I am AMAZINGLY bad at coating screens

[Prosperi-Tees]

Two handed here Kev, just make a jig that will hold the screen and put it against the wall. I just have not practiced enough one handed to give any sort of advice on that technique.

[mooseman]

hey Thanks Dan it was very kind of you to offer that........it is very nice to feel like you can sometimes help the folks you look up to.
mooseman happy

[Gilligan]

Still getting UBER thick deposits along the sides where the end clamps are.

I'm able to make it work but yuck... I got drips and all sorts of nasty stuff going on.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Are you scared of putting pressure on the mesh? The couple people I have shown are always scared they are going to break something and I just keep telling them they have to push harder. Another thing, what size frames? And what size scoop coater are you using? If your scoop is to wide that may cause a problem.

[Gilligan]

I pushed pretty damn hard this last time because everyone said to push till it almost broke the mesh.

I could definitely see the end caps making a profile on the backside of the mesh.

My coater is a fair amount smaller.  Too larger for long ways but kind of short for coating side to side.  I end up with almost 2" of uncoated mesh on each side.

[alan802]

Something ain't right Kevin.  If you put an extreme amount of pressure and you still get that uneven emulsion deposit on the outside versus the inside then there has to be something strange going on.  My new screen tech was getting results like you are describing and we increased her pressure and sped up her speed slightly and now the stencil is even across the mesh. One of the embroidery ops has been helping us out the last few weeks and I taught him how to coat and he was having a much heavier deposit on the outer edges and more pressure fixed his issue as well.  You should shoot a vid of ou coating so we can see what's going on.

[Screened Gear]

Gilligan,

I didn't read every post but it sounds like you need to use less emulsion in your coater and make sure your keeping the coater flat against the screen. Are you laying the coater down so the metal blade edge and the sides of the coater is down against the screen. I use about a half to 3/4th full coater. The emulsion is refrigerator temp to make it thicker. This helps with controlling the emulsion when coating and also makes it easier to get a thicker stencil. (another reason to keep it in the refrigerator is that in my shop in the summer it gets way too hot for the emulsion)

In this video Steve (great guy) shows how he does it. (I didn't have time to make a video)

Emulsions and Screen Coating

[Gilligan]

Maybe too much.

I just watched that vid and Mooseman's vid again.... I am pretty sure I'm using more pressure than they were.  Maybe I'm just a pussy... very possible, I am a liberal.

[ZooCity]

take an uncoated screen and an empty coater. put the lip on there, turn the coater until the top sides ("guides" really) are touching the mesh.  now hang out there for awhile and feel what's going on.  do some dry pulls and focus on your form.  you want those guides on the coater in parallel with the screen. now, feel that drag on the dry screen and dry coater? you should be feeling some of that during actual coating.  our screens whistle a little bit while being coated just like when printing. play with the pressure and watch how the mesh moves with the coater edge.  it's not just pressure, you want that perfect shear, again, just like when printing in many ways.

now get an old bucket or a sample quart you don't want and get in there and coat until you get it right. it's frustrating but it's controllable. once angle, pressure, amount in the coater and environmental variables are in control it's just a matter of moving evenly and consistently up each screen.

...and I almost forgot, coat with safe back lighting. You'll be able to see what is going on and how your adjustments are effecting the coating.

[mk162]

i bet it's that liberal-lip-wristed coating style. 

[Gilligan]

You mean LIMP smartass. :p


Zoo,
I do plan on getting some cheap emulsion to play with EOM, burn times, washout procedure and all those other little things that won't DIRECTLY translate to the emulsion I really use (burn times for example) but will let me get a feel for when we are doing it right once we are doing it with the "real" stuff.

Anyone got suggestions for CHEAP emulsion... if it's decent at the same time then that's just a bonus because maybe I'll find a use for it.

[mk162]

dang you lazy fingers!!! press the keys hard enough next time!!!!

[Gilligan]

dang you lazy fingers!!! press the keys hard enough next time!!!!

Hmm, maybe you got a little LIMP wrist in you too.

[mk162]

hehe.

[mjrprint]

Simple solution. We coat about 100-150 a day too.