# how do you silk screen and keep ink from bleeding



## psgmone (Feb 20, 2012)

screen printing t-shirts 50/50 and 100 cotton and we are having some bleeding. what can we do to fix this. oh and we are very new to this. thank you in advance


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## Celtic (Feb 19, 2008)

Are you having bleeding with both the 50/50 and the 100%?
If you're having this problem with both there are a few of potential issues:

1. Too low of a mesh for what you're printing.
2. Too much squeegee pressure, especially if your using a thinner ink and you're driving the ink out. You want your pressure downward, not so much horizontally.
3. You may not be fully curing your ink.


With the 50/50 you need to either use an ink for poly, or use an additive to your regular plastisol ink.


You need to provide some detailed info to better determine what's going on.


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

Also show us a picture of the bleeding. What you call bleeding, maybe smudging. If you have to much pressure I believe its from an improper offset. I.E. you don't have the offset setup. 

The offset is the distance between the top of the t-shirt and the bottom of the screen. 

Don't forget, Flashing too long with one station. If you have multiple stations your platens have time to cool off.


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## psgmone (Feb 20, 2012)

Thank you. I will give some more info but wanted to thank you first.


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## psgmone (Feb 20, 2012)

selanac said:


> Also show us a picture of the bleeding. What you call bleeding, maybe smudging. If you have to much pressure I believe its from an improper offset. I.E. you don't have the offset setup.
> 
> The offset is the distance between the top of the t-shirt and the bottom of the screen.
> 
> Don't forget, Flashing too long with one station. If you have multiple stations your platens have time to cool off.


 
What is the distance to be for the offset?


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## selanac (Jan 8, 2007)

The offset distance should be between 1/8 of an inch to 1/4" of an inch. This is from the Top of the t-shirt to the bottom of the screen.


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