Is there a proper way to clean screens?

[Prosperi-Tees]

I have seen alot of videos and you can see everyone doing it differently . Washing from the ink side first, the print side first, top to bottom, bottom to top, side to side. Is there an actual proper/recommended way?

[mk162]

yes...whatever gives you the best cleaned screen...

[Prosperi-Tees]

Lol I figured that would be the answer

[3Deep]

Cut the mesh out and replace all clean like new LOL

[pwalsh]

I have seen alot of videos and you can see everyone doing it differently . Washing from the ink side first, the print side first, top to bottom, bottom to top, side to side. Is there an actual proper/recommended way?

The advice that I've always heard is to clean from "Top to Bottom" when using screen wash to remove the ink.  This allows the solvent running down the screen to work longer on the ink as it runs down the screen washing the ink away.  By contrast the reccomendation is to wash from "Bottom to Top" when you have applied stencil remover to the screen.  The reasoning is that washing from "Top to Bottom" dilutes the chemsitry at the bottom of the screen before it has an opportunity to soften the emulsion 

[mooseman]

I love this business because everyone sees the same thing from a different point of view. The results are the same the journey is never the same.
Here are some suggestions. Qualifications...I am a one man operation I do all the work myself and I never stop looking at any process that improves the way I work.

1) right after you card out the remaining ink, take an old tee or rag and wipe up as much residual ink you can. This will save you ink chemicals in the wash out booth later as you will be chasing a thin ink film not ink globs and streaks. If you want to accelerate the process spray on sone bug & tar remover, Yes I said bug and tar remover from any department store.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Turtle-Wax-Bug-and-Tar-Remover-16oz/16888962

#2 when you add ink degradent stand the screen upright and add the ink chemical only at the top of the screen and clean your way down.
Ink wash that you spray all over the screen will mostly run away from you before you can use it. We use Franmar Greenway, but there are many good products out there.
Better yet if you can lay the screen flat and lay the chemical on the squeegee side you will get the most bank for your chemical money then flip the screen and hit the back side.
We find a 3 inch paint brush with the bristles cut down to about 1  inch above the metal works the nuts to chase ink and will not scratch your mesh.

3) reclaim process....WARNING this will bring rain....... first we use Franmar, Strip-ee-doo to remove Ulano QTX emulsion. Here is where the bad weather comes in.....

first wet the screen then lay it flat squeegee side up.
Add the reclaim chemical only on the squeegee side of the screen and work  it in some with a scrubee pad or brush. Be sure to completely spread the reclain juice all over the emulsion and then let it sit there kinda like a thin film dip tank without the tank.
Take the next screen and lay it squeegee side up on the first screen and repeat the reclaim . Do this for about 6 screens all stacked up all coated on the squeegee side only.
Let them set for a reasonable amount of time based on your reclaim chemical and emulsion but don't let them dry out.

When you go to your pressure washer stand up the screen and  hit the squeegee side with your pressure washer. If you waited the right amount of time you will find the emulsion will peel off in SHEETS. You can actually pick up an edge with your fingers and peel off a sheet of emulsion but use the pressure washer instead.
This method does not disolve the emulsiuon toatlly but efficiently breaks the bond between the emulsion and the mesh. The down side is the sheets that peel off will cover your drain screen and you will have to pick them out when the water backs up. The up side is a large percentage of your emulsion goes into the trash bin and not down your drain not to mention the emulsion jumps off the mesh real fast.

4) get some Dawn dish soap and a new car was brush.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Small-Soft-Bristle-Brush/23752078
Dedicate that brush to degreasing only, use it for nothing else and hang it where it will stay free from other junk  from your wash out booth.
Slap on some dawn, suds up your screen with the brush and wash it off with a SOFT flow of water. Don't jet wash the screen you will only make more suds and take more time chasing soap, a soft shower spray will chase the soap quicker and more efficiently.

5) stand back and watch the bullets fly on my # 3 recommendation.

mooseman

[tonyt79]

I love this business because everyone sees the same thing from a different point of view. The results are the same the journey is never the same.
Here are some suggestions. Qualifications...I am a one man operation I do all the work myself and I never stop looking at any process that improves the way I work.

1) right after you card out the remaining ink, take an old tee or rag and wipe up as much residual ink you can. This will save you ink chemicals in the wash out booth later as you will be chasing a thin ink film not ink globs and streaks. If you want to accelerate the process spray on sone bug & tar remover, Yes I said bug and tar remover from any department store.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Turtle-Wax-Bug-and-Tar-Remover-16oz/16888962

#2 when you add ink degradent stand the screen upright and add the ink chemical only at the top of the screen and clean your way down.
Ink wash that you spray all over the screen will mostly run away from you before you can use it. We use Franmar Greenway, but there are many good products out there.
Better yet if you can lay the screen flat and lay the chemical on the squeegee side you will get the most bank for your chemical money then flip the screen and hit the back side.
We find a 3 inch paint brush with the bristles cut down to about 1  inch above the metal works the nuts to chase ink and will not scratch your mesh.

