Help! Design is bleeding through to the inside of the shirt

[Thirdconcept]

Guys, I need some help here, I am printing some shirts with black plastisol ink. The trouble I am having is the design is bleeding through to the inside of the shirt. I have read were my mesh count, pressure and off contact could play a factor. The screen I am using is a 125/70 screen and I've played with different heights for the off contact. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Jacob Meroney

[Leadfoot]

Generally when I have this issue it is due to my pressing too hard when I am printing. You really want to just press firmly enough to push the ink out of the screen but not where it is ground into the shirt and then seeps through onto the pallet. You are aiming for the ink to lay on top of the shirt as best you can. If you find that you are having to push or pull really hard your off contact may be too high and/or you are using too small of a mesh opening for the ink to go through. Just my 2 cents of course, I am sure some more experienced folks will chime in too. Finding your ideal pressure when printing does have several factors but most of mine comes from off contact or screen mesh or even screen tension could play a factor too.

[drew]

I would recommend a higher mess count. A 156 is the lowest I use on black, I try to use a 200 when I have one available. But as leadfoot said, pressure is important. I would keep off contact low and try a higher squeegee angle. I wouldn't reduce the ink any at all.

[Leadfoot]

Drew hit on something that reminded me to ask another detail...are you using water based or plastisol ink? is it real thin or is it thick? The plastisol I use is kind of in between, definitely doesn't run freely but not a paste either, real nice consistency. I use a 155 mesh for mine but if your ink is runny at all you definitely want to increase that mesh count to at least around 200 or even 230.

[Thirdconcept]

I am using plastisol inks, I'm new at screen printing, its not thin or thick in my opinion. I'm also using a 70 Duro. Squeegee to print with. When I printed on a grey shirt it did a lot better after adjusting the off contact where it wasn't so high. Although printing pink shirts I continue to have the bleeding issue, not as bad as before, but it's more noticable than the grey shirts.

Thank you.

[Catspit Productions]

Hey there buddy, good to see you on the forum.

I think I would guess that you are simply flooding a bit much and perhaps using too much pressure on your flood stroke. I use the same ink you have sometimes and I can run it on the 125/70 without any bleed through to the inside of the shirt.

So with the proper off contact and such, as you probably have after watching some of my videos, you'll need to finesse the flood and stroke. It can take a little time to get used to controlling and printing with the ink.

Also be aware of how much ink you’re printing and know that black should cover well with 2 or 3 passes at most.

[Thirdconcept]

Thank you guys! I appreiciate the suggestions and help. Something else that I noticed and I'm wondering if it could be part of the problem. I bought some Jerzee brand shirts to get some practice in, this is the brand that bleeds through, but I found a higher end shirt and I did test print after test print on this other shirt and I had no problem with a bleed through..... Is it possible that different shirts will react differently with how it takes the ink?


Thank you,

[drew]

I believe so. The weight or thickness of the material will definitely affect bleed through. The type of material can as well, I think. Shirts come in different weights, depending on the brand. I always get a heavier weight(5.5+ounce) unless specified by the client or if its for athletics.

[Catspit Productions]

LOL oh yes. I laugh cause I did not think of that at all. That is true. You guys are correct. Thinner weight garments could suffer from this problem easier than a heavy garment. Tee shirts can vary greatly in weight depending on brand, style and cost.

If you print an inexpensive lightweight shirt it could very easily allow ink to pass through the knit. Or if it’s a cheapo freebie type imported garment it can be very bad.

[Leadfoot]

lol as well, I didn't even think of the shirt. Of course the quality and weight of the shirt will account for how much ink, if any, bleeds through.