Tape Question of the Day

[ScreenPrinter123]

If you used a "natural rubber adhesive" tape (from J&J) and had a 10,000 pieces to do but spanned out over 3 separate jobs over about 45 days, would you keep the tape on the screens when taking the screens off the press after each run until the last run was over...or would you un tape them too after each run?

I'm neurotic about trying to keep things as clean as humanly possible with our 2 man circus after jobs are completed, so I've been untaping them to avoid any damage to the mesh and to avoid any potential for nasty residue to be left on the emulsion, though I suppose that would easily come off in the reclaim phase.  What would you do.... Take it off on and re-tape before each run or leave it on for about 30-45 days?

[Ryan]

take it off, clean the screen and put aside until the next run. Thats just because I think it should be done that way, certainly doesn't make it right. Regardless of the tape, I still think that if you leave it on for extended periods of time, it makes a mess of things, or at least in my experiences it has

[blue moon]

huh, we leave the tape on until we are done with the screens. The ink is just carded out, no washing. This only works for spot color jobs though, any sim process screens swell and are not usable if the ink is left in them. I guess we could try to wash them and use later, but it seems easier to just reburn.

pierre

[screenprintguy]

We leave it on as well, "unless", there is something funky, like maybe someone sprayed some screen opener or other on press wash that may have gotten under some of the tape. Other than that, we give them a good card and wipe down, and put them on a rack, makes it easier to go back to that job with one less step.

If you are worried about the adheasive on emulsion problem, if it's a good natural rubber adheasive tape, you shouldn't have that issue with a screen holding tape for a long time. We let a guy from ICC do a demo here a couple weeks ago and gave him a set of screens that had tape on them for a good year and 6 months give or take, and he was amazed when the tape peeled off and left no residue, good ole uline.

[Underbase37]

We do the same, unless it's WB (water-base) then we take the tape off to make sure no water gets hung up & keeps the emulsion from drying. A large part of our work is reorder so we do keep tape on screens for up to a year or more, if we can.

[screenprintguy]

We do the same, unless it's WB (water-base) then we take the tape off to make sure no water gets hung up & keeps the emulsion from drying. A large part of our work is reorder so we do keep tape on screens for up to a year or more, if we can.

Oh yeah, forgot about if it's a WB screen. We tried to leave it a few times, but seemed like even when we were careful, if a little water gets under the tape, possibly brings a little discharge with it, and you use that screen again a few days later, you may find some discharged ghosts on the next run, or at least, the tape is then too weak to block out for the next run.

[3Deep]

Same here, I've left tape on a screen for months and a few over two years or so just remove the ink, and they washed out fine when it was time to clean.

Darryl

[ZooCity]

Leave it on for either.  The slightly thicker mil intertape of the same type J&J sells is really worth it in some of these cases.

[alan802]

Is anyone buying from them since they jacked up the price?  Or was I the only one they tried to sucker into paying $7.50 a roll for?  I've tested a few different rolls recently and I have a winner for 5.15/roll.  I tried some acrylic based stuff that was working great until it warmed up a little and then it went to pooh and started stripping in pieces when removing.  It was the perfect amount of sticky and it was very easy to work with and I was excited the first roll we used.  The new tape has a slightly less expensive rubber base so the price is better than the intertape stuff we were getting from J&J.

[ZooCity]

No, bought the last case by googling for the intertape I wanted and found some welding supply or something odd with the best price.  The price jump was way too extreme but it may be that lower pricing is only there from other vendors for existing stock and it will all go up soon.

[ScreenFoo]

7.50 a roll?  I hope it was at least three inch...  crazy.

You guys talking about IT 500?  Have you checked the other numbers like 510 and 520?  IIRC, those are thicker 2+ mil backings. 

A case goes up local here a few bucks every time we buy it, maybe twice a year, but it's still right around three bucks for a two inch roll.

[ZooCity]

I think we got 510 last time for half of JJ cost for 500 and yeah, it feels a lot thicker and is easier to handle.

[alan802]

I prefer the thicker mil tape and it was more expensive the thicker the tape gets.