Impressions - September 2014 - 34

Tons of articles (even books) have been
written about the term "emulsion over
mesh" (EOM). The short-and-sweet lesson is that the emulsion you add to the
screen creates a channel. When you ﬂood
your screen during the printing process,
you are ﬁlling that channel with ink. If you
have everything on press set up correctly,
you need just enough squeegee pressure
to sheer the ink through the channel and
onto the T-shirt. You shouldn't be driving
the ink through the screen like a hammer
and nail.
Want more ink on the shirt for an underbase screen? Try adding one more coat
of emulsion to the screen (print side) during the preparation stage. Some shops
even use capillary ﬁlm for a thicker stencil
for a "one-hit white."
While the screen certainly plays an important role in your ink coverage, so does
your squeegee choice. A softer squeegee
likely will send more ink onto the shirt,
while a harder squeegee won't. When
there are ink issues on press, one of the
ﬁrst questions I would ask is what type of
squeegee the operator is using currently.
Too much dot gain could be the result of
using a softer squeegee.

PRINT HAND
"Hand" is the industry term for how
the ink feels on the shirt after printing
and curing. Many shops have moved to
using water-based ink because it gives
the ﬁnal print that soft, retail hand that is
very popular. Essentially, with each screen
and color you are printing on a shirt, the

thicker the ink deposit will be. Sometimes
this is an issue, sometimes not. If want to
achieve a softer hand on the print, here are
some tips:
Use a higher mesh count for the
screen. The higher the mesh, the less ink
will be deposited onto the shirt. For underbase screens, try using a 156 instead of a
110. Screen selection isn't automatic and is
dependent upon the image being printed,
as some mesh choices won't be completely
successful. The only way to learn is to experiment and see what works for you.
Try using a different ink base to increase
the viscosity. Finesse base, Chino base -
even adding some curable reducer to the
ink you are using - will work. The idea
here is to "thin" the ink down to improve
how it ﬂows onto the shirt substrate. Be
careful though; inks are formulated to work
a certain way on purpose. When you start
introducing additives to the ink, you may
change its properties and have some unintended consequences if you aren't careful.
Opacity and curing issues are the two most
popular consequences, in most cases.
Roller squeegees also can help. This
after-market type of device works great
and we have them on all of our automatic
screen printing presses at my shop. After
you print your underbase and ﬂash the
shirt, use a roller squeegee in the cooldown station. This ﬂattens the ink that
has just been gelled by the ﬂash unit and
sets up the printed ink nicely for taking
on more colors. You also can achieve this
yourself by using an unexposed screen, a
squeegee and some base. Set up the screen

Your art staff can
help you control your print
quality in many ways. Their
knowledge and understanding
of what happens on press
will greatly inﬂuence the
decisions they make in
creating the art that will be
printed later. Photo courtesy
of Press Press Merch.

34

Impressions | September 2014

like normal with the squeegee. The base
gives the squeegee something to move
around and reduces friction. Underneath
the screen, tape a big sheet of Teﬂon (like
the kind you use for your heat press platen
cover.) A roller works better, but this technique will work in a pinch.

KEEPING THINGS STRAIGHT
Your print quality is sometimes only as
good as your shirt loader. Getting the shirt
straight and in the correct position on the
platen is a basic step in printing, and often
is overlooked until the client complains
about crooked or off-center imprints. Let's
face it, loading a T-shirt press is a monotonous and robotic-like process, and it's easy
to lose focus and get distracted. Look at
the following in your shop:
Speed. If your press operator misses
boards as they rotate and has questionable
image location results, it may be that the
press speed is set too fast. Printing a bunch
of misprints quickly is never better than
running the press at a speed where quality counts. All too often in production,
the emphasis is on how many impressions
are printed during the shift. Start keeping
a discrepancy log with misprints, quality
control and other issues, and you'll quickly
see that these errors can add up fast. Slow
down for better quality.
Ergonomics. Skilled press operators
know exactly what they like in a work
station. These can include a good, thick
spongy mat under their feet, some music
to print with and - most of all - a properly positioned cart or table full of shirts.
As all press operators come in different
shapes and sizes, let them adjust this to
what they like. Shorter printers sometimes
can't handle the same mountain of shirts
that a taller printer will churn through.
Some printers like the shirt openings
facing them; some like it the opposite way.
There's only one hard-and-fast rule: comfort counts. Good print quality for loading
comes for being comfortable and relaxed
in the process. Make sure there is room for
your press operator to function and adjust
along the way.
Mark Your Boards. Good press operators instinctively know where and how to
load shirts to get the best print. However,
they don't stop there. For great results,
mark your boards where the collar is to
drop, where the center of the shirt will be

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