Solvent Parts Cleaner for squeegees?

[mimosatexas]

Would something like this http://www.ebay.com/bhp/parts-cleaner-solvent work for cleaning squeegees if the right chemical was used?  I'm not exactly sure how this thing works, but the less scrubbing I have to do the better...

Thoughts?

[gtmfg]

Pretty much what we have. Then saftey cleen rotates the tanks

[Inkworks]

They work fine, and plain old solvent does a great job, let it sit a few hours and all the plastisol settles to the bottom and you have clean fluid again. I found we like more elbow room so we upgraded to this really big parts washer that I got used for $40.00

[ericheartsu]

we just switched to plastiwash, as solvent is nasty stuff. you should see what it does to a pair of rubber gloves after a week.

[Inkworks]

we just switched to plastiwash, as solvent is nasty stuff. you should see what it does to a pair of rubber gloves after a week.

Nothing, if you get the right gloves, look for the heavy black gloves.

Our other parts washer tank is Lacquer Thinner for Padprinting inks, now that tank can eat gloves.

[mimosatexas]

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to these things. How exactly does it clean the squeegee?  Do you set it in there, close the lid, and it does the rest?

[Inkworks]

Nope, just a recirculating pump and a brush. Less than 1 minute for an auto squeegee, and even faster for a floodbar. I think one of the keys is having enough elbow room in there. Throw in 5-6 squeegees and floodbars as well as ink scoops from an auto run and those smaller wash-out tanks get real crowded.

I'll have to take a look at plastiwash for the next refill, does the plastisol settle out of it like solvent?

[Frog]

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to these things. How exactly does it clean the squeegee?  Do you set it in there, close the lid, and it does the rest?

It doesn't clean the squeegees, you still do.
It is pretty much just a sink that comes with a recirculating pump, and either a spigot or plumbed brush.

[ebscreen]

Shurloc Squeegee Clean. Screen printing item of the year 2013. Once you add in the price of solvent to the parts washer you aren't far off from something that will save millions of hours in the long run. Probably not so applicable to pad printing or graphics dudes though.

[TCT]

Shurloc Squeegee Clean. Screen printing item of the year 2013. Once you add in the price of solvent to the parts washer you aren't far off from something that will save millions of hours in the long run. Probably not so applicable to pad printing or graphics dudes though.

X2 here, really like the unit. Once you get the hang of it(slow and steady wins the race, and just enough cleaning solution to get the bottom of the brushes) it is awesome.
What you want to bet they run a Long Beach deal next week.....

[mimosatexas]

ah.  I'll just stick with my washout booth then.  It works fine to spray a bit of 701 and scrub.  Was hoping that part could be automated in some way :/

[mk162]

I like having a parts washer.  I used to have safety clean come and maintain it, but it's a waste of money...yeah, they recycle it, but you still maintain liability of your chems after they leave your shop...at least that is how it used to be.  We just filter the crap out of ours with oil filters, bake those in an old toaster oven until the ink is cured and toss them.

[alan802]

I love our parts washer and I like the Safety Klean service they provide but the Shurloc cleaner is by far the better choice.  We spend more money in 4 months for the Safety Klean unit than the Shurloc would cost.  I'll be making the tough decision soon to drop the SK service.  Not that it's tough really because it's clear what the best option is but the SK guys are more friends than just someone we do business with.

[mk162]

Our SK guys were nice, but there was a different guy every cycle...so I didn't have an emo connection.

[gtmfg]

I think our contract with SK is once every 6 months. I think that equates to under 400 a year. We were doing it on a more frequent basis but it seemed like a waste of money.