Power Of S-Mesh

The Power of S Threads

Today’s screen printing world is in the midst of major change. PVC and Pthalate free inks are being used more and more, but they print far differently than any ink you have used in the past. Plastisol will still have its’ place, but many major clothing merchandisers want a safer ink for their product. This isn’t going to be like switching from one brand of plastisol to another. These inks require rethinking your print recipe of mesh and emulsion. From major athletic and licensed wear manufacturers to new children’s wear requirements these inks are here to stay. Migrating from plastisol to these new style of inks will require a dedication to learning how these inks cure, how to mix and maintain the inks during production and documenting the print recipe to determine best practices for success.

We’ve made the print part easy. We have been promoting S mesh for some time now with great results. The new PVC and Phthalate free inks benefit from the increased open area of Murakami S-mesh. With these meshes you can use less squeegee pressure and faster squeegee speeds to lay down less ink while still yielding great opaque prints. Faster squeegee speeds help these new inks to shear better. This low viscosity ink eliminates the need for a slow printing base plate common with plastisol inks and yields an extremely soft hand feel to the print. S Mesh from Murakami has one other significant advantage; print registration. Murakami’s S Mesh holds registration well. It has properties that aid in keeping your prints on press looking as good as when they were set up at the beginning of the print run.

Murakami Smartmesh retains excellent working tension. Mesh tension is often misunderstood. High mesh tension is not needed for water base, discharge or PVC/Pthalate free inks. These inks shear very easily with a good workable tension of 17-25 newtons. Whether you use stretch and glue or retensionable frames Murakami S mesh retains tension well.

How is Murakami Mesh different? Murakami Smartmesh thread is made very differently than inexpensive mesh. Lower quality mesh continues to lose tension over the life of the screen and quite often this will happen in the first production run and continue to lose tension until it can’t register well. Murakami Smartmesh will retain a good workable tension level due to a higher quality thread which extends the useful life of the screen. The old saying goes: “You can pay me now or pay me later”. Non stop print production with flawless registration will make you more money in the long run.

Murakami 135 S Mesh and Halftones Can 135 S Mesh print halftone base plates? The answer is yes. The larger open area and thinner threads allow this mesh to hold a 50 line halftone at 67 degrees. This allows the printer to print PVC/phthalate free inks in simulated process with excellent results. Here is our 67 gradation halftone test.