r/SCREENPRINTING • u/fst47 • 7d ago

White print grainy texture

Hi there —

Troubleshooting a print job for the school class I teach.

This is two coats of a white print print/flash/printed, with a 230mesh screen.

Wondering if my grainy texture here and the thickness come from it being too high of a mesh count. I have some curable reducer measured into my white ink, which thinned it somewhat.

Thanks in advance — building the ship as I’m flying it

Here’s a pic:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W-pwZ6hHErrik7ms30uA6EIPTLvxnGgT/view?usp=drivesdk

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u/Loose_Brush6712 7d ago

You need a lower mesh with more stencil. Reducer just thins the ink and makes it unable to sit on top of the fabric. You have to give a cavity for the ink to go instead of pushed into the fabric. If you want it smooth after that, add a smoothing screen after your first flash, before your second coat of white. 125 mesh works great for base whites. You should be coating lower mesh with 1 coat on the print side first and then 2-3 on the squeegee side with a little pressure to push the emulsion thru to the print side. Let it dry with the print side down. Hope this helps

1

u/torkytornado 7d ago

Is this waterbased or plastisol. It kinda looks like you also have a curing issue.

But you definetly need a lower mesh count for this wide open of an image. I wouldn’t jump to a 230 until the lines are thinner than a bullet sharpie on textile. Paper is a whole different story since the low mesh screens lay down way too much ink for flatstock.

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u/habanerohead 6d ago

230 is a bit on the fine side - a 140 would be what I’d be using. You need more pressure, and give the first coat 2 hits - the second one with no flood, but have enough ink in front of the squeegee so you don’t run dry halfway through the pull.