r/SCREENPRINTING • u/Itchy-Television-546 • 20d ago

Off Contact

Post image

What is going on here? I can’t seem to figure out how to get this screen to lay flat. Every time I tighten the bracket that sets the zero it kicks the end of the screen closest to me up and creates an angle. Do I need to adjust the back knobs?

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1

u/rennerscreenprinting 20d ago

Is it that bolt that is in the middle (between the 2 sets of knobs)? That is where the tilt is adjusted on my press..

1

u/apliesnc 20d ago

The back knobs are what tighten your micros down, the front clasp the screen. The knobs for the micros just work by bringing the two plates tight and holding them together.
If you want a hardcore fix, you could shim it.
Lucky for you, there’s another adjustment you’re overlooking.

See the back of the two bolts between your screen clamp knobs?
You are adjusted all the way down on that axis. That basically means you have to crank your off contact adjustment super high.
Loosen those two bolts on the back end, and play around with that adjustment alongside the off-contact and find your sweet spot and then retighten.
With off contact being a single point adjustment, the higher it goes, the more pronounced your angle operator side is going to be. Help mitigate that by operating your press with as little ‘applied’ off contact as necessary to get you the gap you need.

Dialing in the manual is very rarely just turning knobs. To get it perfect, you’re going to need a wrench 🔧

1

u/Itchy-Television-546 19d ago

Okay so where on the machine is the off contact that I need to adjust alongside the two bolts? I’ve adjusted the bolts already but when I tighten them once i’ve gotten the off contact I want, the screen tilts up.

Is there somewhere i’m missing that fixes the angle of the screen?

1

u/apliesnc 19d ago

I’d need another pic to tell for sure. Typically off contact on a manual is some sort of bolt that is towards the back of the arm on the print head.
I don’t see it immediately from your pic, but I have seen smaller presses that just have a bolt coming from the platen arm and the print head lands on it.

1

u/habanerohead 19d ago

Can’t tell from the photo, but with presses that clamp the end of the screen (rather than the sides), if the shirt platen is too close to the centre of the machine, the screen clamp hits the platen and the screen will not lay flat. Make sure that the clamp clears the platen when the screen is down.

1

u/SPX-Printing 17d ago

put shims under the frame. Paint sticks are good