Blurred Prints - For Dummies

April 23, 2019

One thing printers may encounter when learning to print is the image bleeding, it’s super frustrating but we are going to give you a list of things to look out for when this happens.

• First make sure you have put enough adhesive down on the platen (we recommend our Super Tack) so the shirt isn’t moving around and stays put.
• Second when you flood your screen you only want to cover the design area with a film of ink. This requires a lot less pressure than a normal pass when you are printing. By using too much pressure you can prematurely pass ink through the mesh and once you actually go to print you are not just pushing through ink like normal but are smashing down the layer you didn’t mean to push through during the flood. 
• Another thing that can cause blurry lines is doing more passes than you need to and changing the squeegee angle when printing.
• You can also have this happen by ink building up at the bottom of the screen causing ghosting or the image looking like its 3D
• Also if your screen was not exposed properly this can mean that the emulsion is going to break down sooner than it should resulting in a loss of detail. (aka blurred prints)

 

Don’t get frustrated just take a step back and think of the things you have done up until this point. Did you put to much pressure down while flooding ? Are you changing the squeegee technique from push to pull and holding it at different angles while doing that ? It will take some time but you will figure it out. 

Catch you guys later and remember if you have any questions drop a comment below on this blog or reach out via Instagram or our live chat.

- SPD Crew!

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