All you Aquasol HV people...

[ScreenPrinter123]

So, just got finished trying to reclaim WR25 with the pro-chem perm-x hardener and it's a pain in the arse.  I'm on my third round of lavishly applying the PrChem HD Hardener Remover and while it's slowly coming off -- it will take 1 or 2 more cycles, totaling 5 applications of it!  We used CCI's strongest hardener for a 3,300 piece job b/c the ProChem HardenX (less strong hardener) wasn't holding up long enough on a previous job.  In the effort to eliminate two emulsions (WR25 and Chromablue), I have some Aquasol HV to do some exposure time testing on, as the WR25 is frustratingly long (and only the Godfather of DC seems to be using WR14 right now).  It seems a lot of you have great success with the Aquasol HV for DC and WB.  So, I'm going to see if we can make this our 1 stop shop emulsion for dc/wb/and plastisol.  Question for you dc and wb guys using aquasol hv:

There are 4 options I see -- assuming you are progressively adding things to harden the emulsion/make it dc/wb resistant -- in using this emulsion:
(1) Aquasol HV as is out of the bucket
(2) Aquasol HV with the Diazo
(3) Aquasol HV with the Diazo and MS Hardener (weaker hardener)
(4) Aquasol HV with the Diazo and A&B Hardener (stronger hardener)

What # above are you guys using for wb/dc? How long of runs are you getting at that tier, both straight wb and discharge?  Someone mentioned to me on this board that they got 900 dc prints on WR25 straight w/o hardener -- definitely not happening over here.  Do you guys get that with the Aquasol HV (I'm guessing with the Diazo added)? 

I'd obviously like to use it as it is in the bucket for the simple fact that it should be the shortest exposure time and no extra hardening steps, but am willing to go up the ladder to just keep things simple and have the emulsion with or without the diazo and know when hardener (and which kind) would be necessary.    Just gotta ultimately cut down on this stinking exposure time knowing that the screen will still hold up.

Thanks guys.

[ol man]

Although im testing other emulsions - image mate  DZ343 no hardner - never had an issue

[IntegrityShirts]

Adding the diazo in my experience isn't worth the extra exposure time it needs. I use HV straight out of the bucket and thenuse MS hardener as needed for wb printing. Takes less time overall compared to diazo and similar durability.

[blue moon]

HV with MS hardener good for low hundreds.
with A+B we got about 500 pieces the other day, was definitely expecting more. Screen reclaimed fine, so maybe we did not put enough hardener on it.

did not try it with Diazo. Let me know how it works out for you!

pierre

[Screened Gear]

(1) Aquasol HV as is out of the bucket

I have done this and have run up to 250 shirts but the emulation was getting moist and could have failed at any time. When I took the tape off it pulled off the emulsion. (I forgot to put hardenX on the screen. I would have never done that job without it.)


Aquasol HV with HardenX (weaker hardener)

I use the CCI harden X and really don't notice a difference in reclaim. I have don up to 500 shirts with hardenX. I am sure it could have gone thousands. I did post expose, then put on the hardenX and let it dry then tape and to the press it goes.

[Admiral]

I thought A+B wasn't supposed to be reclaimable?

Anyway I did 1700 pieces front and back 4 color / 3 color waterbase with no issues, cleaned up the screens for each side once and used again just fine.

This was with SP-1400 emulsion and MS hardener shirt side and inside of the screen.


No post exposure as the sp-1400 is a diazo emulsion.

[ebscreen]

Aquasol straight plus Murakami hardener, 10K+ prints. Granted they were lower mesh
heavier coating screens.

Proper exposure is everything.

[ScreenPrinter123]

Which murakami hardener - ms or a&b?

[ebscreen]

MS

I had to go look.

[screenprintguy]

Aquasol straight plus Murakami hardener, 10K+ prints. Granted they were lower mesh
heavier coating screens.

Proper exposure is everything.

