I've a question on Screens

[inkman996]

Darryl I am talking about the expense to restretch wood frames, not buy new.

I know a shop in New Haven that only buys wood frames and never reuses them, they buy them use it once then throw out, they spend zero dollars on chemicals and labor. It seems to work perfect for them.

[Socalfmf]

Mike

there is a guy at the cape like that...he buys them in bulk and then tosses them after the job....he has no labor in cleaning , no chemicals, nothing....works for him...would not work for us...and that is what make this industry so great..

Sam

[mk162]

It's funny that there are so many shops around us that use nothing but wood.  I hate wood.  It works for some people, but not us.  I found the warping too much to handle.  That being said, we've done some awesome prints on wood frames.

I tried printing with higher tensions and failed...miserably.  I get smoother whites, and brighter prints on static aluminum frames.  Don't ask how or why, I just do.  And yes, I adjusted the crap out of everything from squeegee pressure to off contact with no improvements.

[alan802]

Mike

there is a guy at the cape like that...he buys them in bulk and then tosses them after the job....he has no labor in cleaning , no chemicals, nothing....works for him...would not work for us...and that is what make this industry so great..

Sam

I just can't see a scenario that would be right for doing it that way.  I know chems and the labor involved in reclaiming screens isn't cheap, but it's also not that expensive.  There is no way that there is 15-25 bucks worth of chems and labor in every screen that is reclaimed, it's probably not even close.  I know that it "works" for shops but I think they are wasting money or at least leaving cash on the table.

[Socalfmf]

Alan

he gets them for under 20 and charges 25 per screen per color per location EVERY time....so he is not losing money and does not have to do it or hire someone to do it...plus it keeps his place clean....again I could not do it with our business model but he does and has for over 15 yrs...

[Shawn (EIP)]

Mike

there is a guy at the cape like that...he buys them in bulk and then tosses them after the job....he has no labor in cleaning , no chemicals, nothing....works for him...would not work for us...and that is what make this industry so great..

Sam

That's pretty lame when you consider the waste, sure the wood is biodegradable but not the mesh,glue and the ink residue. Why not use them once and sell them for 1/2 the price to a bacement printer.

[mk162]

That is true, or work a deal with a local supplier who could take them back, remesh them and sell them as virtually new.  He could probably get $2 a frame for them.

[Socalfmf]

Shawn...no clue since I am not him....I do agree though that it is very wasteful....

[3Deep]

Darryl I am talking about the expense to restretch wood frames, not buy new.

I know a shop in New Haven that only buys wood frames and never reuses them, they buy them use it once then throw out, they spend zero dollars on chemicals and labor. It seems to work perfect for them.

I gottcha now Inkman my bad I need to read more LOL

[ebscreen]

... sell them for 1/2 the price to a bacement printer.

Which is what the OP should do.

[Frog]

My experience, whether one sells (or buys them cheaply) or has them re-meshed, one needs to do it locally with no shipping. Shipping has always been the deal breaker when I crunched numbers in the past.

[RICK STEFANICK]

wayne, I personally use static aluminum frames and the work great for what i do. if they rip I tear them out , recycle them and buy new. I PROBABLY SHOULD RE MESH. anyway, I believe your just starting back up and we all know the name of the game is quality and low overhead. I would use what you have both the wood and the rollers. I think your biggest issue will be the size of the wood frames. 20x24 is a better standard size. Then make a decision when you actually need screens. I am a small shop and reclaim everything so the rollers for me are more of a headache. although as stated they do give OVERALL superior results. i would roll with what you have using both and see what fits into your shops flow and business model. just my .01

[blue moon]

the story I heard was the printer was on a septic tank and could not flush the chemicals down the drain. . .

pierre

[screenxpress]

Well.  There was a little more to the pic that I left out. Not trying to trick anyone. Just trying to figure out what  to do with the 18x20s (o.d.)  in addition to the rollers, I have probably 12-15 aluminum 20x24s.  Maybe I'll see if there's a couple of printers starting out and give the smallones away.  I have what i need just all them darn smallwooden ones.

Tks all

[alan802]

I thought I replied to this thread this weekend but I guess it didn't go through, but I was saying that if you do decide to stick with statics, wood or aluminum, make them as useful as possible by using the murakami smartmesh S threads.  I know these thin thread meshes have been around a long time, but they are just now becoming popular in our neck of the woods.  I've found that this mesh really doesn't elongate and stretch near as bad as the other mesh I've used.  I also remember reading on one of murakami's tech articles that when stretched on static frames, they stabilize and work harden just a few newtons (2-5) from where they were originally stretched at.  If you get them stretched from a good source, they should be able to take a 150/48 up to 28-30 newtons and then after a few rounds through production they should settle in at around 23-27 newtons which is really great for a static frame and is a perfect working range for that mesh.  We've got one roller frame with 150/48 that is at 25 newtons and it prints like a dream.

I'm not totally against static frames these days like I was a year ago, but that is strictly because of the Smartmesh S thread.  They will still never touch newman rollers as far as I'm concerned and aren't near as good of an investment, but you can make them significantly better than 99% of the statics that are being used right now.