How many dirty screens do you have (number and/or percentage)?

[jvanick]

We now have in inventory:

22 M3's -- 14 with 225S, 8 with 180S

and a bunch of statics:

12 305
3 225S
24 200
24 156
12 160S
4 110
2 24

the 24, 110, 156 and 305 rarely get used since switching to S and the Newmans...

I need more Newman frames, as those go from print to reclaim nearly immediately as we don't have enough.

[beanie357]

Generally only the hold for some reason, and yesterday's. We like to wait 24 hours for "oh s@@t"
Library screens are cleaned an stored on same schedule. So maybe a hundred or so total.
After a season we may have 50-100 needing mesh. We do that off peak times. 125 asst coated buffer in the closet.
If we start to run light on a mesh , we usually increase our numbers of that mesh.
Waiting for a reclaim to run a job is not cost effective.

[StinkyDaddy]

My workflow is to reclaim what I'm going to need the next day, plus a spare or two.
Now I'm a low volume, one dude shop, so that may not work for everyone.

[sweetts]

I hold used ones two three days incase of reprints, I have 20 screens so figure 5-6 dirty most days

[Inkworks]

We hold until we have enough for a screen run, usually 13 screens as we use the stack method and 13pcs is about the right sized stack, our screen room drying rack holds 13 per side, so once both sides are full we coat 26 at a time.

Here is the screen room drying rack, a vent fan pulls air out, the air inlet has a hepa filter over it to keep dust out of the emulsion, it is also the main work-counter for reclaiming and stretching the Hix Retens.



After coating and drying, they are moved to dark-storage, which holds 68 screens ready to burn



After exposing/rinsing we have a high-speed dryer built under the light table, they dry there, get bocked out a dry again, then off to press.



Dirty screens are leaned against the wall in the screenroom, one of the many nice thing about the Hix's is they lean and stack better than a Newman. You can see some leaning just inside the pocket door to the screen room in the photo above, and here stacked beside the wash-out booth:



I think we have around 110 screens in rotation in total, That includes retens, some statics, hand table and special small screens for rotary bottle screenprinting, we probably have 40 library screens for one contract customer who does regular re-runs, these are statics with hardened emulsion.

In summary, you need about 30pcs. less than the total number of Hix screens you currently own .....

[GraphicDisorder]

Our complete inventory of screens is cleaned and ready to go by every Monday.  So not really dirty long at all. 

[Gilligan]

We hold until we have enough for a screen run, usually 13 screens as we use the stack method and 13pcs is about the right sized stack, our screen room drying rack holds 13 per side, so once both sides are full we coat 26 at a time.

Here is the screen room drying rack, a vent fan pulls air out, the air inlet has a hepa filter over it to keep dust out of the emulsion, it is also the main work-counter for reclaiming and stretching the Hix Retens...

That wasn't the question asked, but it was the perfect answer... Lots of great things to think about!

In summary, you need about 30pcs. less than the total number of Hix screens you currently own .....

Lol, nice.  How's that fpu and press jig coming?

[Inkworks]

Lol, nice.  How's that fpu and press jig coming?

Still waiting on measurements...

[mk162]

our  stack of dirties will sometimes hit about 150 screens.  Now that we aren't printing as much contract i doubt it will get over 20-30.

i won't miss huge stacks to untape anymore...

[Gilligan]

Lol, nice.  How's that fpu and press jig coming?

Still waiting on measurements...

I'll email you.

[Inkworks]

our  stack of dirties will sometimes hit about 150 screens.  Now that we aren't printing as much contract i doubt it will get over 20-30.

i won't miss huge stacks to untape anymore...

In 2015 we'll be taking steps towards going tapeless.

[CSPGarrett]

While we are on screens what do you guys do about the "heavy" deposits on the outside that sometimes happen?  This seems to be a thorn in my reclaim time, I can power them out but not the best way. I am speaking of the thick strokes that may happen on the edge of a monster coater, it's like an ex girlfriend that shows up at every other reclaim party you go to.

[Inkworks]

A good scoop coater minimizes this, but we keep a plastic scraper handy while coating to take down the thick deposit before letting the emulsion dry.

[3Deep]

Last time I counted we had about 150 to 180 screens and I try to keep most clean, but right now I think we have about 40 dirty screens I got to clean this week...faster you get them clean less chance of ghost.

darryl

[Sbrem]

I see I'm coming late to this party, but we gather and clean every day; that being said, we have a screen cleaning booth in our compressor room, so the shop stays cleaner...

Steve