triple durometer squeegees 9/3

[DCSP John]

Hello All....

We run 60/90/60 for our whites..
Was having a conversation with my production manager about the benefits of using 70/90/70's.
We have quite a few, but they never really get used. Its always the single duros.

I know the softer edge, harder middle affords some more control and stiffens the blade...
but -- was wondering if anyone could chime in about  why they prefer tripe duros as opposed to single.
How many here using triples everyday?


Thanks.

John

[ABuffington]

Better angle control with less pressure to lay down plastisol baseplates.  Ice the cake instead of squashing the cake. S-Mesh helps to lay down more opaque base plates with less pressure.  Triples for me give me more squeegee setting options instead of the usual choice of hammering it down.  S mesh from Murakami helps utilize these expanded settings.

[andyandtobie]

Okay, as a bumbling novice, I'm now totally confused.  At first, I thought you were supposed to use 70/90/70 for white and 70 for colors on simulated process.  Then recently, I heard that I had it backwards, and you're supposed to use 70 for the white and 70/90/70 for the top colors, so I just bought 5 new 70/90/70s to try and improve our simulated process prints.  Now I'm reading that I had it right the first time?  I'm one confused monkey, here...  Help?  Thanks, guys!

[LoneWolf2]

I run 60/90/60 for my whites, and 70/90/70 for everything else. Just better overall quality of prints and less pressure required than single duro's.

[mk162]

we run 70/90/70 for everything.

[jvanick]

we run 70/90/70 for everything.

we run 60/90/60 for our white underbase on big open athletic style prints.

everything else is 70/90/70

[Colin]

Soft edge hard center for white inks.  This allows you to:

1) "Hydroplane" more ink down with the softer edge
    1.5) A harder squeegee forcibly cuts the ink (shears) it into a thinner layer of ink.  A softer edge will not do this.

2) As was stated above - You have better angle control.
    2.5) This allows you to fine tune how much ink is actually sheared/layed down compared to a single durometer squeegee.  Flat out - You get more.

I prefer 60/90/60.  This choice will also depend on the press you have (manual Vs. Auto).

A slightly harder edge will cut the ink thinner ....

A slightly harder edge than that will cut the ink that much thinner.....

When it comes to halftone dot control on top of a white plate more control is usually better.  So you can see where going with a harder/stiffer triple will be to your benefit.

I run 75 durometer singles for the colors in my sim process work.  They are the same blades that shipped with our M&R press.  For us, they work great.... and were "free"

[blue moon]

and to throw in a wrinkle, we use 55/95/55 for our whites and 65/95/75 for everything else!

pierre

[ABuffington]

Pierre have you seen any slowdown in the squeegee speed with softer squeegees?

[Screened Gear]

and to throw in a wrinkle, we use 55/95/55 for our whites and 65/95/75 for everything else!

pierre

This wrinkle is caused by the type of pallets your using or the type of shirts your printing. If you have hard honeycomb or solid aluminum boards you will tend to use softer duro squeegees. If you have rubber top pallets you will use the harder Duro squeegees. This is the same as when printing fleece you want a harder duro then when printing a basic tee. Soft squeegees on soft rubber top pallets will give you too much ink and not very good detail. The reverse is the same. Hard duros with hard top pallets will give you great detail but not much ink lay down.

[Screen Dan]

Okay, as a bumbling novice, I'm now totally confused.  At first, I thought you were supposed to use 70/90/70 for white and 70 for colors on simulated process.  Then recently, I heard that I had it backwards, and you're supposed to use 70 for the white and 70/90/70 for the top colors, so I just bought 5 new 70/90/70s to try and improve our simulated process prints.  Now I'm reading that I had it right the first time?  I'm one confused monkey, here...  Help?  Thanks, guys!

There is no such thing as what you are supposed to use. 

There are rough guidelines which depend on other variables.  Most of all being what your substrate is and the platens.  We have straight 70s all the way up through 85/95/85s.  I used to prefer straight 80s for white plates, but that was back when we used 180-T mesh for white.  Now we use 150-S and the most common squeegee choices are 70/90/70 or 75/90/75.  For some jobs a straight 70 angled straight up-n-down was ideal.  Some of our printers still prefer 70/90/70s for every screen.  4CP jobs would usually necessitate use of the 85/95/85s...but not always.   

Squeegee angle is another very important factor.  You can make a 75/85/75 flex more than a straight 70 with the wrong (or right) angle...depends on if that's what you need.  I personally preferred more control so I would rather go with a slightly softer squeegee that's barely kicked out...but sometimes the 75/85/75 kicked out a bit worked better.

I liked straight 80s in all of the colors too...but this was way back before I got control of the screen department and took care of our linearization to get dot gain under control.  Squeegee choices aren't nearly as critical now as they used to be, for exactly that reason.

Different inks can also prompt a different choice.

Use what works but just try to be aware of why it works that way and you'll be golden.

[blue moon]

Pierre have you seen any slowdown in the squeegee speed with softer squeegees?

to be honest,  I have not been on the press in last two years more than few hours. . . I set most processes in place years back and new things are tweaked by the current press guys. They do a lot of things different from what I did, some better some worse. What I am trying to say is "I don't know/have an answer to your question". Sorry . . .

pierre

[blue moon]

Okay, as a bumbling novice, I'm now totally confused.  At first, I thought you were supposed to use 70/90/70 for white and 70 for colors on simulated process.  Then recently, I heard that I had it backwards, and you're supposed to use 70 for the white and 70/90/70 for the top colors, so I just bought 5 new 70/90/70s to try and improve our simulated process prints.  Now I'm reading that I had it right the first time?  I'm one confused monkey, here...  Help?  Thanks, guys!

There is no such thing as what you are supposed to use. 

There are rough guidelines which depend on other variables.  Most of all being what your substrate is and the platens.  We have straight 70s all the way up through 85/95/85s.  I used to prefer straight 80s for white plates, but that was back when we used 180-T mesh for white.  Now we use 150-S and the most common squeegee choices are 70/90/70 or 75/90/75.  For some jobs a straight 70 angled straight up-n-down was ideal.  Some of our printers still prefer 70/90/70s for every screen.  4CP jobs would usually necessitate use of the 85/95/85s...but not always.   

Squeegee angle is another very important factor.  You can make a 75/85/75 flex more than a straight 70 with the wrong (or right) angle...depends on if that's what you need.  I personally preferred more control so I would rather go with a slightly softer squeegee that's barely kicked out...but sometimes the 75/85/75 kicked out a bit worked better.

I liked straight 80s in all of the colors too...but this was way back before I got control of the screen department and took care of our linearization to get dot gain under control.  Squeegee choices aren't nearly as critical now as they used to be, for exactly that reason.

Different inks can also prompt a different choice.

Use what works but just try to be aware of why it works that way and you'll be golden.

this is kind of why we like the 65/95/75. It gives us two options with one blade. Add to it the 55/95/55 and we have a full range from a soft 55 to a hard 75. Use what's needed for the job. Big advantage of having a triple duro blade is that if you need to go harder (we always start with the 65 side) all you have to do is flip it around. No time wasted looking fro a clean squeegee or having to clean it. . .

pierre