wrestling with a monster

[mooseman]

 About 18 months ago I purchased a Monster Max Scoop . Today after my "eleventy second" attempt to get my monster max scoop coater dialed in I decided to permanently to place it in storage in the local land fill.

when I could get the coater edge even along the length I could not get the end caps parallel such that when used the coater would pivot changing the angle and clearance on the coater edge.
When I could get the end caps parallel so the coater didn't roll the coater edge was  not evenly spaced along it's edge.

I chased this ghost for better part of 18 months off and on and simply decided today I wasted enough of my time as this device is clearly smarter than me.......decided to cut my losses and smiled today when it spilled into the garbage truck. 
mooseman

[mimosatexas]

use it every day and love it   Send me yours!

Don't follow their setup instructions with the tape and all the other bullshit.  put the caps on, flip the unit over on your exposure glass, tighten the screws, and done.  When coating, don't angle the coater to where the end caps are touching the mesh, hold it where the edge of the coater is touching but the point at the middle of the end cap is about half an inch from the mesh.  coat.

[Screen Dan]

As much as I'm a fan of ridiculous amounts of configurability and dialing in microscopic details, OPs post encapsulates the exact thing I feared about this coater.

I'll be monitoring this thread to see if someone can make a compelling case for...but so far given mimosatexas's post, without having owned one, I have no context at all and can't make heads or tails of any of that  ...I also don't have glass anymore.

[mooseman]

use it every day and love it   Send me yours!

Don't follow their setup instructions with the tape and all the other bullshit.  put the caps on, flip the unit over on your exposure glass, tighten the screws, and done.  When coating, don't angle the coater to where the end caps are touching the mesh, hold it where the edge of the coater is touching but the point at the middle of the end cap is about half an inch from the mesh.  coat.

I would gladly send you the coater but I literally threw that headache in the garbage truck...fortunately for me the garbage taxi it was out front picking up my curb side junk when I decided I wasted enough time. At least I got a few seconds of enjoyment 
mooseman

[Mr Tees!!]

...I have one and really like it. I bought this mostly because it was DEEEEEEP, and holds more than one or two screns worth of emulsion at a time. I think i tried with the adjustable cap ends, but didnt see any advantages over the disadvantages. In the end, I just set them flush like a standard coater would be and ran with it.

[mk162]

i really like the AWT double edge coater.  it just works well for us, and it's deeper than their standard one.

[mimosatexas]

...I have one and really like it. I bought this mostly because it was DEEEEEEP, and holds more than one or two screns worth of emulsion at a time. I think i tried with the adjustable cap ends, but didnt see any advantages over the disadvantages. In the end, I just set them flush like a standard coater would be and ran with it.

This.  It holds an epic amount of emulsion and is super easy to grip and position with one hand even completely full.  I coat one handed so that is key.

There really isn't anything complicated about getting it setup and using it.  The instructions tell you to put tape on the coater edge and position the end caps in a certain way and blah blah blah.  just turn it upside down on a flat level surface and tighten the ends.  That's it.  Now your end caps are flush with the coater edge and you can coat 10 screens or more without touching your emulsion (depending on your coating technique of course).  It's also very easy to clean because the bottom of the trough is a sharp angle, so with a cleanup card you can literally get every last drop off the thing without issue.

When I coat with any kind of coater i don't put the end caps flush against the mesh because it seems to cause a mess and issues with control over the thickness across the screen.  I angle it back just a touch so the only thing touching the mesh is the edge of the coater.  No mess and perfect screens.

To put it simply, here is why I prefer the coater vs the others out there:
-holds tons of emulsion
-easy to hold and position
-built like a freaking champ (the plastic end cap pieces of crap tend to fall apart on me, shrug)
-easy to clean due to sharp angle at bottom of the the trough vs round

edit: I also have a 40" wide one of these http://cdn3.volusion.com/lffgk.jjqfq/v/vspfiles/photos/AWT-SC1-2.jpg for my flag and large poster prints.  It coats fine, but cleaning it even with the rounded ultimate cleanup cards is still a pain compared to the monster due to the rounded bottom.  It also has some kind of emulsion catch strip that sticks out too far below the coater edge and can cause issues when finishing a coating stroke if you aren't careful.

[3Deep]

This is the reason I didn't buy the monster coater, because it seems to be a monster to work with, I'll stick with what I been using for years now...I'll slap this in the Monkey see Monkey do files 

[Colin]

I bought one recently.

19" W

I coat one handed.  I tried briefly the 2 hand method... still cant do it properly.

My first attempt at coating I noticed one cap was not flush with the coating edge causing a heavy deposit on that side.

Fixed that issue so they are perfectly flush.

I literally - Just coated 44 screens.  110/150(s)/180 mesh counts.

The Monster is heavier/bulkier than the normal awt plastic end coaters.  I will probably put some kind of cushion around the grip spots under the coater so it doesn't bit into my fingers as much.  The extra weight from filling it up with emulsion is quite a bit more than I am used to.  I do love how much it can hold!

