challenges. One of the biggest challenges of water-based ink is fighting stencil breakdown during printing.
Most of the time, reclaiming your screen printing screens is a pretty straightforward task. But occasionally you’ll run into an issue that can affect your print quality if not dealt with quickly: ghosting.
When it comes to screen frames, there are loyalists in all camps. Some screen printers love the old-school feel, low price and sustainability of wood. Others rely on the light, sturdy technology of aluminum frames, and still others swear by the control and print crispness that come with retensionable screens.
Almost nothing poses as big of a challenge for screen printers as printing white ink on black or other dark-colored shirts. White-on-dark prints can come out rough, splotchy or blurry, and they can be challenging to fully cure.
