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screen printing => Tips and Tricks to Share (Please don't ask questions here) => Topic started by: TCT on May 27, 2016, 10:40:37 AM
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Hey, so nifty trick we came across. We have tried it for about 3 weeks now, would of said something earlier but wanted to make sure it worked...
UPS thermal labels. The Free ones UPS sends out for their printers.
Use them on the shirt side of DC\WB screens to block things off(pin dot, reg mark, ect.) The hold up like steel, won't let any ink through! AND don't break down!!! Main downside is they don't peal off super easy. We either blast them off with the power washer or leave them on as we soak the screen in the tank, then they come right off!
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clear nail polish, comes with a brush in the bottle.
no papery mess to clean up after and powerwasher removes it just fine.
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We use to use the nail polish a while ago, but it took a min to dry, plus I horde all of it to make myself pretty on the weekends... :P
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We use to use the nail polish a while ago, but it took a min to dry, plus I horde all of it to make myself pretty on the weekends... :P
if you're finding holes on press, the prepress guy isn't doing their job right, need to have a chat about wasting press time.
bringing all the boys to the yard now are you eh..
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We know nail polish for you isn't just for weekends.
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We know nail polish for you isn't just for weekends.
:-*
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Awesome idea with the nail polish! Good to know the pressure washer will spray it off fine. My prepress guy kind of sucks, still pretty new and learning (me :-\)
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Awesome idea with the nail polish! Good to know the pressure washer will spray it off fine. My prepress guy kind of sucks, still pretty new and learning (me :-\)
And, though John mentioned clear, it really can be any color you or someone else has kicking around. You can also take advantage of odd-ball colors that a store may be closing out cheaply.
The following may be old hat to you (but of course, many others are reading this as well) but a couple of questions:
Are your holes breaking out during the run, or are there from the get-go? Though either one is usually due to less-than-stellar housekeeping, many can be caught before a screen ever goes on press with a simple examination, holding the screen up to a light source.
Then, there are blockout liquids (essentially emulsion with no photographic properties), or old emulsion (which has to be applied with a little more care as it will harden and become permanent, and pose a problem if hitting image area.)
These liquids do take longer to dry than nail polish so are best used when a screen will sit for a while anyway.
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I wonder if This will only work on certain emulsions though. Saati phu for example seems to sweat on us on the bottom of the screen when doing wb inks. We were using the same tape you use on the sp-1400. Never had a single issue with it. Once we switched emulsion it is almost impossible to get any type of tape to stick to the bottom on wb/DC job. No issues with plastisol. I quit using reg marks on any wb job because of it.
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I wonder if This will only work on certain emulsions though. Saati phu for example seems to sweat on us on the bottom of the screen when doing wb inks. We were using the same tape you use on the sp-1400. Never had a single issue with it. Once we switched emulsion it is almost impossible to get any type of tape to stick to the bottom on wb/DC job. No issues with plastisol. I quit using reg marks on any wb job because of it.
If you are still using the PHU (though without reg marks now) why not just slap a hunk of the UPS sticker somewhere on the screen bottom and see if if holds any better than your failed tape. No harm unless it falls off into a print! :o
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... Once we switched emulsion it is almost impossible to get any type of tape to stick to the bottom on wb/DC job....
Have you tried using blue painters tape?
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We have tried just about every type of tape you can imagine. Unfortunately the local UPS won't hand out the labels like they do for Alex. I haven't tried sourcing them elsewhere to see if it would work or not. We were running +5 minute exposures with SP-1400 on the 3140, then back in June we got the Ryonet FX (saati LED) this cut the exposure times down to 2:30, but switching to PHU or cryocoat gets us down to 10 second exposures. Also the old 3140 had some beat up glass and we got a lot of pinholes from that. But with the new exposure and emulsion we rarely get a pinhole. However as I mentioned no matter what tape i have tried it falls off after about 50 shirts on a HSA, WB/DC job. So I just don't add reg marks to these jobs, I normally print the UB film with reg marks and just draw a thin line on the squeegee side of the mesh with a sharpie, then cutoff the reg marks before burning the screen. It takes a little longer to line up the job on press but its better than tape falling off on a DC job and ruining a shirt. I hope to be purchasing a CTS before the end of the year and at that point it won't matter anymore. 90% of what we do is corporate contract work which is almost exclusively plastisol.
