My Washout Booth Is BEYOND Nasty.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Anybody use a good cleaning method, chemical they are willing to share?

I'm not talking about waste piping and the associated gunk.

I'm talking about layers of ICK on the bottom, but also the Translucent White Plastic sides and back are pretty opaque.

I've used Easy Off Oven cleaner, waiting...., then my pressure washer to clean the back---to let more light come through, and it sorta works.

But the bottom?!?!?!

Yuck!

I might not be afraid to scrape the bottom, since some inevitable "scratching" won't really hurt anything there.

Stan

[mimosatexas]

Um, how is it so gross?  I scrape ink, dip tank, and blast out everything, AND use tons of waterbased that is scraped then sprayed out in the booth.  I am hardly careful about the mess like some on the boards.  I have had the same booth for 4+ years with zero cleaning and it is only kind of messy, but the back and sides are just sort of speckled, not built up to the point of not being able to see the backlight at all...

I would get a paint scraper and go to town.  When you finish a screen or group of screens, use your pressure washer to quickly rinse the sides if you are getting so much stuff on them.  That way nothing is sitting there drying and building up.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Good question. 

I "think" my particular booth is too flat on the bottom. That, and I use DIY filters made from some washable air filter media I bought to stop the emulsion sludge from going down the piping. The filters are cut round with scissors, and placed into the "kitchen style" drain opening. It works!

Unfortunatly, the filters inhibit the water from freely draining AT THE END of their useful life, at which time I just toss them. My emulsion is WR 25 and it reclaims a little "stringy", but I like it because it leaves nothing in my dip tank at all.

(Oh, not so much stringy, as there are some small "particulates" and enough of them that would quickly clog the pipes.)

The DIY filters work as advertised, but it OFTEN leaves a little pooling in the basin of the booth, and over time that residual dries into a "crust"... not unlike peeled dried latex housepaint. Anyway, my main current emulsion doesn't really "melt" away like some others I used to use. It softens, and I powerwash it out.

Add a little plastisol from poorly degraded inks, and a Half Decade of neglect,  and voila!  My gag-o-meter's triggering mechanism is fully engaged.

A putty knife is prolly the way. I was hoping for a miracle cure.

[mk162]

at home depot they sell a ZEP product called heat crystal drain opener.  It's a dry powder with beads in it.

sprinkle that over the bottom of the tank and lightly mist it with water...don't rinse it down the drain, you want it to sit for 10-20 minutes and do it's work.  I recommend leaving the area for a while, do it over lunch, or something and make sure there is plenty of air flow and wear your PPE.  you should be able to scrape it off really simply now and a lot of it will rinse down into your filter.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Thanks for the ZEP idea. It's worth a try!

If the basin was just cleaner, I believe I'd have less solids to slow my filters also.

[Sbrem]

A paint scraper always works fastest here...

Steve

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Hey Steve,

What do you do with the sidewalls and back? Paint scraper also?

I hate to scrape the walls. It's strikes me as being somewhat like using abrasives on porcelain fixtures. It works great!!..but that success comes at a cost.

The next time you've got fewer choices and wind up using abrasives again.

Stan

[JBLUE]

Anybody use a good cleaning method, chemical they are willing to share?

I'm not talking about waste piping and the associated gunk.

I'm talking about layers of ICK on the bottom, but also the Translucent White Plastic sides and back are pretty opaque.

I've used Easy Off Oven cleaner, waiting...., then my pressure washer to clean the back---to let more light come through, and it sorta works.

But the bottom?!?!?!

Have the guy that left all the crap to build up in the first place clean it. At the end of the shift our guys do a quick clean that way it stay pretty much like new. Beat it in their brain to keep their station clean......lol Unless your the guilty one.
 

Yuck!

I might not be afraid to scrape the bottom, since some inevitable "scratching" won't really hurt anything there.

Stan

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

ME!!!!!?

Oh heck n..... nnnn......





(Yip. He be me.)

[Gilligan]

After clean, switch to the mooseman settling tank method and don't let it pool up any more.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I read about The Mister Moosey Settling Tank deal way back when, and decided to pass.

But, methinks I'll revisit the topic. One of the reasons I passed on the idea, is the space restrictions I have.

Based on the amount of solids I remove with my "filters" and the number of times I have to replace them...it might be worth another look.

[jsheridan]

Uhh.. whyd it get so dirty in the first place.

I have a hard time understanding why so many people allow their screen cleanig areas to become an absolute waste area. i get pooling water as most tanks are poorly designed and not to level but dirty walls are just bad house keeping.

[Gilligan]

I read about The Mister Moosey Settling Tank deal way back when, and decided to pass.

But, methinks I'll revisit the topic. One of the reasons I passed on the idea, is the space restrictions I have.

Based on the amount of solids I remove with my "filters" and the number of times I have to replace them...it might be worth another look.

Mine is under my booth... Not really any wasted space there.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Uhh.. whyd it get so dirty in the first place.

I have a hard time understanding why so many people allow their screen cleanig areas to become an absolute waste area. i get pooling water as most tanks are poorly designed and not to level but dirty walls are just bad house keeping.

I plead guilty as charged. I am remanding myself to the custody of the ownership. (Wait...that's me!  I believe I'll fire myself, unless I can talk myself out of it.)

And yes, the basin is DEFINITELY the worst part. It's the repeated pooling and drying... pooling and drying... and then flaking, and collecting "stuff" in the collection of flakes... and more stuff, and there ya are. (I'm calling my cell phone right now, to schedule a staff meeting in my office just as soon as I clock myself in. Now I'm steeling myself, for the inevitable, stern reprimand....)

[Screen Medics]

It sounds like there is a war going on in most washout booths.  The paint scraper leaves scratches that make the next round of gunk stick even more.
We apply an ample coating of XYLOL to the yellow plastic back lit section and let it set for a while.  Afterward we wash it down with the pressure washer thoroughly.  This takes off the dried emulsion and ink debris better than any other method we have tried.  It does a pretty decent job on the sides too but sometimes requires a couple of applications.
XYLOL is available from paint stores and box stores like Home Depot and Lowes.