3) reclaim process....WARNING this will bring rain....... first we use Franmar, Strip-ee-doo to remove Ulano QTX emulsion. Here is where the bad weather comes in.....

first wet the screen then lay it flat squeegee side up.
Add the reclaim chemical only on the squeegee side of the screen and work  it in some with a scrubee pad or brush. Be sure to completely spread the reclain juice all over the emulsion and then let it sit there kinda like a thin film dip tank without the tank.
Take the next screen and lay it squeegee side up on the first screen and repeat the reclaim . Do this for about 6 screens all stacked up all coated on the squeegee side only.
Let them set for a reasonable amount of time based on your reclaim chemical and emulsion but don't let them dry out.

When you go to your pressure washer stand up the screen and  hit the squeegee side with your pressure washer. If you waited the right amount of time you will find the emulsion will peel off in SHEETS. You can actually pick up an edge with your fingers and peel off a sheet of emulsion but use the pressure washer instead.
This method does not disolve the emulsiuon toatlly but efficiently breaks the bond between the emulsion and the mesh. The down side is the sheets that peel off will cover your drain screen and you will have to pick them out when the water backs up. The up side is a large percentage of your emulsion goes into the trash bin and not down your drain not to mention the emulsion jumps off the mesh real fast.

4) get some Dawn dish soap and a new car was brush.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Small-Soft-Bristle-Brush/23752078
Dedicate that brush to degreasing only, use it for nothing else and hang it where it will stay free from other junk  from your wash out booth.
Slap on some dawn, suds up your screen with the brush and wash it off with a SOFT flow of water. Don't jet wash the screen you will only make more suds and take more time chasing soap, a soft shower spray will chase the soap quicker and more efficiently.

5) stand back and watch the bullets fly on my # 3 recommendation.

mooseman

Dang I do it different than that. Haha
I clean off all extra ink on the press, then move to the screen room. If there is still a lot of ink residue left I will use screen wash to clean that off, but most of the time I don't have to mess with that. I am usually doing other things while cleaning screens.

I spray with easiway emulsion remover and scrub it in with a brush, let sit for a few minutes and the scrub again. I don't use a pressure washer, so I set my sprayer to flat and by the second scrub it usually all desolves out. Spraying from top to bottom, squeegee side first on all steps.

I then use a haze remover, I have been using easiway 701 lately for this. Spray on and scrub it front and back. Let it sit a minute and and spray out on the flat setting. Going from bottom to top on this one.

Last I use enviroclean degreaser, spraying a few times and scrubbing in on each side. Let it sit a minute or two and then spray out on shower setting. Making sure to get all the suds off.

Then it's off to the drying rack.

[Sbrem]

I have seen alot of videos and you can see everyone doing it differently . Washing from the ink side first, the print side first, top to bottom, bottom to top, side to side. Is there an actual proper/recommended way?

The advice that I've always heard is to clean from "Top to Bottom" when using screen wash to remove the ink.  This allows the solvent running down the screen to work longer on the ink as it runs down the screen washing the ink away.  By contrast the reccomendation is to wash from "Bottom to Top" when you have applied stencil remover to the screen.  The reasoning is that washing from "Top to Bottom" dilutes the chemsitry at the bottom of the screen before it has an opportunity to soften the emulsion

This is pretty much what I came up with on my own about a thousand years ago. The truth is, removing the stencil or the ink goes so fast, it's almost no real difference. Unless someone is spending an inordinate amount of time on the top on a stubborn area; do the whole screen then come back to the stubborn bit...

Steve

[mimosatexas]

My process is basically completely copied from Evo, which he shared in a thread I made when trying to nail down which chemicals to use when first setting up my dip tank.  It has worked without issue for the last 10 months, with a few small tweaks here and there based on my own shop needs etc.  I reclaim and coat screens one day a week and use between 50-70 screens a week right now.  Screens range from 38's to 300 with a little more than half being S-mesh currently.  All statics, all 23x31.  Everything low mesh is coated with HVP, everything 180S or higher is coated with SP1400.  All discharge screens are hardened.  I use to dread screen reclaim day, but now it is quick and very low energy.

All screens are de-inked using ultimate cleanup cards and de-taped (split tape) while still clamped into my press.  I always leave the screen unflooded after the final print stroke so there is little or no ink in the image area.  This leaves basically 4 lines of ink which takes no time at all to card up.  Four quick low angled strokes with the clean up cards to remove almost all of it, then one final high angled higher pressure go around the edge to catch the remaining drops and streaks.  I always try to finish on tape so any residue that is left when I pickup the card is on tape and can be quickly removed during that step.  I card off until there is only a thin film of ink around those outside edges, no drops/streaks, and there is basically no ink in the image area because of not flooding after the final print.  Waterbased screens are immediately rinsed off with just water.  All screens are placed in one of 2 "dirty" racks that sits next to my washout booth. For efficiency reasons, all ink knives and squeegees are first removed, carded off of ink, and put in one spot to be cleaned in bulk as soon as screens are taken off press.