If I were to pick up a lot more WB work, of get a big order I have SP-1400 still and would mix it for that job. I have not ran the PHU or cryocoat for more than 600 pieces yet and I'm just not sure how much I would trust it. When we hit the end of the 600 piece job it was looking suspect and practically fell off the mesh when we washed the screens out
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it sounds like you aren't exposing your PHU enough.
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Hard 7 on the Stauffer strip
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Hard 7 on the Stauffer strip
let em sit in the sun for a couple hours and see if they still do it.
i've used phu and seem to recall the bottom of the screen being a little sweaty.. not wet but tape didn't stick.
that's ok as you want to tape DC screens from the inside anyway. tape on the back of the screen creates a pressure point and the screen will break down along the edge of the tape.. seen it happen plenty of times. weird occurance but it happens.
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Hard 7 on the Stauffer strip
let em sit in the sun for a couple hours and see if they still do it.
i've used phu and seem to recall the bottom of the screen being a little sweaty.. not wet but tape didn't stick.
We have dried all the screens in the sun this summer, if it is raining we post expose any WB/DC job on the exposure unit as well, I guess the way you describe it is correct, sweaty, not full out wet on the bottom, but just sweaty enough tape falls off after 50-100 shirts.
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Have the same issue here, including with SP1400. Painters tape will stick for a while, but not long great. Have tried every tape I can think of and nothing is for sure on a longer run. Only happens with certain inks though. Matsui spot black has no issues, but something like TW Graphics 5500 white will have tape fall off in 5 minutes. I am seriously baking the screens and they aren't breaking down, so it isnt an exposure issue.
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Have the same issue here, including with SP1400. Painters tape will stick for a while, but not long great. Have tried every tape I can think of and nothing is for sure on a longer run. Only happens with certain inks though. Matsui spot black has no issues, but something like TW Graphics 5500 white will have tape fall off in 5 minutes. I am seriously baking the screens and they aren't breaking down, so it isnt an exposure issue.
TCT got me to switch to the Uline rubberized tape, I never had a single piece fall off on the SP-1400. But on the PHU it just won't stick. If you haven't tried it give it a try, or as he mentioned, try the UPS labels.
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Is nail polish safe to use on S-mesh screens as well?
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We always use emulsion to block out reg marks/film labels on DC/Waterbase screens. We just switched to the Murakami T9 from the SP1400 cut our exposure time down significantly. We just ran a 250pc discharge job yesterday with no problems. Looking to test it on larger runs this fall. We did let it bake in the sun for a while and post expose...not sure if both were necessary but I always do as much as possible to help ensure screen holds up. We also had good luck with the Kiwo multitex on runs up to 4,000pcs but it was tough to strip for us. Our goal is to find 1 emulsion for plast and WB screens.
I remember reading somewhere to not tape waterbase/DC screens on the bottom or shirts side. I think it mentioned that it could create a moisture barrier causing the screen to break down prematurely. It needs to "breathe" on the shirts side.
Happened to us early on when we first started doing WB work a few years back and we've not taped the bottom side since then.
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We always use emulsion to block out reg marks/film labels on DC/Waterbase screens. We just switched to the Murakami T9 from the SP1400 cut our exposure time down significantly. We just ran a 250pc discharge job yesterday with no problems. Looking to test it on larger runs this fall. We did let it bake in the sun for a while and post expose...not sure if both were necessary but I always do as much as possible to help ensure screen holds up. We also had good luck with the Kiwo multitex on runs up to 4,000pcs but it was tough to strip for us. Our goal is to find 1 emulsion for plast and WB screens.
I remember reading somewhere to not tape waterbase/DC screens on the bottom or shirts side. I think it mentioned that it could create a moisture barrier causing the screen to break down prematurely. It needs to "breathe" on the shirts side.
Happened to us early on when we first started doing WB work a few years back and we've not taped the bottom side since then.
That was me and you're welcome ;) Printwear a few ys back can't remember. But only if you do things right in pre-press can you do this. Classic case of Printerhydrophobia
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Hii..
Nice all about information i liked your all info i want more about u share ...
You want more?
Grab some coffee, sit down, and read, read, read.
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Speaking of taping screens 98% of the time I never tape the shirt side of my screens, I figure if I tape it right on the squeegee side the first time I'm good, not saying I ain't goofed from time to time.