Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical

[Screened Gear]

It's pretty cool, though I wonder if I'm the only one who doesn't rotate north to south when coating... nice work guy...

Steve

I used to rotate but stopped about 4 years ago. No change in the emulsion on the screens. In theory it is better.

[screenxpress]

Thanks for all the comments. 

The main plan was to have something that I didn't have to lean screens on a bucket or stool when coating, something to keep the coater standing up when changing positions and be able to swing the screen in for coating and then out to minimize the side drips when backing the coater away.

I learned how to arc weld from my neighbor and he's pushing me to remake it out of aluminum boxed.

Maybe a marketable idea, although not a high demand I'd imagine.  Who knows? 

Even though my screen of choice is the Newmans, I discovered the darned thing worked just as well on my old wooden 18x20 and 20x24 screens with no modifications.  The spring mechanism took care of it.

Stay tuned, lol.

[tonypep]

Kudos to this. I have a a 15 yr old stainless vs. Does not rotate although we can still coat faster on both sides with two hands which I have always been an advocate of. Needs some tweaks. If it were me I'd trade the basic engineering to someone like Action for a free prototype. Either way very good start.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I used to rotate but stopped about 4 years ago. No change in the emulsion on the screens. In theory it is better.

I just stopped rotating also...after 6 or 7 years of doing it. The only difference I can see is less time spent coating.

[mooseman]

we do not rotate. I think it all comes down to technique, tried it a few times but saw no real difference.
We coat one handed, pretty fast on a table top no support for the screen.
 we tend to rock and change the angle of the screen based on the amount of emulsion in the coater. Example full coater the screen is pretty much almost vertical, half full coater maybe a 45 degree angle, end of stroke  rock back to vertical to break the coater away.
low volume coater the screen is darn near parallel to the table top, end of stroke  rock back to vertical to break the coater away.

I know for a fact I can not coat 2 handed

mooseman

[Sbrem]

Kudos to this. I have a a 15 yr old stainless vs. Does not rotate although we can still coat faster on both sides with two hands which I have always been an advocate of. Needs some tweaks. If it were me I'd trade the basic engineering to someone like Action for a free prototype. Either way very good start.

Same here, we picked up a stand at an auction years ago, two hands is indeed easier, though I probably coated a 100,000 holding the screen in my left hand and coater in the right...

Steve

[ABuffington]

Great idea and there is a market for it!  The main reason to flip the screen is hand coating tends to put more emulsion on at the start of the coat and less at the end due to speed and angle.  Flipping the screen evens out the EOM across the screen, but I never did this in my shop and testing here the difference end to end is only a few microns difference, not an issue for textiles.  Great idea on the flip mechanism here and the tilt feature. 

Al

[TCT]

This is GREAT! There is a market for it for sure, where does the line start? I have done it 1 handed for 14 years though, so it would free up a hand so I could pick my nose or something with the free one...

[screenxpress]

I'm checking out materials now.  Let me see how it goes.

Thanks for all the positive comments!!