Telling on Myself

[screenxpress]

I'm only posting this in case there are others, like me, that had overlooked the simplest and most obvious problem causer.

I printed something last week that I was having a hard time clearing the ink on the right and/or left side.  Didn't matter if I pulled or pushed.  The screens were fine.  I had actually used them before and still had them available.

I just took a square across the pallets.  Yep, warped.  About 1/16 with a 'rocking' high middle.  I've made pallets before, so it's not that big a thing.  Just have to check them all out and replace any that are warped.  Thinking about going aluminum. 

Question1:  Those that have them, how thick are your aluminum pallets?

Question2: Please tell me why squared off platens are better than tapered for shirt collar.

[Frog]

Question2: Please tell me why squared off platens are better than tapered for shirt collar

That's not really a question,    but since we aren't playing jeopardy, I'll take a stab at it.

One advantage for a board without a "neck shape" could be a lot less limitation on positioning the shirt (or something else)  for odd locations.
My boards are shaped, and I have reversed them more than once for this reason.

and btw I've seen a similar issue of not clearing a screeen when a squeegee is not square as well

[screenxpress]

You're right.  #2 really wasn't a (proper) question. 

It was just that when I go look at aluminum pallets, they all seem to be squared off.

[inkbrigade]

We eventually got aluminum pallets for our manual. It was the best thing we did. Actually let me know how many your looking for. I may still have them and the hopkins adaptors for them.

[jsheridan]

I can't wait to get rid of these wood platens! All of them have that 1/16 warp and it was really messing with a thick print of glow in the dark ink last night. They don't make alum boards for my press so i have to have them cut from plate and then epoxy on a mounting bracket.

I like the square edges vs the neck hole cut out. I always load the shirt to the same place and move my art in the screen to correspond with print location so it's easier to use a single board that never moves for all my printing needs. This way as Andy said, you don't have to flip the board around for an odd location or item like a sewn bag.

[tpitman]

Vastex platens have something of a "handle" on the front that aids to some degree in shirt neck positioning, but what I do on all my platens is mark the platen tape with a centerline, make a mark on that 1-1/2" in from the front edge, then take a gallon emulsion pail, center it left and right with the edge on the 1-1/2" mark and draw a semi-circle that corresponds pretty closely to the neck hole when the shirt is pulled over the platen. Gives me a visual cue as to whether the neck is centered in addition to checking the sleeve-to-platen distance as the shirt is pulled into position.

[3Deep]

@ Screenexpress if your having so much trouble with warped platens thats telling me your flashing a hold lot on them.  I have two of the platens that came with my workhorse manual 5 years ago still in great shape the other two I burn by walking off and leaving them under the flash.  Those two replacements have been on for about 3 to 4 years themselves.

[screenxpress]

There was a time when I was curing (with flash) on press.  It's quite possible this had happened a while back and I'd only occasionally noticed problems when the warped platens were in play not realizing what the problem was until now. 

These days, flashing is only about 8 seconds (or so) and when I do flash, I run more than one platen to rotate the heat.

[screenxpress]

We eventually got aluminum pallets for our manual. It was the best thing we did. Actually let me know how many your looking for. I may still have them and the hopkins adaptors for them.

Sent you a PM through the boards....