CCI WR-14 tough as nails when it comes to recycling screens

[Rockers]

I almost gave up today as I was recycling some screens we used during the week. All coated with CCI WR-14 all 330-S. First in the dip tank, not much luck getting the emulsion off, then a round of high concentrated Gem-Zyme, which helped but was far from the result I hoped for. I think I spend around 5 minuted per screen probably more to get the emulsion off, far from perfect though. It would have almost been faster to stretch new mesh on those roller frames instead of wasting all this time on trying to recycle them. Is there anything we can do to speed up the whole process, I can`t recall ever having such problems with any other emulsion. There wasn`t even any hardener used on those screens.

[jvanick]

how are your exposure times?  I surprisingly had tons of troubles with SP1400 when my exposure times were too LOW.
pretty much the same thing you're talking about, I literally would have to let them sit in my dip tank for 15 to 20 minutes to soften up enough to blast out with the pressure washer.

[mimosatexas]

weird. wr14 was easier to reclaim than sp1400 for me, and I use that in my tank without any issues at all.

[jvanick]

we have no major issues with sp1400 when it's exposed correctly.. we were having some underexposure issues (like 3-4 steps below 7 on the stouffer), and that's when we were having issues.

Otherwise, a few minutes in the tank and they reclaim nice and easy.

[mimosatexas]

I think 3-4 steps under 7 would make the emulsion just come off after post expose dunking, lol

Maybe not, it is hearty stuff.

[Frog]

Underexposure has been at the root of this problem for as long as I can remember.
Underexposed screens can react with inks and other chemicals.
In fact, when we used xylene as a cleaner, folks discovered this trait, and actually used it as a hardener for longer runs.

[ericheartsu]

i was going to chime in with Andy here.

underexposure is most likely the key. we thought we had it dialed in, but then we started having this exact problem, and doubled our exposure, and all those issues went away.