On whatever day I decide to clean screens, usually at the end of the week or over the weekend depending on my workload, I use a two step process: dip tank with Easiway Supra then 701 for dehaze/degrease.  I have a huge tank with a pvc hold down that allows me to add and remove screens from either side, and an angled wall with shower panel and a pvc stop for draining one screen back into the tank while I am finishing reclaim in the booth on another (inspired by GKitson's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRYLxEz3fd4 at about 1:30).  I only have two screens in the tank at a time with squeegee sides facing each other so mesh never hits a frame corner.  I have only popped one screen in the tank and it was an S-mesh, but it was enough to change how I did things.  I alternate sides when loading and unloading screens so they all sit the same amount of time and the squeegee sides are always facing.  If I have a super hardened screen for a long discharge run, I will usually load hvp screens on the other side and do two or 3 of them in a row while that screen soaks longer since the hvp takes so little time to soften comparatively.

Once drained, I put in the booth with the shirt side toward me, and quickly fan the pressure washer back and forth from top to bottom to remove all the residual ink and emulsion, then do a quick spray around the edge of the mesh angled through the mesh to clean off anything that might have stuck on the inside of the frame on the squeegee side (if that makes sense).  Reclaim is finished in like 20 seconds.

Next I use one of these http://www.zoro.com/i/G2899172/ (originally posted by jsheridan, and it is AWESOME) to scrub quickly with 701.  I use a spray bottle to apply, 4 squirts on the shirt side, then I start at the bottom, and go back and forth, then up and down, then in a few quick circles.  Then I flip the frame around and repeat on the squeegee side, but also do a quick back and forth on the frame itself.  I then pressure wash, again fan back and forth from top to bottom to remove the majority of the chemical and any loosened haze etc. I then quickly use a nozzle on fan setting to soft rinse.  I prop the frame on its corner, fan the outside of the frame, top two sides, then bottom two sides with respect to the corner it is propped on, then fan the mesh from top to bottom.  Do a quick twist and repeat on the print side.  Bang it once real quick to knock off some water, and it goes into the drying rack seen here: http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,13007.0.html

I used to remove ink, use emulsion remover, use degreaser, sometimes dehaze, all manually scrubbed...and it sucked.  My arms were done by the end of a reclaim session and it took twice as long.  High eom HVP screens or hardened SP1400 took lots of scrubbing and sitting, and sometimes a second application of chems to fully soften the emulsion.  I got more snake eyes and adhesion issues with a dedicated degreaser than with 701, which rinses off super easy, doesnt froth up like crazy like a lot of degreasers, and leaves the mesh perfect for coating.

[Screen Dan]

1.) The shop does a less than perfect job carding the screens...especially the new guys.

2.) We de-tape the screens in our washing area.

3.) we use Rhinotech SW-197 in a CCI Recirculator...washing from top to bottom.

3.) after building up a small pile (3 to 7) screens I have my guys towel dry the screens thoroughly.  We've found that if the screen wash is left to sit (and god forbid, dry) it makes de-stenciling far more difficult.

4.) The screens are then put in the de-stencil sink and lightly washed (as lightly as 3000psi/3gpm can be) from a foot or two back...to remove any residual chemical.  This step makes de-stenciling much faster we've found.

5.) We used to use Easiway Easistrip Supra in a dip tank but found Saati ER-2 scrubbed on to be more effective, if requiring a little more elbow grease.  4 squirts on the face, scrub thoroughly.  4 squirts on the inside, scrub thoroughly.  Do this to 1 or 2 more screens.

6.) Take the first screen and blast the emulsion off from the inside, flip it around and hit any residual stuff on the face.  Rinse very thoroughly.  Makes sure water sheets (just like after a good degrease).

7.) Skip the degrease.  ER-2 seems to take care of that.  Only fresh mesh gets degreased.  I know, this shocked me too.  No pinholes, no fisheyes, no adhesion problems.  Time saved.

8.) Stack in rack.  Depending on work flow either 24 to a rack or 13 to a rack with space in between...that speeds drying time by roughly 1/3rd.

9.) Wheel into drying room.

10.) 20-30 minutes later?  Coat...20-30 minutes later?  Ready to go.

[mooseman]

couple of days ago I threw this on the board and kinda expected to get some retort but I guess you all know I am crazy......HA, more like mad scientist.
Anyhow here is a video of the results we get reclaiming a screen.
Some details first...........
we coat 2 / 2 minimum, sometimes 3 / 2
emulsion is Ulano QTX
reclaim is Franmar stripee do
we coat the squeegee side only with srtipee - do, let the screens sit horizontally for about 10 - 12 miutes while we go do other things before we go back to blow out .
The  video here is a 195 mesh 2/2 10 minute set time after about 1 minute  of application.

The screen is clean in about 9 seconds, then I screw around for about another 11 seconds real time blowout 20 seconds, video is real time speed.
This method really saves time , reclaim solution and down the drain junk.
mooseman 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTV8L248Y04&feature=youtu.be

[jsheridan]

card ink
pull tape
put in dip tank
blast side 1
blast side 2
apply stain remover/degreaser
blast side 1
blast side 2