# Newbie Screen Printer, Registration Issues on M&R Diamondback Automatic



## geek_riot (Apr 2, 2010)

Hi All,
A little background: I work for a midsized printshop. For the last 10 years I have been in offset printing (think paper). We also screen print and build outdoor signage. Anyway the job of screen printing has recently fallen into my lap when the screen printer left and the replacement decided two days before his departure date that "screen printing isn't what I want to do.". So... Here I am. I spent about 6 hours with the old printer learning the very basics (I'm really good at burning and washing out screens ). But I am running into issues. 
Now some background on our setup: we have a m&r diamondback 8 station, 7 color automatic press (with a big freakin' oven). We use a nuarc exposure unit and we use the m&r triloc system.
I am having registration issues: these are two fold, one I think happens when I am burning screens, not having them always seated properly and consistently when I burn. This I know. The second problem and the most puzzling is registration when on the press. Today I ran a couple hundred two color shirts (white base; hot pink ink). Throughout the production run the shirts would occasionally be off on just one side. Both myself and my assistant have had the same problem. We can't seem to track down the problem. My thoughts are that it's due to poor technique when loading the shirts. It's not every shirt and it's not terribly out of reg. That's another question. In screen printing isthis acceptable/expected? In offset printing, it is not. I do know I have an issue. I don't know if I'm to anal about the quality of the print. My guy says the previous printer had similar problems and acted as if it were expected. For the record, the old printer has been at it for about 10 years so I would hope he knows what he's talking about?
Thanks in advance for any help!


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## out da box (May 1, 2007)

Id the alignment between color consistent? Is the entire image shifted to one side or the other? I think you may be not loading the shirts correctly. I have the same press you have and do not have registration problems. Make sure all of your locks are tight and all clamps secure. Also make sure your shirts are not moving on the pallets- i.e. use some pallet glue or spray tack so the shirts wont shift on the boards.
Of course your pallets and printheads and screens need to be level and parallel and flat.


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## geek_riot (Apr 2, 2010)

Hi. 
The registration is good. I get shirts that are perfect. The off registered part is only on one side. As for the levelness, etc, I don't know. Like I said, I'm new to this. We did move the press to a new facility about 3months ago without the assistance of a tech. 
Could flashing the white base too long cause my issues? I do use spray tac. Sometimes it seems like too much (the shirts sometimes feel sticky).


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## n.signia (Nov 21, 2007)

You say your underbasing, can you see white peeking out under your pink layer (in places it shouldn't) if so it's a registration issue with your screens not the loading of the shirt, this will only effect the location of the print on the shirt, not the actual color registration.


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## geek_riot (Apr 2, 2010)

n.signia said:


> You say your underbasing, can you see white peeking out under your pink layer (in places it shouldn't) if so it's a registration issue with your screens not the loading of the shirt, this will only effect the location of the print on the shirt, not the actual color registration.


I can only see the white peeking out on one side. The weird thing is tat it almost looks like the shirt shrunk/stretched after the white base. The design has the words Mexican Restaurante in all caps. Up until about the "rante" in restaurante are lined up. Then the white peeks out.


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## out da box (May 1, 2007)

Screens or pallet arms not level or warped or off contact not even or not the same mesh tension. What kind of screens are you using and do you know the mesh tension??


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## n.signia (Nov 21, 2007)

Yeah, what Ridgley said. It's definately not ok either ( speaking for my shop) to have the underbase show at the edges. It could even be an issue with your art. If it's only a single platten giving you issues, with the rest printing correct, it's most likely a warped platten or an uneven platten.


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## geek_riot (Apr 2, 2010)

I know nothing about the mesh tension. We have a local supplier who strethches our screens for us. I am using 140 screens. I've had several ink changes on this job. It's 600 shirts, different colors ink and shirts. How likely is it for the screens to stretch with multiple useage? Also, if it's a pallet or screen level issue, would it just be misregisted in one particular place? It doesn't happen all the time either. I can load 8 shirts and be fine then load 8 more and be off on 5 or 6.


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## hdem (Mar 1, 2008)

Make sure to rub the shirts nice and flat every time you load them. Make sure there is sufficient tact to the pallets, use glue rather than spray adhesive especially if you flash the design because it lasts longer. If you are taking all common sense precautions and still don't know what is wrong, call an m&r tech to service the machine. You said you moved the machine recently without a techs help so something could have been shaken loose in the move. Those machines need regular upkeep to allow them to run smoothly. Call m&r and have them straighten out the problem.


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## Naters (Apr 3, 2010)

I agree with the last post. I run a 14 color M&R and a 10 as well as 3 others. Registration shouldnt be a problem unless your not putting down enough glue or your pallets need to be tightened up. another thing I do is shoot my base slightly smaller than the cover ink... helps out with making it look nice and clean when you have shady pallets


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## manifestee (Jan 8, 2008)

Hi,
You've just mentioned that the tee seems to shrink after the white print.
If you are printing a white base, you are probably print on dark garments.
Dark garments are tend to shirk more than whites under heat.
Try to lower the temp of your flash cure or minimize the flash time in order to prevent shrinkage.
It doesnt sound like a reg issue as you can get good results in some of your prints.
Enjoy.


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