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screen printing => Screen Making => Topic started by: 3Deep on December 14, 2016, 10:42:19 AM
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Got a silly question here, being self taught which in my case is not good LOL, but after you expose a screen which side do you start to wash out first, here I always start with the shirt side then spray the squeegee side and then back to the shirt side to finish washing out the screen, I kinda think it does not matter but thought i would ask anyway.
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Use a post exposure dip tank. I just spray from shirt side and it takes no effort at all.
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Even without a tank, I wet both sides, let them soak a minute, then always spray out the image from the shirt side, then rinse the inside.
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Even without a tank, I wet both sides, let them soak a minute, then always spray out the image from the shirt side, then rinse the inside.
Same here.
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Even without a tank, I wet both sides, let them soak a minute, then always spray out the image from the shirt side, then rinse the inside.
That's how its done my man!!
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I actually was also shown a technique to speed things up by the lady I worked with who took my hand and gently rubbed the image area until I could actually feel a change in thickness. She called this "creaming" but I think that she was also just trying to be a little suggestive, LOL!
At any rate, I still do it. ;)
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Creaming huh Andy you or her ;D so I guess what I'm doing now is correct
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ha!
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I actually was also shown a technique to speed things up by the lady I worked with who took my hand and gently rubbed the image area until I could actually feel a change in thickness. She called this "creaming" but I think that she was also just trying to be a little suggestive, LOL!
At any rate, I still do it. ;)
This sounds like the screen printer's version of a lap dance!
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We wet both sides and wash out on squegee side only never shirt side(don't want to remove any of the stencil )
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We wet both sides and wash out on squegee side only never shirt side(don't want to remove any of the stencil )
If the screen has been exposed completely, you shouldn't need to worry about losing any of your EOM, and if it hasn't, your squeegee side will be even more vulnerable.
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We wet both sides and wash out on squegee side only never shirt side(don't want to remove any of the stencil )
If the screen has been exposed completely, you shouldn't need to worry about losing any of your EOM, and if it hasn't, your squeegee side will be even more vulnerable.
I wondered about that too.
I sat through a one day workshop somewhere...where the presenter said a certain type of emulsion SHOULD ONLY be washed out from one side, but another type could be hit from both sides. The term "pure photopolymer" was in the mix, as was "dual cure" but I was clueless at the time and I can't remember much about it other than I was there.
I'd love to have someone straighten me out on that as well as many other of life's mysteries.
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We now use a dip tank which makes washing out much easier but we always used to wet both sides of the screen and wash out from the shirt side.
For years we underexposed and had a slimy emulsion on the squeegee side, you can test this by rubbing it with a piece of white material, the emulsion shouldn't stain the material.
We now use photopolymer and a decent lamp and both sides are properly exposed.
The best way to test this is with a Stoufer test strip. Correct exposure is Step 7.
At 7 both sides will be properly exposed.
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Wet both sides and wash out from the shirt side . To speed things up we use a quality paint brush with about 50% of the bristle length cut off. Simply softly brush the shirt side while soft spraying water. this is especially effective on half tones.
mooseman
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We have some extra space in our wash out room, so this may not be possible otherwise. But we got a $30 kiddy pool from the hardware store, put it up on some tables and let the exposed screen develop/soak in the pool before washing out. By the time we have exposed the next screen, the one in the pool is ready to come out and easily washes out with little effort. We start on the shirt side and then flip around for a quick rinse on the squeegee side to make sure everything is out.
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Just get the cheapest/smallest dip tank you can find that fits your screen size instead of a kiddie pool, lol. Much less floorspace needed and you can put a lid on it so bugs and dirt don't get in it. I got two tanks for $50 off a guy a few months back that fit 2 23x31 screens each, but only usually have one screen in them at a time. I think they take up maybe 8"x25" max.
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Just get the cheapest/smallest dip tank you can find that fits your screen size instead of a kiddie pool, lol. Much less floorspace needed and you can put a lid on it so bugs and dirt don't get in it. I got two tanks for $50 off a guy a few months back that fit 2 23x31 screens each, but only usually have one screen in them at a time. I think they take up maybe 8"x25" max.
Yeah that's a crazy cheap deal, considering just 1 tank is at least a couple hundred new. We'll probably hunt for a used deal like that in the future, until then the screens can play in the pool ha! ;D
Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
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M&R Eco Wash
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We use a dip tank and soak them for 5-10 minutes. Each guy has their own technique they swear is the best and nobody else does this, but after I take them out of the tank I hit the squeegee side lightly from 5-6" away, evenly, until the image starts to develop. Then I beat the living crap out of the shirt side from about 1" away with a 1400psi 3gpm. The gun is adjustable but I usually dial it into about 15 degrees or so.
As long as you are exposing thoroughly the screens will hold up with all but the most chained open areas of up to 85% or so until you have to be careful at all.
Finicky fine half-tones (like smoke or fine clouds at 55lpi) I'll flip around again and attack from the squeegee side from 1" or so for a couple seconds before going back to the shirt side to finish it off.
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Never gave it much thought, put it in the sink and start spraying both sides right away. If we gang screens, say 4 manual sized, then we soak both sides of all four and keep going until washed out. The question is kind of a "chicken or the egg" thing. There are always more screens burning while we wash out, and into our screen dryer, though we have talked about a dip tank, it doesn't add anything to our process, just changes it, so we decided against it.
Steve