2-color issue

[ApeShirt]

I printed a few shirts today and had an issue. I printed white and red on black tees. The white and red touch. Registration was not the problem though. I I hit/flash/hit/flash the white and then hit/flash/hit the red. I didn't need an underbase as I used very opaque inks. My issue was that when I printed the red some would end up on the white where it wasn't supposed to be. I would dry wipe the substrate side of the red screen but after 1 print it got messy again. I ended up finishing the print by doing white once more to cover any red on the white. Why was it doing this?

[Catspit Productions]

Most likely this was simply due to a bit much pressure on the red printer. Try using a harder squeegee and use a little less pressure when flooding and stroking. As the artwork was set up butt/butt you have a certain amount of bleeding that will occur between colors as you print.

You have to figure out the best flood and stroke for each printer to keep things crisp. Also make sure the garment is thoroughly spray tacked to the pallet. Also make sure when you flood the screen to do it while holding the screen off the pallet. Or perhaps you don’t need to flood and you can just print the red by picking up some red ink with the squeegee as you print the red printer.

It’s most likely a matter of finessing your manual printing. Maybe next time you may want to leave a sliver of a line between colors if you know you will be doing a double hit with the flash cure unit. You could leave a half a line point between colors so that it will fill in with the double hit without bleeding over one another.

[ApeShirt]

Thanks J-money I will watch my flood/stroke next time. I still have it set up on press so I might just try it tomorrow. I am so glad you started this forum.

[ApeShirt]

Re-reading this I think I didn't explain well enough. It's not a matter of bleeding. I would get red smeared-like on the white. Even around an inch onto the white. Attached is a good print. I don't have a pic of an example of what I men. The white ink splat on the left would even get red ink all over it along with the white lettering.

[Catspit Productions]

Oooooohhhhhhhh! Now I think I get it...... LOL. This must be due to wiping down the back of the red printer. When you do that you have to make sure the screen is very clean. Any residual ink left on the emulsion of the substrate side will transfer to the white and tint it with color.

So if you are wiping down the red printer during the print run make sure to use a clean rag every time and perhaps finish it off with a little squirt of screen opener onto a clean rag and wipe the red printer clean. A press wash or other solvent may also help.

Does that make sense now?

Nice print. Looks good as a 2 color.

[ApeShirt]

Thanks for the compliment. You're probably right. I probably didn't wipe all the ink off the screen. Thought I did but likely I didn't.

[Free Man]

yea, that does look great for just two colors. I am a newb when it comes to multiple colors. Most ive done is 2 and 3. Im impressed how much one extra color can impact an image. I need to get multiple colors down. My hold back is color separations. Some more art software learning to do and Ill get there.

[ApeShirt]

Thank you Free Man. I agree with you about learning software. That seems to be the biggest challenge for many. I become more frustrated over software things than actual printing. I haven't punched a screen yet That day may come but I mostly feel like punching my computer screen. That'd be too expensive of a fit though
Proper placement of colors in your artwork can make it really cool.