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screen printing => Screen Making => Topic started by: shirtshack on January 05, 2016, 02:50:50 PM

Title: good affordable emulsion thickness guage?
Post by: shirtshack on January 05, 2016, 02:50:50 PM
im manually coating, and have decided i want to get a better idea of what Eom im working with. As normal no Uk dealer stocks anything like this so will probably need to get one imported but would rather not pay silly money.
I just bought a cheap $40 car paint thickness meter of ebay just to see if that would work but it only has a range of 0.1 to 2mm in .1 increments so may not be accurate enough.
Title: Re: good affordable emulsion thickness guage?
Post by: DannyGruninger on January 05, 2016, 02:59:48 PM
Keep checking ebay for a Saati unit.... We picked up one on ebay for like 40 bucks a while back and it was brand new

Title: Re: good affordable emulsion thickness guage?
Post by: Gilligan on January 05, 2016, 03:54:49 PM
This is what we ordered some time back via Amazon... we paid under $200 for it then.

Not the same color but this is what the order links me to now.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RUN142?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RUN142?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00)
Title: Re: good affordable emulsion thickness guage?
Post by: shirtshack on January 05, 2016, 04:33:06 PM
CM8801FN   model number search shows me this on fleabay_

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/360765574431?adgroupid=16885268106&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=pla-124273570626&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&googleloc=1007222&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=270621186&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/360765574431?adgroupid=16885268106&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=pla-124273570626&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&googleloc=1007222&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=270621186&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80)

if it will do the job seems like a bargain.
Title: Re: good affordable emulsion thickness guage?
Post by: Stinkhorn Press on January 05, 2016, 04:47:17 PM
I assume the old school manual styles like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mitutoyo-7312-Dial-Thickness-Gauge-001-400-/291652385249?hash=item43e7d639e1:g:ZyYAAOSwX~dWibwj (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mitutoyo-7312-Dial-Thickness-Gauge-001-400-/291652385249?hash=item43e7d639e1:g:ZyYAAOSwX~dWibwj) aren't accurate enough/don't fit around the frame, etc?
Title: Re: good affordable emulsion thickness guage?
Post by: jvanick on January 05, 2016, 04:56:48 PM
we use one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-CEM-DT-156-Paint-Coating-Thickness-Meter-Gauge-F-NF-Auto-V-groove-1250-m-/391217459439?hash=item5b1660b0ef:g:~tUAAOSw9N1VwZzG (http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-CEM-DT-156-Paint-Coating-Thickness-Meter-Gauge-F-NF-Auto-V-groove-1250-m-/391217459439?hash=item5b1660b0ef:g:~tUAAOSw9N1VwZzG)

remember that 1mm is 1000 microns.  your typical total S-Mesh screen thickness (mesh+emulsion) is 60-120 microns...

even when we're doing glitter screens (400-600 microns) this meter is still plenty to read the thickness and judge our exposure times (and coating measurements).

Title: Re: good affordable emulsion thickness guage?
Post by: Gilligan on January 05, 2016, 05:05:11 PM
CM8801FN   model number search shows me this on fleabay_

[url]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/360765574431?adgroupid=16885268106&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=pla-124273570626&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&googleloc=1007222&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=270621186&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80[/url] ([url]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/360765574431?adgroupid=16885268106&hlpht=true&hlpv=2&rlsatarget=pla-124273570626&adtype=pla&ff3=1&lpid=122&poi=&ul_noapp=true&limghlpsr=true&googleloc=1007222&device=c&chn=ps&campaignid=270621186&crdt=0&ff12=67&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff14=122&viphx=1&ops=true&ff13=80[/url])

if it will do the job seems like a bargain.


That's what ours LOOKS like.  Now, what it looks like and how it functions could be COMPLETELY different.

Kevin
Title: Re: good affordable emulsion thickness guage?
Post by: ABuffington on January 06, 2016, 12:41:08 PM
Repeatable accuracy is the downfall of most thickness gauges.  We have two we use here.  The one we sell runs about a grand, Danny scored!  We also have one from our lab in Japan that is accurate down to .0001 of a micron.  The readings between the two vary, with the lab one far more accurate on a consistent basis.  We have tested a lot of the lower priced ones as well and found that they may not give the same reading consistently, but that reading is off by several microns compared to our standard lab thickness gauge.  The thing is most readers here are textile printers, not electronics printers where a micron can make a huge difference in the amount of a precious metal ink over a print run.  For textile printing the differences in micron readings between gauges for the most part will not affect your printing, unless you are 20-50% inaccurate.  If you see tonal values not imagingf you can adjust the coat and get a reading to show you have less eom, it just depends how accurate you really want to be.  For 4/C process printers, especially UV this can be a big deal in color shifts.  To achieve a 10-15% eom +/- 1-2% is not going to affect spot color, most sim process, or discharge.  Need more EOM just coat to get more microns, even though that could be +/- 5-10% inaccurate, it's better than not measuring.