Proper taping of roller frames

[ericheartsu]

With all this new equipment coming in, we've been rethinking and retooling how we set up a ton of things. One of those items is our roller frames. With the STE, we have to make sure the corner flaps are cut down and taped, as to not snag the print head. The way we have them taped is working, but i fear that when it comes time to do the monthly retension, the tape will have to come off, and be wasted.

So I'm wondering what is the correct or best way to tape up a roller frame (specifically m3), to protect the mesh on the rollers, tape up the corners, and allow the screen to be retensioned?

[TCT]

I want to say Alex at M&R said people just usually have some scotch tape at the unit and take the corner down when imaging. Re use the same tape over and over. I may have misinterpreted that, but I believe that is what he described.

[bimmridder]

If you use Shur-Loc panels, they are cutting the corners for us STE users.

[jsheridan]

Trim the corners with an inside curve, if that makes sense.

[Alex M]

Most customers use 3" masking tape over the long side of the roller. They do/can use the tape over and over. When I get back into the county I will post a picture of what I mean.

[sweetts]

I duct tape them and it stays put

[Evo]

2" or 3" Gorilla tape, both sides of the mesh. Survives everything.

[jsheridan]

2" or 3" Gorilla tape, both sides of the mesh. Survives everything.

then you have to take it off... 

[Alex M]

This tape is only when the frame is in the I-image to hold all the other tapes fly aways.

[Evo]

2" or 3" Gorilla tape, both sides of the mesh. Survives everything.

then you have to take it off... 

Only if you pop the mesh. (like that EVER happens...     )

I would always wait till it was at 100% final tension, then "perma-tape" the sucker. Tape the print side first, then match the inside corners on the squeegee side to the print side tape. Burnish with a block printing brayer so the tape adhesive meets through the mesh and whammo - toughest screen on the block.

Gorilla tape is not quite as nasty as the old white Polyken screen tape was when it's time for removal. It's tough but the adhesive is not such a raging mess.

[Dottonedan]

I have some feedback on using Gorilla Tape and the DTS systems.


This tape is very strong, durable and protects well for screen frames.... (but), has a lot of glue behind it. It also fray's easily over not so long of a time period.


It's NOT the best choice for use on ST/STE's since we have the sensors that read the frame and lets the system know we have a screen in place to expose (for STE's) and for all of our DTS devices we have the sensors that read anything over a specific height (to protect the heads).


This sensor (when it reads an interference), stops the machine before it ever gets close to the heads (and thats a great thing).
The idea it to protect the heads from a possible bent up or incorrectly wrenched roller frame. (Thats the head protection part).  With this, comes catching the other (previously less offensive) items on frames that may now interfere with a good imaging on any DTS device. These were often not an issue with standard processes.


It's the aged tape fray's, curled tape, Curled/pushed up/puckered mesh, mesh thread fiber fray's and even excessive emulsion clumps (that spill out onto the screen at the end of your scoop coaters) that can catch ink from the heads and drag streaks and drop ink blobs over the imaging area. If our sensors were not in place to catch these things, then, you've ruined a coated screen (because your screens were not clean/kept up well). Again, with standard film to screen imaging, the fray's and extra boogers on a screen were not that much of an issue. When now going to a 40-80k DTS machine, you may want to keep your screen frames a little cleaner. On these machines, you have protection in place. So you now need to pay attention to the cleanliness of your frames.


Some shops (one or two, that I have come across), have used Gorrilla Tape. Then, in addition, they used a dip tank. This combo of gorrilla tape and dip tank chemicals, (if sat in the dip tank too long, or over time) will degrade the glue, causing it to smear more...thus, boogers up the screen frame more... and through typical production, the tape and glue, seem to get all over everything on the frame after a while. You then see more fray's and glue smearing around in areas it shouldn't be. Even worse, is to (double tape) or even tape (both sides) using gorilla tape. This makes the excessive thickness of this tape interfere with the clearance of the surface area to print on.


For roller frame (corners), many people are doing as jsheridan mentioned and cutting out the corners in a half moon shape, starting at the beginning of the metal parts where the roller comes into the nut. How this works out (when re tensioning), I'm not sure, but many people do it. I guess the tension torquing is not an impact on those corners and may not rip or tear or effect those very corners?


In the end, if considering any DTS, it should have sensors on it to protect the heads. As such, you will need to consider keeping your screen frames clean or free from excessive junk. It's a very small price to pay, (keeping your screens clean) so that you can reap the vast amount of benefits using a DTS.