# Large block print



## KaiKM (Jun 15, 2015)

Hi guys,

I print a lot of cotton bags/tshirts and have a continuous problem with large block prints. Not only am I going through a hell of a lot of ink, but the ink is going through the garment and onto the pallet. With the cotton bags we print, we can run these at speeds of 1000-1100 per hour. The issue is that when the bags are pulled off the machine, the handle can catch the ink on the pallet and leave a mark which is highly noticeable. 

The flood/squeegee are running at the highest possible speed with the least amount of pressure needed to ensure coverage. Depending on the print colour, sometimes the ink is thinned down a lot with curable reducer/soft hand base - will this be the main cause? Thick inks never leave as much of a deposit on the pallets but make the print speed a lot, lot slower. 

Thanks in advance.


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## artlife (Jan 15, 2010)

without knowing more it's hard to say what is causing your problem. But thin shirts and thin bags will result in ink on the pallet if there's enough pressure. Thinning the ink too much can result in it seeping through the fabric. What mesh screens?? If you are creating a mess or having to spray out stray ink or stop and clean pallets then you are not saving any time by printing fast with too thin ink. Printing large prints on large quantity of goods you are going to use a lot of ink, jobs should be priced accordingly.


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## KaiKM (Jun 15, 2015)

I think you've hit the nail on the head by saying it's the thin bags. Canvas bags don't give me this problem unless the ink is really thin, which I have recently been resisting the urge to thin down too much. A really big block I would put on a 62 screen (158 US count) but predominantly 77s (196). This is more so I can run the job faster, squeegee is almost vertical so unsure on what else I can do.


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