I am able to leave a heavier deposit of emulsion in one pass than I am with my old coater.  Using my same coating technique with the Saati PHU emulsion I am getting a thicker deposit than I have in the past.  I need to wait for these screens to dry before seeing how much thicker it is.  Unfortunately I do not have an eom gauge

So far I love this thing.

I still need to coat a couple hundred more to finalize my opinion and discover any quirks.... but I am not going back to my old coater without a major fight.

If you are not consistent with how you coat your screen, be it coat stroke speed/angle of coater/tilt of coater/Pressure side to side/etc..... This will be magnified using the Monster Scoop Coater.  You NEED to be as consistent as possible.

My 2 Cents

[mimosatexas]

Yea it made me dial in my technique a bit, but I could not go back to another option unless I had to...

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

i really like the AWT double edge coater.  it just works well for us, and it's deeper than their standard one.

Just tried both of the AWT coaters in 19" wide. Thier single edged one wasn't to my liking. But the end caps aren't even close to flush with the edge. They are "recessed" a good 80 or 90 thou. Not sure why they made it that way.

And neither of the 2 examples I recieved have the end caps set flush with cut edge of the trough.  Not sure why... It just makes more 'nooks and crannies" to have to clean up afterward.

The double edged AWT that you refer to, seems better. I'm going to keep using it for a while until I get a better feel for it.

Back to the original topic, I noticed Greg Kitson had one of the Monster Max coaters on the shelf, unused. I find it interesting and may order one to try.  I especially like the idea of the added volume.

Try as I might, I simply CANNOT press the shoulders of the endcaps into contact with the screen while coating. I'm a one handed coater. I do it like this:

http://t-biznetwork.com/articles/screenprinting/coating-screens-by-terry-combs/

And I'm stuck for now with the sharp edge. I am pretty consistent with the sharp edge, so I may just totally give up on the round. For now, for higher EOM, I'm going to try some Capillary Film.

But the lack of absolutely parallel shoulders on the endcaps that (Ed Long's) Monster Max potentially could suffer from, wouldn't bother me in the least. I can't use them as intended. 

[UltraSeps]

I see that article shows a Tetko coater.  Although I no longer print, I did for over 30 years.  Those coaters were my faves, the old Tetko with the blue caps.  They're light and held a ton of emulsion.  Always used the sharp edge, one handed...never the rounded edge.  I did some work with high-density and also used a ton of gel.  For those I went with heavy cap film.  Sometimes I miss printing and think about buying a small auto for $hits and giggles....and then I snap out of it and have a beer.  LOL! 

[mimosatexas]

FYI monster max doesn't really have a sharp and round side.  They are both kind of in the middle between sharp and round that is on most coaters.

[ABuffington]

On other thing to know about coaters in general is leave a 1-1.5 inch gap between the end of the coater and the edge of the frame.  Although it is hard to see we can measure with a thickness gauge and when a coater is within 1/4" of the frame edge, the center emulsion can be 25-30% EOM while the outside edges can be 7-10%.  This makes exposure a compromise between under exposure in the center and maybe too much on the outside edge.  We sell coaters in any length and sell quite a few 2-3" coaters to finish the edge for wb and discharge screens to seal it off edges completely. We use this method on high end graphic frames for industrial use.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I see that article shows a Tetko coater.  Although I no longer print, I did for over 30 years.  Those coaters were my faves, the old Tetko with the blue caps.  They're light and held a ton of emulsion.  Always used the sharp edge, one handed...never the rounded edge.  I did some work with high-density and also used a ton of gel.  For those I went with heavy cap film.  Sometimes I miss printing and think about buying a small auto for $hits and giggles....and then I snap out of it and have a beer.  LOL! 

Steve, I'm so pleased to see you contributing to this, the best of current screenprinting forums. 

Speaking of $hits and giggles, you are a JR MEMBER!  Ha! ((I, of course am a Senior Member--or is it Hero? I forget...)) Please join us often!  This is the place to be. Some heavy hitters on here, yourself included. Not me...

Good to know you also got along fine with the Tetko Sharp Edge. I just want to up my game on more ink deposit when I really need it. So, here a question for you:  What thickness of Cap Film would you recommend as a max for a 1000 watt Metal Haliade unit? We do an increasing amount of foil and even *some* puff foil via Al Buffington's techniques. I don't believe I can fully expose the upper end films.

Our retail room is frequented by wimmen types that love their blingy fanwear.  I'd love to go around once on the foil adhesive...which is what we use the High Density Gel for.

My 8 Color auto only has one flash. I could roll my manual flash to the unload station and burn 2 screens for the Wilflex HD Clear Gel 2, I suppose. If I go revolver mode, that is too much time for Waterbased Discharge screens to sit idle.

Stan