Pulling question

[James flames]

Just wondering out loud here... I've always pulled my prints with my screens in the vertical position, and as long as I can remember that's all I've ever seen anyone do. But is there any reason NOT to pull them with the screen in the horizontal position?

I guess the reason I'm thinking this is if I wanted to do a split fountain, and have it fade top-to-bottom (as opposed to side-to-side) on a vertical print, I'd have to turn the screen 90 degrees. And get a longer squeegee. So, just curious if there are some obvious, or not so obvious reasons why pulling that way would be a bad idea...?

[Mark McCormick]

pretty sure the only reason would be printer limitations, but if that's not a problem you should be fine either way.

[caribou]

the only thing i can think of that might be an issue is if the screen stretches more vertically than in horizontally. if so, the registration might end up being off if you switch from one color done vertically, then the split fountain with the frame put horizontal, then another color done vertically. may not make a difference with properly stretched screens, though.

[Mark McCormick]

yeah, if you want to print horizontally, you have to print every color horizontally or you'll have registration problems fo sho. screens always stretch, even when tensioned properly.

[squeegeethree]

Screens stretch more in the weft direction than the warp direction. The vertical vs horizontal stretch is more dependent on warp/weft than anything else.

The main reason to print vertically is your squeegee is shorter so you have to exert less pounds per square inch of squeegee to print.

[seireyho]

Id be wary to print horizontally unless you have a wide hinge setup...

[vrooooom]

The main reason to print vertically is your squeegee is shorter so you have to exert less pounds per square inch of squeegee to print.

This, 100%. Especially if you're printing a large flood. You'll tear your arms off.

[James flames]

Nice. Good points. Didn't even think of the hinges - that's probably a biggie. And the 'less pound of pressure per square inch of squeegee' makes good sense too. And being consistent with all colors of a print is a lesson I learned a long time ago (the hard way), so yeah, if I started horizontally, I would have continued horizontally.

I admit, I had to go look up what Weft/Warp was. I doubt there's any way I could figure out which way my screen was stretched. But these are all enough points to save this for an 'experiment day' when nothing's riding on what I print. Thanks errbody!

[squeegeethree]

You can also get a wicked Warp vs Weft Moire if you switch your pitch up.

[James flames]

You mean switch your pitch from one color to the next within one print? Or just in general? My table's at a slight angle, but it stays that way all the time.