Action's Roller Squeegee/Those of you using a tacky first screen to remove lint

[ScreenPrinter123]

Ok, so on our last job of a decent size run (and it seems to be worse for wb and dc), we were stopping a lot to remove lint "boogers" (seems to be the industry's term) from the bottom side of the screens that block the ink from flowing through the open area, which was very very very frustrating.

So, I have questions for any of you using a roller squeegee in your first screen to help mitigate this:

(1) Is it really better than just using a standard squeegee with light pressure?  How many of you use a regular squeegee with ink in the screen (no image shot out on the screen, of course)?

(2) My major concern: With wb and d/c we have a lot less need to make sure the pallets are as tacky as printing with plastisol.  So, if I'm misting the print side of the screen with adhesive, how does that affect the shirt insofar as it lifting the shirt from the pallet?  I can foresee a situation where shirts get lifted up and then creased and then the print is all screwed up if the pallet isn't tacky enough to keep the shirt down, since the tack on the bottom of the screen will, however minimal, be pulling up on the shirt as the table lowers.

(3) How often (i.e., how many shirts do you go through) are you having to wipe down the roller squeegee screen's print side and re-apply the adhesive?

(4) I presume most of you use the waterbase glue (we use "Textac") -- what ratio of water/glue do you use?  Are you literally spraying it from a misting handle sprayer (a standard water bottle sprayer? - see attached)?

(5) Do you use ink in that screen with roller squeegees or do you do it ink-less?

(6) Any other issues/recommendations/pitfalls you've encountered now that you've had experience with it?

Thanks.

[Frog]

Just a side note that in my 25 years, "Dust Bunnies" has been the standard. Today's "Lint Boogers" is a first timer.

[alan802]

I've always called them boogers but I never heard that from anyone I just started calling them that when I first started.

[alan802]

And I don't use a roller squeegee or whatever it is that's popular right now.  Maybe one day I'll see the benefit and it will be worth the effort but right now I don't really see a need for it for many reasons that are shop specific.  I see how others can benefit though, just not something we need right now. 

[tancehughes]

We actually aren't really seeing any benefit to the roller squeegee either... I've been trying to use it over and over for various applications, but I'm not really seeing much of a benefit if any... Maybe I'm doing something wrong? My whites are pretty flat as it is, so I'm not sure if I even need the thing now

[ScreenPrinter123]

Is anyone using a booger remover screen in their first head???  Do we only have boogers in New Orleans?  Many of you are printing tons more shirts than we are, so you all must have to stop to remove the lint from the open area of the screen or are using a technique to mitigate this issue -- what's your technique?  Pitfalls of it? etc.? 

[Frog]

Hey, I'm sorry that I sidetracked this with my long-eared reference,  but now let's get back on track. 123 is just trying to specifically solve the "lint picking first screen" issue.

The whole general roller squeegee debate can be handled elsewhere, as it has been like crazy in the past.

[bimmridder]

I'm not using one now, but when we did, we just put pallet paper on the print side of the screen and a light mist of adhesive. Threw some base or extender, or even grease in the screen. Soft squeegee, light pressure. Just enough to kiss the garment and pull those boogers off the shirt. (we just call them plugs when they are in the screen). For us, it's not worth the time putting that screen in and out. Even with 16 colors, sometimes we need that head.

[ScreenPrinter123]

Hey, I'm sorry that I sidetracked this with my long-eared reference,  but now let's get back on track. 123 is just trying to specifically solve the "lint picking first screen" issue.

The whole general roller squeegee debate can be handled elsewhere, as it has been like crazy in the past.

I'd like to start the "Ban Frog From TheShirtBoard" bandwagon -- he hijacks threads... Oust him!  Oust him!

[alan802]

We've had some booger issues before but usually a good pop of the shirts and a quick swipe of the hand a few times gets rid of most of the boogs.  The few times I've used a booger picker screen I just used a blank screen with soft hand clear in the screen, regular squeegee with very little pressure and a light misting of spray tack every couple hundred shirts.

[Parker 1]

On large orders 5,000+ we have a person with a larg lint roller role the shirts prior to printing.  Some brands are more prone to this than others.  Also if the order calls for a LC and Full back we run the LC (smaller) print 1st, most of the lint will fall off due to handeling.

[ScreenPrinter123]

We've had some booger issues before but usually a good pop of the shirts and a quick swipe of the hand a few times gets rid of most of the boogs.  The few times I've used a booger picker screen I just used a blank screen with soft hand clear in the screen, regular squeegee with very little pressure and a light misting of spray tack every couple hundred shirts.

Water/tack ratio (estimated if not precisely done, but I know in your shop it must be logged in at the 13th decimal)?  :-)

[alan802]

I used to not put any water in our tack but due to recent issues with my printer putting entirely too much tack on the pallets I've started cutting it about 60% tack/40% water.   We've had some distorted prints, and even a shirt ripped with a big enough hole to put a backetball through (literally the first time a shirt has ripped while trying to take it off the pallet).  I decided since he won't listen and put less adhesive on the pallets that I had to start diluting the stuff so it was less potent.  He was putting so much tack on the pallets that one of our smaller guys and a girl who has helped out from time to time couldn't remove the shirt at all.

[DCSP John]

We are running a roller in head #1 right now. 850 shirts, frt/bck. Watebased tac on the boards, just a light misting of spray tac
on the bottom of the lint screen. makes life a whole lot easier not having to stop the press every coupla dozen shirts.
no lint boogs anywhere except on the bottom of the lint screen.

John

[ScreenPrinter123]

Well, it's ordered.  Will post results when able to - hopefully we'll have some major time saving benefits as some have and not have to worry about adding ink/taping/possible breakthrough of the ink, etc. with the standard squeegee.