Author Topic: How to fix mesh  (Read 1532 times)

Offline Denis Kolar

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How to fix mesh
« on: April 11, 2012, 01:16:59 PM »
I had two screens arrive with broken mesh few months ago. Supplier promptly replaced those.
But I ended up with two white 155 aluminum screens with the mesh that poped right next to the frame, about 2-3 inches long.
Screen still has around 20 Newtons tension.
If there anything that I could use to fix them, to prevent them from tearing even more?


Offline ZooCity

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Re: How to fix mesh
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2012, 01:18:57 PM »
An epoxy and mesh patch with a good taping would work.

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Offline sweetts

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Re: How to fix mesh
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2012, 03:29:52 PM »
Nail Polish will keep it from running then tape over the hole

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Offline mooseman

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Re: How to fix mesh
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2012, 05:53:47 PM »
we repair small pulls and edge nicks all the time.
The rip you describe is a little big but here is what we do.
Method no 1 cut a piece of old mesh get some slow set epoxy from wallyworld.
cut the patch mesh in a suitable sized rectangle and clip the corners at a 45 degree angle.
Saturate thearea to be repaited with some epoxy and thouroughly saturate the patch (off the screen ) with epoxy and place it over the damaged area.
Slightly warm the epoxy with a hair dryer this will thin it right down to flow nicely.
take some thin tape and cover the repair in each side of the screen and flaten everything out ..let it cure overnight.

The other method we use is pretty much the same EXCEPT we use fiberglass resin and the hair dryer step is eliminated in this case.
same tape off method.
If you really want to squeeze the patch down put it in you exposure unit and draw it down. Be sure to use some old film positives with the ink side AWAY FROM THE ADHESIVE top & bottom of the screen to protect your exposure glass & blanket.

One word of caution....the hardener used with typical fiberglass resin is MEKP or methyl ethyl ketone peroxide. If you splash this into your eyes it will cause instant blindness. Put a safely large opening in the hardner tube so the hardner can exit easily without squeezing the snot out of the tube and WEAR EYE PROTECTION.
mooseman

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Offline Frog

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Re: How to fix mesh
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2012, 12:28:32 AM »
I thought that rather than a rip, his  problem was the mesh separating from the frame in a two to three inch area. It happens, and especially if the tension at the other end is pretty good, I'd fix it with the aforementioned epoxy, and use the other end for small prints.

As my first generation of screens since my re-build reach five or so years, some of them are doing just that, but of course, they have been exposed to a lot of outside influences, various cleaning chemicals at the forefront. Being old, they aren't worth saving like Dennis' new ones, and I have been having them re-stretched.
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Offline ScreenFoo

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Re: How to fix mesh
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2012, 09:55:31 AM »
If the mesh is coming loose from the frame, rather than ripping, I've used cheapo dollar store CA to fix it--you can sneak the tip of a super glue tube inside, squirt some in, and clamp it overnight to fix it.  I cover it with a plastic bag before jigging it up, so if some glue squirts out you don't have a 2x4 or whatever stuck to your frame.   Sometimes even new stretches come with only half the frame bonded, it works well for that too, since there's usually a layer of glue in the mesh over the whole frame area, they just didn't properly push the glue far enough in to bond to the frame--and/or didn't prime the frame, which unfortunately seems to be quite common...