masking tape

[alan802]

I've always approached this screen printing thing like John has done with his tape cost analysis.  Although I haven't done it with the tape like John has done for us, I always assumed that the little extra bit of tape needed was cheaper than all the extra emulsion needed to cover that same area.  We used 2" tape when I first got here, and I changed to the 3" really quickly.  I've even thought of using less emulsion on our screens due to the HUGE amount on the screen that doesn't get used, but then we are talking about the labor increasing exponentially and soon you'd cross that line where the cost of the emulsion would be cheaper than the tape and labor to cover up the places the ink will seeping through.

STAND BACK BURRITOS, John just dropped some knowledge bombs up in here.  That's the difference between this forum and the others...we can do what they can do, but they can't do what we do-The Shirt Board

[jasonl]

I have tried LOTS of different tapes, and the winner is....Ace hardware 3"!!!  You can negotiate price and it works and cleans up great.  We pay 2.70 a roll.  Been using it for 14 years.

[JBLUE]

all of this is based on the premise that you can not use a single piece of 2" tape which we are doing quite successfully. It also shows the cost of tape a little lower than it should be and the amount of tape used can be lower.

In principle though, the conclusion is correct (if you are unable to use 2" tape). What EVERYBODY should be taking from this is that one should NOT double up on the 2" tape and stop taping the top and the bottom part of the screen!

pierre

You can't get much better than that and it's a very viable way to coat and tape to keep cost and labor down for static frames..  but... what are you going to do when you get roller frames and you can't coat all the way to the edge due to the corner softening.??

Coating to the edge works awesome on a static frame.. not rollers. you'll leave blobs of emulsion in the corners so you have to use 3" tape if you want to cover the roller and emulsion edge. It gets even worse when the corners are to soft and you lose over 6" of top to bottom coverage and 3-4" of side to side.

This costing was done for the shop I'm working with now as the owner kept saying the 3" tape was to expensive.. so I had to show him with math how much he was losing a year (about $800 in extra tape and labor) by using and doubling the 2" tape.

I just gave away one of my formulas that I've had for years so I hope everyone uses it the best you can and looks at how you tape a screen differently.

Did I save you a few hunderd or even a thousand bucks this year .. send a paypal thanks to my email. Thanks for the Idea Jason 

No Prob John! Got to look out for each other. Find me some used Newmans too if you know of any. Need to add to the collection.

[Gilligan]

No offense but if people didn't already know how to do that math then they just aren't math junky/nerds like me.

You would be amazed at how many shops have never even thought to do stuff like this, math and science solve all problems.

Word!!

Hell, I was crunching numbers before I ever pulled a squeegee on things like this... I was borrowing other people's numbers on how much ink goes on an average print how much emulsion on a screen... blah blah blah... I still basically have to borrow those figures because I'm not up to speed enough to test them out for myself.  I also typically buy smaller qty's so I just always round up a bit on my cost to compensate.

Alan, nice line... I'll throw in a quote that I like, if anyone recognizes it then good on them, one of the greatest games EVER.
"We do what we must because we can."

[jsheridan]

No Prob John! Got to look out for each other. Find me some used Newmans too if you know of any. Need to add to the collection.

I just saw a guy on Digit selling 23x31 MZX's for $25 a pop or $2000 per 100
http://www.digitsmith.com/newman-mzx-fames-23x31-31525.html

[Frog]

STAND BACK BURRITOS, John just dropped some knowledge bombs up in here.  That's the difference between this forum and the others...we can do what they can do, but they can't do what we do-The Shirt Board

Sure they can, sort of. They copy and paste and imply or even claim originality.

[alan802]

I bought newman m3 23x31's, in immaculate shape from Tance for a song, something like 12/frame I think.  I did have to pay out the butt to ship them to me, but still got them for around $20 per.

Here are a few pics of the beauties I got.

[JBLUE]

Nice score!

[beanie357]

We found that the labor component versus a supply component generally prompts the selection of the specific item that reduces labor to the largest degree. Performance of the supply item and the net effect on the quality of production has a large bearing on the selection process. When all the factors are considered, then we select a SOP supply item.

For instance: We use a heavier plastic wrap for our napkin bundles at the linen rental end of our business. It is much more expensive obviously. The results were astounding. The wrappers used less as the bundle "felt" covered. Repacement of soiled linen from a bundle getting ripped open in our trucks stopped. Quite a bit more money on the front side, but easily paid for on the back side, and less overall aggravation in the long run.

An assessment of a supply item needs to take into consideration more factors than I previously imagined. An interesting exercise to say the least.

[mk162]

That is very true.  I believe the saying goes...penny wise and pound foolish

[screenxpress]

I have tried LOTS of different tapes, and the winner is....Ace hardware 3"!!!  You can negotiate price and it works and cleans up great.  We pay 2.70 a roll.  Been using it for 14 years.

OMG, you actually have and ACE hardware around? 

Just about all the hardware stores here in Houston have either gone belly up or sold out to places like Starbucks to use the land for a parking lot.

Oh, I know there's a few around.  Just not close to me to drive.

[Nation03]

Are these rubber based adhesive tapes from ULINE any good in the sense of not leaving any tacky residue when you strip them from the frame? I use the standard screen printing tape from ryonet and its low adhesive so my frames always look brand new. My boss on the other hand uses a cheap packing tape and our screen frames have accumulated a disgusting amount of built up sticky gunk that makes the screens ugly and extremely hard to reclaim. I like the ryonet stuff but even in bulk its 3 bucks a roll. That ULINE stuff looks similar and at 2 bucks a roll I'd definitely like to switch.

[screenxpress]

They have a 7/24 live chat line and you can request a sample of the S-660, I just did. 

No idea if the sample is a full roll or just 12 inches, lol. but there are so many choices, I needed something for a trial.

[alan802]

I can't see who makes our tape, they don't label it and the box they ship them in is generic and doesn't have any evidence for who makes it.  I will ask my distributor but she probably won't want to tell me thinking that I'm trying to find a cheaper source or something sneaky.

[Gabe]

tell her is for the board especially for doublestroke
the other burrito guy
thanks
Gabe