The Importance of Good Film Quality when Screen Printing

The quality of your screen prints does not rely on the quality of ink or screen printing equipment, alone. The film quality is one of the most important factors to achieving good quality prints, especially when making hundreds of prints a day. Good film quality means your prints will be clear and crisp on the clothing you print.

The factors that make film quality good include clear film and fully opaque black positive areas. If the film you are using is not clear, it creates a filtering effect that can cause under-exposure and graininess in your images. In addition, if the black area is not opaque, you can lose details of the picture.

Three of the film options you can choose from include vellum, inkjet films, and Ortho Litho film. Of the three, vellum is the lowest quality film. It is not clear, and it acts as a filter, while the black is not fully opaque. However, this film does work well if you need to do one to two color jobs that are not very detailed. Inkjet films are readily available and produce decent quality prints, but only under the right printing settings. This type of film can be found in very clear varieties, and its opaques are quite black. The highest quality film you can purchase is Ortho Litho. This type of film works great when used for detailed and intricate prints.

In certain situations, using low quality film is okay, but a majority of jobs you do will require higher quality film. It’s entirely possible that most of your printing only requires a mid-level film, such as inkjet. However, if you sometimes need to print high quality images, you should invest in an Ortho Litho machine and film to ensure your customers are happy with their orders.

For more information about screen printing and other services, contact us at ShopWorks.

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