Image Doesn't Spray Out Completely.

[LacedUp73]

So, what I thought was gonna' be the easiest job, in the world, has turned out to be a real pain in the !?#@&*?!!! It's a 2-Color w/Halftones design, that I just can't seem to get to spray out. Now, I employ a friend of mine, to do the artwork prepping, on Illustrator, as I'm not familiar with that, as of yet. And, I don't know if the problem lies in what HE'S doing (or NOT doing???) Or, if, somewhere along the way, I'M doing something wrong??? As you can see, the blue squiggly lines fade out, on both ends. And, that's the portion that I can't get to spray out. I can SEE it on the screen. It just won't spray out!?!?!?! Could it be that I need to expose the image a bit longer??? Or, should I use a higher mesh count screen??? I believe I tried a 110, AND a 156. Or, could the problem be in the artwork??? This job has taken entirely too long. So, I need to figure this out, soon. Any help you guys can afford, will be GREATLY appreciated!!! Thanks, so much \m/

[ApeShirt]

You may want a higher mesh screen for detail, although that shouldn't be your problem with washout. It may be either that it's overexposed, your film isn't dark enough to prevent undercutting, or you are lacking proper positive contact on the exposure unit with your screen.

[Shamax]

If it's not washing out, it sounds like the halftones are getting overexposed. For any kind of halftone work like this, if your friend does the design at 45 LPI, you'll probably want to use a 230 mesh screen for your blue. Also, I'm not sure what you're using to expose with (vacuum unit, overhead lamp, sunlight, etc), but you'll want to make sure you've got good positive contact so that the halftone dots don't get undercut and thus overexposed.

[Catspit Productions]

Yes, all excellent suggestions so far. I will try to sum it all up. For a simple gradient like this yes a 40 to 45 LPI halftone should be perfect. Now you have to make sure your film positive is very high quality. The dot needs to be black, dense or have UV blocking properties. It also needs to be a decent resolution. A good waterproof inkjet film positive will help.

http://catspitscreenprintsupply.com/inkjet-film/

As suggested a 200 to 230 mesh should work very well for this. Then your exposure time will be critical as to how much dot you will be able to pull off. And yes, with halftones it is very important the film positive comes to complete 100% contact with the emulsion coated screen during exposure. A vacuum exposure unit is best especially a point source but a multiple bulb unit will work well too. A dual cure emulsion will be more forgiving with jobs like this.

You may want to watch this video play list as it deals with simple gradient halftones and making the screens.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... GCc2tXx4l3

Awesome posts here.

[nswpr]

Awesome posts, learning a lot from it!