mesh count for shirts

[philmcandrew]

I'm fairly new at the whole screen printing thing and have a question that I'm hoping you guys can answer!

So I've done a little bit of printing on both paper and on shirts. I used a crappy screen with a low mesh count. I don't know what the mesh count was exactly, but when printing on paper you can see little jags in the lines if you look closely, so it's definitely pretty low. I'm planning to order some nicer screens with a higher mesh count (I'm thinking 230). My question is: while I know these will be nice for printing on paper, will the higher mesh count be bad for printing on shirts? I know you don't need a high mesh count for shirts, but will it make any difference with shirts? Is it better to have a low mesh count for shirts, or does it not really matter much?

[adrenochrome]

I have nothing but trouble when attempting to use a 230 or higher with Spot Color Plastisols. Even if I thin the ink out, it still seems like I can never fully clear the screen.

I have learned that with shirts, you need a huge supply of 110's. With the right emulsion, you can get some pretty tight work. Keep some 230's on hand if you plan on doing some process work.

[The Fresh Prints]

a lower mesh count for shirts will give you better ink coverage. 110 is generally pretty decent all the way around. i sometimes llike to use 86's for white on black to really dump the ink down. 160-196 are good for light colored shirts and higher detail. i really only use 230 and above for process jobs. but then again i work at little ma & pa shop with low demands for crazy detailed prints. the lower mesh count really just makes it a bit easier to pull.

[phoondaddy]

Lower mesh counts for spot color printing - 110-125's.

Higher mesh for Halftones - 156-195's

Real low mesh for metallics or glitter inks - 60-80's

[loco]

I stay around 155 for most spot color jobs (if my black has fine line and is the last color, I use a higher mesh)

For fine line and or halftone 200-230 (I also use for poster printing)

When I do 4 color process I use 305 (white t-shirts)

I print by hand, no automatic

-loco

[JayJaySerious]

I've been using 110 - 156s for most of our shirts, but I ran out last week and used a 200 mesh poster screen and the print came out so beautiful I'm thinking of getting a bunch more 180 - 200s.