Screen Printing With Thin Mesh: Higher Mesh Counts & Lower Thread Diameters

An older means of enthusiastic about display screen printing tee shirts or different garments is to make use of lower mesh counts to achieve higher protection and coloration. While it’s true that leaving extra ink on a fabric will are likely to make it extra opaque, there are better, extra efficient ways of getting the same or better results. You’ll have to abandon your desire to do simple spot coloration jobs on mesh counts like one hundred ten or decrease and adopt using newer mesh counts.

In order to make use of the latest monofilament polyester display screen fabrics to your benefit, you have to to grasp a easy characteristic of screen printing mesh. We might be focusing on how a fabric’s thread diameter impacts the mesh geometry. That is to say, we’ll have a look at how the thread diameter of the mesh will have an effect on the overall ink stream or enhance the mesh opening for any given mesh rely. When you need a refresher on mesh dialogue and nomenclature, please read this article: Screen Printing Mesh: Count Conversions, Nomenclatures & More. We’ll strive to not get over technical right here however there is a certain quantity of tech discuss needed in order to continue.

Keeping that in thoughts, let’s check out two mesh counts for the needs of illustrating the idea. If we have a mesh rely of one hundred ten which is made with a typical 80 micrometer thread, we know the mesh opening is about 43% with a mesh tension of forty four N/cm, (Newtons per centimeter). If you treasured this article and you would like to acquire more info about coustic mesh please visit our own site. 43% is the quantity to concentrate on right here because this represents the share of open space of the mesh at a selected tension. The higher this quantity is, the better the ink move will probably be by way of the mesh. Now we also know that printing with 110 mesh has its own inherent qualities like loss of detail or “noticed tooth-ing”. And it additionally supplies for a rougher ink surface when printing an beneath base. Now what if we might use a better mesh rely that had the same or higher mesh opening ratio?

Let’s now consider a mesh rely of 150, made with a forty eight micron diameter thread and stretched at 28 N/cm. This screen may have a mesh opening ratio of around 51%. If we look at the 2 percentages, you will note the one hundred ten has a 43% mesh opening and the one hundred fifty has a 51% mesh opening. So, though the a hundred and fifty mesh is a higher thread rely in comparison to the 110, it still has extra open area. This allows for larger ink saturation within the print area, enhancing the opacity and the shade intensity of the print. Although this mesh might have a little bit bit lower theoretical ink quantity, it may have higher ink movement traits and coustic mesh allow a discount in squeegee stress too. This will produce a thinner, extra even and smooth ink deposit which creates a softer hand or feel to the print. Mesh like this is sometimes known as “thin mesh”.

This kind of mesh can have great advantages for a lot of reasons. Reducing squeegee pressure can improve picture element. It can also reduce stencil drag which in flip improves registration. Also, it’s important to note that ink opacity or protection is affected by elements aside from ink quantity such as the substrate and even the ink high quality itself. In customary circumstances, a smooth, even deposit of a lesser amount of ink will produce a extra colorful and opaque print than applying thicker layers of ink.

Using a mesh like the aforementioned 150/48 or perhaps a 135/40 for a white under base is a superb utilization of this sort of mesh. The beneath base will have the ability to render particulars wanted for the design. It can produce a better surface than can be produced by the 110/80 mesh. As you might already know, a smoother, thinner, extra consistent beneath base is right for halftones. A skinny mesh may additionally help scale back clogging with water primarily based inks and back flooding.

Some advantages of “skinny mesh”:

– Better ink flow with much less effort

– Great protection with minimal ink volume

– Creates a smoother, extra constant surface

– Requires less squeegee pressure – Improves print quality or detail

– Easier to attain stencil detail

– Elimination of fabric interference in halftones

– Creates a softer hand print

It’s best to be capable of learn extra about the advantages of thin mesh out of your fabric vendor if they’re a good, “state of the art” display printing source. With slightly analysis and a few testing, you might be taking benefit mesh technology and improve print high quality whereas making production easier.