Before you dip?

[mnalcl]

Does anyone put their screens in the dip tank BEFORE removing the tape? We always have stripped the tape first. Yesterday one of our new employees must of not understood the instructions correctly and put the screens in the tank WITH the tape on. It actually turned out to be a "idea" moment. With soking the screens first, the tape pretty much fell off, or took little to no effort to remove.

Does anyone else dip first?

I know it will add to the "muck" at the bottom of the tank for when the solution needs to be changed. But does anyone think this would/will cause any other issues?

[inkbrigade]

The people at franmar told me any extra chemicals in the tank could have a negative effect on the dip tank solution.
This means adhesive from tape as well.
You had a good idea, and if it works for you great! The tape that we use comes off really easy so it's not much of an issue anyways.

Also there's a lot of ink left on the tape when we take it off the screen.
if that ink is put into the dip tank it just burns up the solution that much faster.

[sweetts]

Yep works good no known negative effects as yet

Sent  from samsung gem(the worst smart phone ever)

[mnalcl]

The people at franmar told me any extra chemicals in the tank could have a negative effect on the dip tank solution.
This means adhesive from tape as well.
You had a good idea, and if it works for you great! The tape that we use comes off really easy so it's not much of an issue anyways.

Also there's a lot of ink left on the tape when we take it off the screen.
if that ink is put into the dip tank it just burns up the solution that much faster.

I kinda thought the same thing about the tape eventually making the solution weaker or something to that effect. But I just called the rep for the chemicals we use and he said the tape should have no effect... I still find that hard to believe though.

[inkman996]

The people at franmar told me any extra chemicals in the tank could have a negative effect on the dip tank solution.
This means adhesive from tape as well.
You had a good idea, and if it works for you great! The tape that we use comes off really easy so it's not much of an issue anyways.

Also there's a lot of ink left on the tape when we take it off the screen.
if that ink is put into the dip tank it just burns up the solution that much faster.

I kinda thought the same thing about the tape eventually making the solution weaker or something to that effect. But I just called the rep for the chemicals we use and he said the tape should have no effect... I still find that hard to believe though.

Makes you wonder if that is exactly what they would want customers believe, more chemical sales is their ultimate goal.

[ZooCity]

We do like inkbrigade here and pull tape before dipping.  On a manual, pull the tape off right there on press. 

I've also 86'd the Franmar One Step as all it does (for us, I know others somehow get this to work) is strip emulsion and we use Green Again ink degrader before the tank anyhow so I don't want any ink going into the tank, even residual ink  on the tape. 

Rubber based adhesive on tape doesn't sound like a major issue for your tank chem's but I guess it could be.

[Inkworks]

I've kinda gone 180 on getting a dip tank, if they don't reliably remove ink and emulsion, then I don't see enough benefit compared to cost. Removing ink first basically means all you save is the time to brush or spray on emulsion remover. Couple that with the gunk it can cake into locking strip channels and at this point it doesn't look that attractive. Maybe if we were running more screens every day... but even then, the big draw for me was combining inkwash and emulsion removal into one easy step.

[sweetts]

We use easyway it works great just scoop ink off screen and in the tank it goes. I run squeegee up screen to remove ink and done. I would think If you leave a bunch of ink on the screen its money wasted. It is way faster in my opinion to dip but mind you I only clean about 10 screens a week I have not seen any locking strip issues and its been 9 months with roller frames.
Sent  from samsung gem(the worst smart phone ever)

[ZooCity]

Well, I don't see the all in ones working on my end, I could try another brand I guess but these chemicals, whatever is in ink remover and then sodium periodate, don't seem to get along in my opinion and are not effective in combination.  Maybe the rest of you are just blasting them a lot longer and mechanically removing the ink?  Anyways....

Big draw for me using a tank is having somewhere to put screens while the stripper does it's thing.  Our chem died last week and I did a rack of screens to help out my printer using the emulsion stripper we keep in a pour bottle for big screens that don't fit in the tank and it was a pain in the butt compared to just tossing them into a tank full of the stripper. 

