Making "permanent" screens to library

[ZooCity]

I'm considering purchasing a set of frames for an oft-repeated retail line we print.  The line gets printed with a mix of wb/dc and plasti, 4 front chest details, up to 6 direct printed private label details, around a dozen screens in total if small images are ganged.  Resolving all those screens for each order seems redundant at this point. 

We never library screens here so I'm in the dark on this one.  Does anyone have recommendations for appropriate emulsion(s) and post exposure treatments for a bulletproof, permanent stencil that can weather 1000s of print, setups and color changes while taking the beating of waterbase and discharge? 

I think, for the plasti screens, I would need a more flexible emulsion (the Aquasol HVP that we use for everything can tend to crack on thicker stencils) that can still build a higher eom and can be permanently hardened...which might make it brittle again?  See, I really have no clue here.  Our long run screens hold up fine but this is terra incognita, thanks in advance.

[blue moon]

we catalog a handful of plastisol screens with Aquasol and don't have many issues with them. We do reclaim when they get beat up, but overall they do OK. These are smaller runs though, 24 to 150 at a time.
Spot colors work fine, halftones swell and close up (at least in our case). We do not catalog any sim process work as we are unable to get the prints to be exactly the same which is a requirement for our repeat orders.

'no clue on DC. We are in similar position right now with about a dozen DC screens that will have to be catalogued and I was thinking about using our beat up screens and converting them to permanent. Since they are one color DC, they don't have to be very tight. . .

pierre

[ZooCity]

Maybe I'll try Aquasol + permanent hardener and see what happens first, don't want to break my "one emulsion to rule them all" setup. 

I know for a fact the plastisol screens will crack at some point at the EOM we coat them + the gauntlet putting incessant sq pressure on them, but maybe a sq side face coat will help and plasti screens can be bottom taped in any case.

This is all spots, easy stuff so yeah, would prefer statics but also would prefer to keep using our pin lock on these for setup, this is where a tri-lock excels.

Have you tried using a press wash like franmar's color change on your sim pro screens instead of putting them in the booth?  It would take more time to tear down but it's super gentle, might not cause the swelling issues though you do need to "rinse" it with a damp rag.  Just hit it immediately with a dry rag or compressed air.    Or is the swelling just from the ink?

[blue moon]

Maybe I'll try Aquasol + permanent hardener and see what happens first, don't want to break my "one emulsion to rule them all" setup. 

I know for a fact the plastisol screens will crack at some point at the EOM we coat them + the gauntlet putting incessant sq pressure on them, but maybe a sq side face coat will help and plasti screens can be bottom taped in any case.

This is all spots, easy stuff so yeah, would prefer statics but also would prefer to keep using our pin lock on these for setup, this is where a tri-lock excels.

Have you tried using a press wash like franmar's color change on your sim pro screens instead of putting them in the booth?  It would take more time to tear down but it's super gentle, might not cause the swelling issues though you do need to "rinse" it with a damp rag.  Just hit it immediately with a dry rag or compressed air.    Or is the swelling just from the ink?

the swelling is from the ink and I've noticed it when screens are left with the ink in them for a while. We should try washing the screens at some point to see if that would make them work long term. . .

pierre

[GaryG]

Emulsion creep is usually caused by press wash that loosens up/slightly rewets
the emulsion (mainly one pots due to being softer) and drags it into image area,
rehardening and blocking said image area.

More expensive higher-end Dual emulsions are harder and better at not creeping with press wash.

Haven't seen screens with halftones that were put away for months swell.
We don't wash and just let sit to prevent creeping.