SCREEN PRINTING


Tricks of the trade – hoodie printing Introducing our new screen printing column, by Kes Cracknell of Ram Promotions


I


tʼs that time of year again when itʼs cold and grey outside, and this can only mean one thing – hoodie season is here again. Whether youʼre printing hoodies for your local builder or school on a manual or a large promotion order on autos, hoodies can be a little tricky. Today, we are printing a small order of black poly cotton mix hoodies printed white. I have chosen a 48 mesh and will be using a low bleed ink. The low bleed ink will help stop any dye migration which is a real problem when printing poly cotton blends.


For best results I try to layer the ink on the manual. If we were printing this job on an auto we would still layer the ink by using a 48 mesh or the underbase with low bleed and then print the hi white on a 77 mesh again with the low bleed white. Itʼs really important to keep low bleed ink in your ink room and dye migration out of your print shop floor.


Make sure you change the snap on your machine. Hoodies are thicker in mass than your standard tee and need a good snap off the garment to allow a good clean pass. We pre-shrink the garment which helps it once the first hit of ink has been applied and stops the garment shrinking and making the second hit look like being a registration problem.


Pull the ink through the screen. We like to double hit the underbase, then flash off the print until dry to touch. Be careful not


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to over flash the garment – just enough to cure it.


Allow to cool for around 10 seconds (cooling will stop ink blocking the mesh), as in production, the platens will heat up quite quickly so please adjust your flash times then print.


Print the second hit or hi white again on the hoodie. I would double hit it again – this will leave you with a very strong and sharp print.


If we were printing this job onto a zip through hood we lay, then tape down a 10mm piece of soft rubber onto the platen. This allows the zip to retract into the rubber when the squeegee blade prints over the image. We use these all the time on the autos. You can buy special platens for your auto/manual. These have a groove cut into the platen and work very well but I personally prefer the lower cost rubber method, which does a great job. Please email if you need any technical info regarding low bleed inks and rubber for your platen. n Email: info@ram-promotions.co.uk, call


About the author


Kes Cracknell has always been involved in the promotional printing industry and started Ram Promotions in 1994. Ram screen prints garments for promotional, school wear and retail companies. In 2010, Ram expanded its print floor and now prints more than 60,000 garments a week. Ram now decorates garments only for the trade.


01277 366164 or visit www.ram- promotions.co.uk


Poly cotton sweats/hoodies – dos and don’ts


DO


n Use a low bleed ink – very important. n Use a good quality spray adhesive. n Pre-shrink the garment. n Allow garment to cool. n Try to layer the print. n Use rubber platen on zip hoods. n Allow longer print production (hoods take time).


DON’T n Over flash the garment (this will cause shrinkage).


n Over spray the platens. n Rush your print strokes. n Forget to change the snap on-off contact on your machine.


n Forget to charge a little more on hoods.


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1. Place soft rubber on the platen when printing zipped hoodies.


2. Spray boards. 3. Pre-flashing.


56 7 www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk


4. Printing the garment. 5. Flashing, 6. Printing.


7. The completed garment.


January 2013 | 67 |


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