Roller Squeegees - Please chime in.

[tonypep]

Assuming proper platen deflection or lack thereove.............foil

[JBLUE]

My main concern would be the dot gain caused by the hydrolic action of the ink being forced through the mesh as it rolls. I would also like to see if there is any texturing caused by ink as the roller passes since it is not going to shear the ink in the same manner as a sharp edged object that does not rotate.

[alan802]

I've learned over the years to never doubt a printing method or new tool to print with but I don't think this blade is going to work for plastisol on t-shirts.  I don't understand the ink deposit methods and dynamics like some of the gurus do, like Joe Clarke, so I could be way wrong about it.

[californiadreamin]

I still have one that we used on our MHM's five years ago.
Hundreds of these were floating around So Cal when inline foiling was popular.
They do work, kind of, but still rely on an operator who thinks more than most!
As far as printing with "round bars", they are used today, all over the world, on
magnetic tables, or fully automated belt type printers that cost a quarter of a milion
and up,up,up! Cool to watch! I first saw one at the ISS tampa show in 1982, a guy
named Brenton Bruns of Bruns Sportswear was building his own line of presses call
the "excaleber". He was one smart dude! He was the "king of four color process" on
nylon jackets using these round bars. I don't know what happened to him. He did beautifull
work.
winston

[Printficient]

Eric,
I thought our conversation on this was on the down low .  You know where I stand.  As some have said it would take thinking "out of the box" but that is where all good advancements come from.

[Frog]

Hey, I want to get on Eric for posting this first thing on Saturday motning, teasing us, asking for ideas, and then bailing out for the weekend, hanging out at a beach or by a lake while we do a bunch of r&d for him!

One of these days I'm gonna need something buddy and it will be time to pay this piper!

[ScreenFoo]

Actually this reminds me of a Venture Bros. episode where Dr. Venture makes a 'Walking Eye" and then asks his kids and bodyguard what it would be good for--and starts taking notes.   

[Frog]

Hey, when I get called by opinion polls, I read them my rates!

You know the old bumper sticker :" Cash, gas, grass, or ass...Nobody rides for free!"

[patfinn]

as for the lint screen idea.. I was thinking on the lines of the actual rollers on the squeegee would be lint rollers like you get at a store, that would chop down like a squeegee and run across the shirt. eliminating the SCREEN from it all, and you would probably have less issues with shirts coming up etc. just an idea cause i thought of making one myself.

[Action1]

Hey, I want to get on Eric for posting this first thing on Saturday motning, teasing us, asking for ideas, and then bailing out for the weekend, hanging out at a beach or by a lake while we do a bunch of r&d for him!

One of these days I'm gonna need something buddy and it will be time to pay this piper!

I appreciate your curiosity Frog. I assure you that I was not lounging around bemused by the whirlwind of activity on this thread. Well maybe I was slightly bemused, but I wasn't lounging around. I have some attention required here for the next few hours + and will follow up as soon as I can.

Thank you everyone for the interest. It's obvious that this concept has numerous applications. I think we are only scratching the surface for now.

Action Engineering
Product Development Team

[Action1]

Gentlemen:

Thank you sincerely for taking the time over the weekend to offer your creative application ideas. I'm sorry that I was away from my desk from Saturday morning till Monday morning and therefore unable to participate in the very lively discussion and brainstorming that I see.

Here’s a summary of all of the brainstorming that was done


Patfinn – a Lint Roller
Frog and Blue Moon – Lint Pickup screen- Eliminating the need to keep the screen lubricated
Mr. Tees – Using the roller squeegee after the flash to matt the print down reduce fibrillation
Mr. Tees – embossed rollers  for specialty effects
Screen Foo – embossing possibilities
JBlue – embossing Possibilities
Brandon – Matting the ink down after the flash
Screened Gear – for use as a regular printing squeegee to as seen on belt printers – limited to non-high end
Parker1 – De-Linting  Screen on Large Orders
Mooseman – best use for post process treatment like flattening and or foil
Tonypep – Foil
Californiadreamin – Foil and others


Our first development of roller squeegees was around the time that  Winston mentioned foil printing in Cali. In-Line  Foil printing was actually quite popular in many of the larger shops. The roller squeegee acted in a capacity to flatten the foil and eliminate the air bubbles under the foil. We also employed a special pallet surface which was foil friendly.

