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kris_hm
28-07-2011, 04:04 PM
Hi,
I'm ready a lot about screen printing but can't find straight answer for one question:
Can you mix colours by applying 4 colours without drying in-between to get full colour print (similar to colours mixing inside jet printer) ??

Also what's your opinion on screen printing vs versacaam for fashion t-shirts purposes ??

Ian M
28-07-2011, 04:23 PM
Kris, it all really depends on what your printing. If it's T-shirts then yes you print one colour on top of the other straight away as on a carousel.

If you were printing on things like plastics etc then you would need to dry each colour before printing the next.

Paul
28-07-2011, 05:43 PM
yes you can. wet on wet :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW0fLlbt5iA

Justin
28-07-2011, 07:09 PM
Uhm....process work....just love process work! ;-)

Ian M
28-07-2011, 09:17 PM
Uhm....process work....just love process work! ;-)

Calm down dear it was just a bikini :biggrin:

Justin
28-07-2011, 09:46 PM
Not the bikini that excites me, just the printing process :wink:

Paul
28-07-2011, 10:14 PM
printing proces is great! give you lot of satisfaction after you develope your screens etc... :)

AdamB
28-07-2011, 11:08 PM
Screen printing always fascinates me - I just haven't got the room to even try it out :(

Always made me think though (for anyone with screen-printing knowledge) if you have a multi colour design and are doing it wet on wet then surely there's some transfer from the t-shirt to the bottom of the screens? This would then transfer onto the next shirt when printed?

Unless (just thinking) it doesn't matter as the process in the same colour screens (if you know what I mean? - it's been a long day!)

Justin
28-07-2011, 11:19 PM
This has got me excited about getting back into screen printing, watching some of the associated videos along with the one Paul showed :-) I used to work for a screen printer many years ago but only dabbled a little on the actual printing side. I've been toying with the idea of getting a 1 or 2 colour carousel set-up....like you say, it's just having the room!

John G
29-07-2011, 10:38 AM
I've watched this a few times and have done full colour work on card/plastic and as Ian says - its one colour, dry, then the next and so on.

For T shirt printing its wet on wet but as Adam mentioned there's pick up of the last colour on the next screen. If there's no colours touching you can get away with it - if colours touch (like full colour work halftones) you'll get the inks blurring, smudging or even, if left, mixing and changing colour on the overlap. I've never used trichomatic plastisol (for full colour work) on T'shirts but the principle is the same so you would get pick up. This is why we sometimes use a flash dryer, inbetween prints on overlaps, to make the ink touch dry so it doesn't transfer to the next screen. What it doesn't show you is for every 10 ish prints each screen may have to be cleaned underneath to stop the transfer.

Still looks good but he seems to have a moire on the models legs.

kris_hm
29-07-2011, 12:09 PM
woow. very good point John ! So it's still not the ideal solution for full colour, as cleaning every screen after colour could be a pain...
now I understand better the flash dryer function. but with flash dryer won't get full colour :(

John G
29-07-2011, 01:06 PM
As shown on the video, you do print wet on wet - without flashing each colour - what i'm saying is by doing it this way there'll be a build up of ink which will need cleaning after lets say every every 10 shirts. you would do this in situe and it wouldn't effect the position - just a rub underneath with a duster and a few prints through to get going again. This is also on a white shirt - do that on a black shirt and you'll need to put down a clear/white base which has to be flashed.

I do screen print t'shirts for a living but have never done full colour work on garments - only card, paper or plastics.

tbh, now with the advent of direct ink/laser, sub and transfers there's little point in full colour screen printing as the set up costs are horrendous.

Paul
29-07-2011, 01:20 PM
John do you think off contact set would help? So colour go
Only where it supouseto go...

John G
29-07-2011, 01:30 PM
No, it would still transfer a small amount of ink per print to the next screen, which, after a run of prints, would need to be cleaned or rubbed off. If there's blocks of ink and its not touching this would be OK

kris_hm
29-07-2011, 02:10 PM
"tbh, now with the advent of direct ink/laser, sub and transfers there's little point in full colour screen printing as the set up costs are horrendous."

well, I'm not sure if you're right here. I would love to start my own line of t-shirts. I've got all designs and ideas on place. JUst trying to find right way to print them. Sublimation is not good for obvious reason. So the options are: DTG, screen printing and versacaam.
versacaam - still not too good for fashion purposes, only for limited designs. and bit high starting costs
dtg - perfect solution but much too expensive for beginner
screen printing - bit messy :) but for starting costs 2k you are able to print almoust any t-shirt

John G
29-07-2011, 02:16 PM
A customer comes to you and asks for 10 full colour white t's - you say Ok, thats so much per print - oh and by the way, thats + £100 for the screen set up. Thats £10.00 per t'shirt before the first print.

kris_hm
29-07-2011, 02:22 PM
You're right John, that's why I metioned that I want to start my own t-shirt line (brand). So hopefully it would be printing on medium to high volume. same design for local shops, ebay, my website, other places.

John G
29-07-2011, 02:32 PM
If you want to do that I'd wish you the best of luck, but I'd suggest a DTG instead of screen - no mess, no chemicals, no big machinery, no big workshops and just about instant full colour prints. Full colour on t'shirts is an expensive and time taking business, the video makes it looks so easy but what you're not seeing is how much gear you'd need and what's going on behind the scenes.

Cheers John

kris_hm
29-07-2011, 02:43 PM
:frown: why it's always leading to dtg ;(
thanks John :)

John G
29-07-2011, 03:04 PM
If you do want to go down the screen printing route I may have a 4 colour Marler style carousel and an adjustable height tunnel dryer up for sale if I was offered the right price. :biggrin: I'll even throw in 4 screens to get you going.

kris_hm
29-07-2011, 03:20 PM
thanks John :)
but if I will decide on screen printing I think I would be looking for 6 colours one (1x white as a base and 4x colours)
but thanks anyway

John G
29-07-2011, 03:35 PM
Good thinking, my other carousel is a 6 colour/4 station but i've never had 6 screen on it.

Cheers John

Justin
30-07-2011, 04:32 PM
Let me know what sort of price that's going for John ;-)

Ian M
30-07-2011, 10:07 PM
As an ex screen printer I would go the DTG route to be honest. It was always a nigtmare setting a carousel up for something that was tight registration on each colour. I also found that if you had a biggish order you needed at least 3 people working as a team. On top of all that DTG is a lot cleaner.

Justin
30-07-2011, 10:11 PM
DTG are incredible machines. Biggest reservation would be the price, secondly would be the fact that they need regular exercise to work properly don't they?