Best way for a girl to pull/push a squeegee?

[Gilligan]

My wife just can't pull or push a 14" squeegee well at all.  It's more like a forceful flood stroke.

She isn't super petite and she's not a weenie.  Hell, she can carry our 1.5 year old around in her arms all day at the grocery store where I get about 5 mins and I feel like my arm is going to fall off!

I'm sure we are just doing it wrong but is there any trick for people that feel like the don't have the mustard to push a squeegee right?

[whitewater]

how tall is she?

I had to out down 2 mats for a girl I had working..when I printed I had to take it away...That helped her a ton..

and hand positioning on the squeegee...

[Prosperi-Tees]

You have to get your body over the print and not just push with your arms.

[Colin]

Try cutting down the height of the handle by about 2 inches and rounding those edges.  I worked with several women that had to do that to the squeegees in order to print.  You are able to apply more pressure to the blade with a shorter handle when you have smaller hands.  Something about the bigger handle absorbing the force you are applying....

I had to use a couple of them at one point and found I rolled the blade over if I was not carefull.

And definitely follow the other suggestions.  Body positioning and hand placement is key.

Good Luck!

[Binkspot]

I think pushing is much easier, need to get the angle right. My wife is a little short so she stands on a platform so she can get over the screen to push the squeegee. Works well for her.

Maybe shes not good at it for a reason kind of like I suck at unloading the dish washer!

[Prosperi-Tees]

I think pushing is much easier on anybody. I exclusively push now and when I have tried to pull it feels very strange now.

[Nation03]

Pushing is easier, but I can never get the print to come out nice when I push... So I stick to pulling. I guess if you use super tight screens it won't matter whether you push or pull.

[mk162]

Naked...and I am sticking to that.

[Donnie]

Try removing your hands from her boobs while she prints. It helped my wife a bunch.   

[mk162]

Donnie, that might help her, but not you. 

[Sbrem]

our production manager is 5"2", 110 lbs., and prints like a champ. She pulls the squeegee. I've mentioned alternative print strokes to her, but she prefers to pull. I've met a number of folks who push, either a traditional push, or the Bill Hood preferred method. I don't really think being a girl has anything to do with it... just find one that you're comfortable with.

Steve

[mk162]

Heck, I've seen a lot of guys that can't master a manual print.  To be honest, I don't worry about push or pull since the auto handles that for me.

But, either stroke works fine, it's a matter of using those muscles and getting them worked into shape.  Speaking of which, I have tennis elbow right now.  I could barely use my arm yesterday.

[StuJohnston]

According to the infalible Roger Jennings, women make the best manual screen printers because they don't try to 'manhandle' the squeegee. Even though I don't have much experience with getting shorter people to print on my relatively high press, getting something for her to stand on was my first thought as well.

[mk162]

for our shorter printers, we would put some anit-fatigue mats on wood pallets and that works great.

[Frog]

You beat me to it. Most larger shops have pallets kicking around, or are happy to donate.

Remember also Gilligan, that with plastisol, in general, we are only shearing the ink of after the flood (or fill, or load stroke), and it is the screen itself that is depositing it.
Tight screens, minimal off-contact, pushing, and a little practice should do the trick.

Hopefully you do realize that even with a push stroke, the squeegee is held at the same angle and position and not reversed. Now, it's merely the trailing edge doing the work.

btw, I had to unthink decades of pulling as my method, but it only took a week or two to become a convert.