Over the years, we have heard of many of the roller squeegees being used for things as you have mentioned here.  Each of these possible uses are exciting and we’ll talk about each one.

Lint Pickup Screen – Linty t-shirts are everyone’s challenge. When the guy at the end of  your 30 foot dryer tells you that you have a big piece of lint on the blue screen – you’re not happy. There are  20 shirts on the belt and you have to stop the machine and walk halfway around the machine and very carefully reach in and surgically remove the lint. Time impact – at least 3-4 minutes and you’ve got 25 imperfect shirts to stuff into the bottom of the order when you ship them. No one likes lint in the screen. De-Linting screens operate as the first station on your machine. They are very lightly sprayed with tac  on the outside or can be coated with a lightly aggressive double sided tape. The surface possibilities are man. The use of the roller squeegee inside the screen will push the lightly tacky mesh in contact with the shirt and pick up any loose lint on the shirt.

Using the roller squeegee after the flash to Matt down the print – Using the roller squeegee in this capacity has many benefits, we typically print our under base and then flash it. Often – we are challenged with fibers sticking up though the under base and causing a generally undesirable effect to the remaining print quality.

Putting the roller squeegee and a high mesh count frame into the station following the flash will act to push the fibers down into the warm sticky print. The use of the heat press type Teflon paper on the mesh can also be helpful and enhance the print quality and even add some sheen. Using the rollers squeegee coupled with a high mesh count possibly coated with Teflon will produce a hand quality that is incredibly soft. It could also  be used in a way where the last processes done are a flash followed by a roller squeegee and screen followed by cool down followed by unload. Adding the roller squeegee as your last process will add the benefit of increased smoothness. This does not apply to every job. Some prints that incorporate heavy ink lay may be degraded using this method.

Using the roller squeegee as an embossing effect – this is certainly interesting but quite tricky to accommodate many different patterns. We will continue to explore this idea further.


For now – I think that we have two  very useful applications for The Roller Squeegee in day to day printing.
Use #1 – as a delinting tool coupled with a delinting screen.
Use #2 – to flatten out recently flashed under base as last process before unloading to accomplish an improved hand.


I welcome your additional thoughts on the subjects. Eagerly awaiting your additional input. Thank you sincerely everyone for taking the time to offer advice and critique our development efforts.


Action Engineering
Product Development Team

[ebscreen]

Make the roller interchangeable and you've got all of the above, plus a tac applicator.
Hell, you could use painters rollers.

[blue moon]

and for embossing, you could potentially use emulsion to create the pattern and just run the roller dry. . .

pierre

[jvieira]

Using the roller squeegee after the flash to Matt down the print – Using the roller squeegee in this capacity has many benefits, we typically print our under base and then flash it. Often – we are challenged with fibers sticking up though the under base and causing a generally undesirable effect to the remaining print quality.

Putting the roller squeegee and a high mesh count frame into the station following the flash will act to push the fibers down into the warm sticky print. The use of the heat press type Teflon paper on the mesh can also be helpful and enhance the print quality and even add some sheen. Using the rollers squeegee coupled with a high mesh count possibly coated with Teflon will produce a hand quality that is incredibly soft. It could also  be used in a way where the last processes done are a flash followed by a roller squeegee and screen followed by cool down followed by unload. Adding the roller squeegee as your last process will add the benefit of increased smoothness. This does not apply to every job. Some prints that incorporate heavy ink lay may be degraded using this method.

As the proud owner of a brand new roller, I'm looking to improve how we're using it. We still haven't had a job where we can see its full potential but so far I'm enjoying using it. I believe it'll be extremely useful in the winter with fleeces, we always had problem with those and had to resort to the heat press on more than a few occasions. Tomorrow morning we're doing a small print on hoodies and I think it'll be the best time to use it and see how it will improve our job.

How is everyone using the teflon? Do you warm the screen (with the teflon) before putting it on the press? I read that on a different thread (can't find it now) or are there any tips and tricks to using it?

Another question I have from what I read here. Why use a high mesh count? There's no ink or anything going through the screen, why does it make a difference?