Instead of:  Ink remover, quick scrub, press wash, dunk, press wash, dehaze

It was:  Ink remover - quick scrub - press wash - stripper - quick scrub - back on rack - pull - press wash - dehaze

Made a mess and I felt like I was actually wasting way more chem than the loss you get from the tank as well as missing spots on the corners trying to spread the stripper around before it ran down the screen and down the drain, and it felt like a much bigger pain than without the tank.  I used to have the opposite opinion on all of this. 

I now use tanks for emulsion stripper and plain water for resolving screens. 

[Frog]

I've kinda gone 180 on getting a dip tank, if they don't reliably remove ink and emulsion, then I don't see enough benefit compared to cost. Removing ink first basically means all you save is the time to brush or spray on emulsion remover. Couple that with the gunk it can cake into locking strip channels and at this point it doesn't look that attractive. Maybe if we were running more screens every day... but even then, the big draw for me was combining inkwash and emulsion removal into one easy step.

What about two tanks?

Anyone here have one with ink degradent, to first dip,soak, rinse, then into a tank with emulsion remover?

[ZooCity]

I've kinda gone 180 on getting a dip tank, if they don't reliably remove ink and emulsion, then I don't see enough benefit compared to cost. Removing ink first basically means all you save is the time to brush or spray on emulsion remover. Couple that with the gunk it can cake into locking strip channels and at this point it doesn't look that attractive. Maybe if we were running more screens every day... but even then, the big draw for me was combining inkwash and emulsion removal into one easy step.

What about two tanks?

Anyone here have one with ink degradent, to first dip,soak, rinse, then into a tank with emulsion remover?

Thinking about it.  Our Franmar stuff is kinda oily and viscous so it's not a big pain to scrub it on there real quick.  I think it helps keep staining minimal to scrub your ink degrader in, even if just for a moment. 

[ebscreen]

What about two tanks?

Anyone here have one with ink degradent, to first dip,soak, rinse, then into a tank with emulsion remover?

Have totally thought about it before but didn't get anywhere. Just got a nice stainless tank that was
supposed to be for post exposure dip, but now it may become ink degradent.

Only issue I see is cost. At $20 a gallon, I'm close to $500 to fill 'er up.

[Inkworks]

What about two tanks?

Anyone here have one with ink degradent, to first dip,soak, rinse, then into a tank with emulsion remover?

Again, by my math all that does is change how the chemicals are applied. Dipped vs. sprayed/brushed. Add in the cost of filling up the tanks with many gallons of chemicals, and the cost of tanks themselves. I also suspect dipping uses substantially more chemical per screen. Enough to offset any time savings. Currently we apply chemicals with a brush and stack the screens, clamshelled, on our small screen drying cabinet that has a laminate countertop which doubles as a tensioning table. The stack sits 5-minutes or so and get blasted out. I can see saving 20-30seconds /screen by just putting them in the tank, but it doesn't save any steps, just slightly shortens one of them.

ps: We card all excess ink off the screens when they come off the press.

[ZooCity]

I would probably run a dunk tank for ink degradent if it had a recirc/filter on the side to keep all that chem from getting worn out too quickly. 

Yeah, the chem would need to be affordable and it would need to to a good job with wb and with plastisol to make a ton of sense.

I thought dip tanks would waste more solution too but I find they waste less if the chem is watery, it just drains off.  More viscous cleaners I have us hand apply. 

Ink works, I used to have a big ass stainless bakers three sink with huge pans on either side that I used to stack screens.  One side for ink one for stripper.  I did like you do and put the screens back to back to share the chem and soak in it or soaked them in the pan.  I felt like it was probably the least amount of chem you could possibly use to do the job.  It was great but became a no-no with high-tension or delicate mesh roller frames. 

I still think a screen washer, like a hobart, that doesn't cost an arm and a leg is about due for this industry.

[Inkworks]

  I did like you do and put the screens back to back to share the chem and soak in it or soaked them in the pan.  I felt like it was probably the least amount of chem you could possibly use to do the job.  It was great but became a no-no with high-tension or delicate mesh roller frames. 

Another advantage of the Hix Retens, they stack nicely.....