I am AMAZINGLY bad at coating screens

[Gilligan]

Interesting... could you explain the process a little more... I just don't want to be missing something obvious via ASSumption.

Ask Mooseman... I am pretty good at that!

[Chadwick]

You know..
this is a really hard technique to teach, even more difficult when trying to type it out.

I've been at this for a mere twelve years now, and I've had to 'instruct' five new kids in that time.
I suck at teaching, this is no secret.

One thing I've found though, out of those five, only two ever got it right.
Hell, they coated better than I do.

Why?
Because they wanted to.

[Orion]

I have always coated with one hand, the screen held by my other hand. With a little practice anyone can do it that way. No matter how it is done always be consistent. After two and a half decades I think I finally got the hang of it.

Coating a 48"x52" Frame

[Gilligan]

That's awesome!

I can do OK these days... I've tuned it and got it down... but I have to move fast (I think that is because of the "flaws" of my scoop coater.

My printer is finally getting some screens coated  (I'm very glad not to have to do them all now).  He's having to go two handed.. he just couldn't put enough pressure behind it one handed.  Guess those young kids just can't keep up with this old man.

I just have to help him understand he can't just take a break while coating.  After wiping off a coater because we had to stop for a second he then just walked off because he was tired of hearing the microwave beep in the other room.  So we had to wipe off the edge again, because the beeping "got annoying". *sigh*

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Gilligan, I've had pretty good luck "fixing" nicks with a sheet of double strength plate glass covered with fine sandpaper. (But a wide coater like that wouldn't work.) Actually, they come out like new on the business edge, as long as you can remove the end caps. Just work it so that the sanding strokes go the long way. I think any flat surface like a surface plate would work.  Make the ham-fisted employee who knicked that sucker fix it and he'll be more careful next time. 

This is good video. It is exactly what I do, except I flip the screens end for end so that I travel in opposite directions with the coater from the screens perspective. Someone suggested that would help with pinholes--better "bridging". But I alwasys coat 2 over 2 and about your speed, finishing on the squeegee side, except I dislike using the rounded edge.  I've never run one quite that wide though!

Thanks for posting!
Stan

[Gilligan]

Oh, no he didn't nick it.  He just let the emulsion sit too long so the thin layer on the edge started to dry up... needing to be wiped before going back to screen.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Ahhh..... Yeah, you said that but I just missed it. I sometimes scratch off dried on emulsion with a Scotch Brite pad if it gets bad enough over time.

(Hey Gilligan, ping me offline about your server deal. I am still struggling with this setup. I might call you if I can't figure it out. Just put in an email addy and/or phone number, and I'll send you my cell #. Windoze Sheesh.....)

[Orion]

This mammoth screen is a 225 S thread that we will use for an all over print. I do coat 110x or lower mesh counts flipping the screens end to end. I also use the sharp edge. The speed of my coating stroke is a little fast which in turn introduces tiny air bubbles into the emulsion in the trough. On a lower mesh those tiny bubbles show up as "starlight pinholes", which requires you to add an additional two strokes on the print side after they are dried, to fill in the valleys of the mesh. An additional step, yes, but well worth the extra stencil thickness it gives you.

[Gilligan]

If that is fast then I'm BLAZING!

BTW, I'm better.. but still terrible.  I'm just as good as I was when I first started. LOL  I had someone how gotten MUCH worse as time went on.  now I'm back at square one.

[screenprintguy]

I have always coated with one hand, the screen held by my other hand. With a little practice anyone can do it that way. No matter how it is done always be consistent. After two and a half decades I think I finally got the hang of it.

That's how I was taught, really fast and clean on 23x31's, BUT, that's a big a z z z z scoop coater on those mamuth screens there though, wow!!! Nicely done!!

[tonypep]

I am sure that many have mastered the one arm method but I just don't believe that evenness and consistency  can compare with two. This what I have. The lower arm is supported hydraulically and can fit a large variety of frame sizes without adjustment.

[ZooCity]

I am sure that many have mastered the one arm method but I just don't believe that evenness and consistency  can compare with two. This what I have. The lower arm is supported hydraulically and can fit a large variety of frame sizes without adjustment.

wholeheartedly agree. 

[Orion]

A correction to my earlier post, it is "starry night pinholes" not "starlight"

Just because you can't coat one handed is no reason to say your two handed method is better.   

[ZooCity]

A correction to my earlier post, it is "starry night pinholes" not "starlight"

Just because you can't coat one handed is no reason to say your two handed method is better.   

Haha!  Yes, there is no way in hell I could do what you did in the video and have a good screen....but I bet my two hander would be a little better and no starry night pinholes.  Not thumping my chest b/c I think the two hand method is wildly superior or anything like that....but one big advantage is control of speed when using wider coaters.  I coat slow, far slower than in that video and I would coat that identical mesh 2/1 thin edge so it may be putting more emulsion down. 

We get those pinnners when there's some backspray issue or the water has some impurities but that's about it.  It's not typically related to coating speed if you slow down. 

I thought about re-learning that way but I would have to train myself and my printer.  It's 6 of one, half doz the other to me really, just so long as everyone in the shop is doing it the exact same way. 

[alan802]

I know I've mentioned this before, but I learned to coat with the two handed method and then switched to the one handed because I feel the opposite of Tony but I can see the reasoning behind it.  I can coat a better screen with the one hand, and my speed is much more consistent because I'm using the bending over and up to control the speed instead of moving my arms.  I just feel that you can more consistently control your speed by using the larger muscles rather than the smaller ones.  I think either method will give you great screens but the person doing the coating will dictate which method will work best.

Tony, I like that coating easel or whatever you want to call it.  If I ever get someone in here that can't do the one handed method or if I realize two hands will absolutely give us a better stencil then I'm going to build something like you've got.