Water Based Platen Adhesive Removal... 11/28

[DCSP John]

Hi Everyone..

We have some platens with Water Based tack on them, with no platen paper underneath.
What are you using to cut thru this tack? Need to bring these platens back to good form..

Thanks in advance.

John

[Frog]

Well, like most, I use tape underneath, so rarely have the need, but have found that my Press Wash, CCI CG-2 works well to cut it.

[jsheridan]

Do you know what brand of tack by chance?
Some waterbased tacks don't wash up with water and will require either screen wash to mineral spirits.

You can try and soak the platten overnight in a cookie sheet with some water, if that don't work, you'll have to try chemicals.

Once clean, get some platten paper!

[Screened Gear]

I don't like to redo my pallet paper often. It takes me too much time and frustration. Ok, I am lazy.  I only change it maybe once ever 3 months. The last time I just didn't want to mess with it so I soaked the glue and lint with some press wash. (CCI 305, I use CCI top bond glue) I soaked the crap out of it then did the next board. By the time the first one came back around it was soft and easy to scrap off. I was amazed. It took less than 10 mins to do all 12 boards.

See video. (thats my helper in the video. I don't have girl arms.)

Removing glue and lint from pallet.

[Gilligan]

What ever Mr. Girly Arms!

Pretty awesome.

[DCSP John]

Thanks for the advice.

They are 10 sleeve platens.. we've never had good luck keeping platen
tape on sleeve boards. We use a fair amount of water based tack when printing long sleeves.
but my guys always yank tape off a few boards. So, no paper..only spray tack to boards for the sleeve platens.

Funny thing is..these same platens were used to print  fleece sleeves  last week.., and web tack was sprayed over the water based tack.
A real headache..

One of my guys spent the better part of 2 hours cleaning the boards.. with press wash, Goof Off, scrubby pads, and a final bath of hot water and
degreaser... the worst job by far..but the bottom aluminum sure looks show room clean.

So..to answer my own question...there is no easy way to remove old/used water based adhesive (TECH BOND / CCI) Even when cut with water, it is
the most aggressive son of a bitch.  Keep those platens clean, boys..


John

[cbjamel]

Take spray bottle of paint thinner. apply liberally and take a scrub brush and scrub aggressively and do a final clean at end with a little paint thinner applied to cloth.
Hope this helps.
Shane

[Screened Gear]

I think the season my glue and lint came off so easy has to do with the type of paper that is on the boards. It is thick and almost has a wax paper feel to it. Not sure the brand I got it from a local guy.

[Binkspot]

I have used WD 40, spray it on let it soak in for a few min then we take a dull puffy knife to scrape the heavy stuff off. Any thing left will come off with a scouring pad a little more WD and some elbow grease.

[Gilligan]

WD-40 is amazing.

In my younger days I drew all over myself with a Magnum 44 marker on stage.  Of course when I got home I realized what a mistake I had made.  That stuff doesn't come off!  Then I thought about it and told the girl that I took home "spray me down with WD 40!"  BOOM, came right off... and I either cured cancer or got cancer in the process... no telling what else that stuff can do.

[Chadwick]

It really does come down to keeping your platens clean.
Always. After every job, and often during the long ones.

Stay on top of it, and it's effortless.
Let it slide and it can be a boatload of grief.
.02

Soaking the gunk on the top of your filthy platens with hot water ( on press, don't submerge them or something )
and letting it sit for awhile ( perhaps repeat ) should do the trick.

If you were using spray tack, use solvent.

If you've got both on there...start with whatever was applied first 

Be careful when/if you scrape, cause you want that platen to be smooth and level, not gouged up.
.025

Vinyl graphic pre-mask comes in a big roll, the cheap mostly opaque paper stuff they use.
Works great if you lay it on before adding adhesive.
* if you've got rubber coated platens ignore everything I said here
Cheers.

[Mr Tees!!]

...heres what I came up with for this god-awful task:

...spray the board down with some sort of mild solvent, I use Bean-e-doo for this and it works well. Lay a paper towel or two over the top, and spray that down too, give it a good soaking. Then, take another platen and lay it, face down, on top of the first board, leaving the soaked paper towels sandwiched between the two. Pair up all your boards this way and let it sit overnight. The next say, separate then all and remove the paper towels. The sticky crap then should scrape right off witha plastic ink scraper.

NOTE: If your boards are rubber-coated, you will notice the rubber has swelled a bit and may have even left a pattern from the paper towel in the rubber. YEAH, this scared the living daylights outta me too when it happened. Its fine, just flash em dry and let em sit a while if you can. Cover em with tape and start printing, the pattern will disappear and regain its smooth, flat surface.

...this works for the stubborn adhesive left by uncooperative pallet-tape residue as well.

...keep those boards covered and replace more often! I do mine once a month at least, even if its not necessarily needed. Hope this helps, good luck!!