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Question

When printing four-color process, we know the importance of the angles used for the dots on the color separations. We also know we have to avoid certain combinations of mesh count with dots per inch on the positive in order to avoid moiré. What we are looking for are some guidelines on which mesh specification is most suitable for printing four-color process, and how fine a dot we should be able to hold.

Water Based Ink vs Plastisol

Water-based ink versus plastisol: one is made of water and one is made of plastic. Simple. But while the difference is easy enough to read in the names, how this difference impacts your screenprint takes a little more research. We're going to look more in depth at each type, advantages and disadvantages, and use the differences to see which one would work best for you.

Monofilament synthetic fibers can be woven very precisely to create industrial textiles with narrow pore distribution. This precision weaving process creates fine mesh woven fabrics with apertures (hole sizes) as small as 10 micron, with a strand and thickness tolerance of +/-10%.

There are quite a few types of mesh fabrics available and they can be made from many types of substrates. There are multifilament and monofilament threads, stainless steel, nylon, polyester, and silk.

This article is limited to monofilament polyester printing mesh, the best and cheapest choice for screen printing garments. You have for example many choices in thread weave available. The plain weaves (Fig. 1) and the twill weaves. (Fig.2) Twill weaves can provide higher ink volume when used in higher meshes but the ability to hold sharp edges with a coated emulsion is diminished.(Fig. 3) Almost all applications will be best served with a plain weave.

The threads support the stencil. The open areas allow ink passage. Familiarity with the meaning and importance of each mesh will make fabric selection easier---and consistent high-quality printing more predictable 

Mesh Count: 

The number of threads per linear inch (norminal mesh count). Screen fabrics are woven in threads per centimeter and then the number is calculated to English measurement for sale into parts of the world that don’t use the metric system 

Example: A fabric woven at 120 threads/cm equals 305 threads/inch. The figure is calculated by multiplying 120 x 2.54=304.8, this number is rounded up to 305