ELT-S & emulsion

[Prince Art]

Since I've mentioned this in other threads in the past, I thought it would be good to give an update...

I'm a big fan of One Stroke's ELT-S series. The low cure aspect has helped a lot in dealing with heat sensitive fashion tees (high poly & triblend). And, the ink yields a very flexible, very stretchy hand, even with PFP white through heavy mesh.

But I've had frustrations regarding reclaim. The ink was difficult to completely remove, and it left a film that inhibited reclaimer from fully breaking down the emulsion. The result was gummy, stringy emulsion clogging up our filters, instead of nicely dissolved emulsion flowing as it normally would.

I strongly suspected an ink-emulsion interaction was the problem. So, I finally got around to trying a new emulsion, with great results! We were using Saati's Textil PV, and we're now using ChromaLime. We've also changed our procedure so that as soon as screens come off the press, they go to to the washout booth for ink removal. (Tried this with PV emulsion, but didn't end problem.) And the result is screens that reclaim perfectly, even if we wait a long time to do so. (Saved screens for reorders, etc.)

Hope this info helps anyone who might be investigating the ELT series and has seen my past posts mentioning reclaim.

(And no, I have no affiliation with One Stroke. Just wanted to share. FWIW, even though they sell ChromaLime, you can get that cheaper elsewhere!  )

[mimosatexas]

interesting.  We have been using the ELT-S White as our standard as well, and have seen the same "issue" where the ink doesnt fully break down like other plastisol whites, BUT it hasnt made it so our supra or 701 aren't working, and everything gets caught in our prefilter (cheap furnace filter) before going through the rest of the settling tanks etc.  We are using SP1400, but saw the same reaction with PHU.

[Prince Art]

One thing I haven't tried is letting ELT-S white sit around for awhile on a ChromaLime-coated screen. I suspect that if enough time was given (day? days? weeks?), we'd have the same problem. I don't know what they put in ELT, but I suspect it has some similar properties to nylon catalyst, which will air cure given enough time. But the combo of the ChromaLime & immediate ink removal with IR-4 is working. (After carding ink out, we run another couple squeegee passes, and then wipe out the screen with a scrap shirt, too. We're taking as little ink as possible to the sink.)