Eb are you talking about plastisol or discharge prints? 10,000 impressions with HVP, we are lucky to get 200 before it starts to break down with discharge printing on the auto, with post exposure and hardner. We returned all the HVP we bought to our supplier and switched over to Xenon Nova to insure no breakdowns on nice sized runs with discharge. I can't see 10,000 prints with discharge with the aquasol, maybe with plastisol.

[JBLUE]

You have to use the Diazo and expose properly. Exposed properly and hardener I have not hit the breakdown point. The key is the first exposure.

[ZooCity]

None of the above.

Aquasol HVP out of the bucket. 

Proper exposure.

Completely dry the screens.

HV blockout on shirt side.  Extra buildup around squeegee areas if run is over 500 pcs.

Post exposure from squeegee side at 2-2.5x original exposure

Hardener MS - blow off with compressed air.

*keep any and all tape off the bottom or shirt side of the screen.  it needs to breathe. 

Also have not hit a breakdown point.  800+ prints at manual speed with breaks is no issue at all.  We have a set of designs that are printed so often we library the screens and those have kicked out lord knows how many prints with an insane amount of color changes and total press time with ink loaded.  They reclaimed fine at end of year when it was time to update.  Also ran very thin stencils with it and far more aggressive TW graphics WB inks, still no breakdown, even on our aggro old Cameo flatstock press with sharper squeegees and it's overkill off contact height.  For me, if a screen can do a 300+ pc run and hold up to the TW it's gonna get through just about anything, that ink is hyper aggressive compared to textile ink. 

It sounds like those having issues are doing very long runs and that means you have a high-production shop.  Key in on the drying time on these screens- don't rush them.  They need to be 100% bone dry after every step from drying the emulsion after coating to drying after exposure.  I keep a big kinetronics anti-static brush in the screen area to knock down the static from getting them that dry if that give you a frame of reference.

[Colin]

Aquasol HV 2/2 coated with sharp side of coater.  Blocked out the regi marks with same emulsion.  Post expose twice as long for the block out. Used Saati Fixer 9 to make it bullet proof (can't reclaim it at all).  Over 3k impressions going over a tank top side seam. 

Loaded the garment side seam up.  Print went up over the straps, onto the platen in between the straps, over the seam at the arm pit and a bit lower.  No problems with screen wear due to the large clump of fabric at the arm pit of the tanks.  Just general wear marks, especially where the squeegee blade would stop.  So we started with a longer stroke and slowly shortened it so the stop marks were minimallised.

We used a thin memory foam as padding with a 55/90/55 squeegee.  We used 150LX mesh.  Standard waterbase from Rutland.  We ran over 10k garments with a new screen each day (3k-4k prints a day).  We printed both sides so 20k+ imprints.  Most prints we got from one screen was just over 5k. 

Still working on finding that magic bullet that will allow us to reclaim the screen after 3k-5k imprints.

Hope this helps!

P.S.  Thanks Brandon for recomending the Aquasol HV!

[ebscreen]

Eb are you talking about plastisol or discharge prints? 10,000 impressions with HVP, we are lucky to get 200 before it starts to break down with discharge printing on the auto, with post exposure and hardner. We returned all the HVP we bought to our supplier and switched over to Xenon Nova to insure no breakdowns on nice sized runs with discharge. I can't see 10,000 prints with discharge with the aquasol, maybe with plastisol.

Discharge homie. Never used hardener on plastisol screens.

200 prints is ridiculously low. Something's wrong. You're one of those I-Image guys right? Hmmmm.......

(I'm kidding, but something is wrong)

[brandon]

Yup, Murakami hardener as well. Aquasol emulsion.

Expose screen. Allow to dry. Touch up any pinhole or whatever with same emulsion. We are starting to abandon reg marks on wb prints.

Post harden. Apply hardener. Tape shirt side. Good to go.

And we do this one if not two days ahead so everything is bone dry and good to go!

You are welcome Colin!