Effect of Plastisol on Squeegees

[Maxie]

Does anyone know if plastisol has any effect if left on the squeegee?
We have a set of squeegees that have plastisol on them permanently, white and black we print all the time so we don't clean all the ink off the blades.
Does this have any effect of the rubber?

[blue moon]

I have been told that Yes, it does impact the blades. Something about the plasticizer being absorbed and making them swell.
We are like you though, ink is on them all the time . . .

pierre

[tpitman]

I generally clean mine unless it's a job I can't finish in one session. I notice blade swelling mostly when I use Union's Tru-Tone Process colors. You can see an edge where the ink was on the squeegee as soon as you finish the job and wipe the ink off.

[ScreenFoo]

Seems like it's pretty hard to tell if good squeegee material wears more when it's sitting in ink all the time, it lasts for so long even when it's abused, minus that tru-tone stuff at least....

Do you actually use rubber instead of polyurethane for squeegee material, or is that just a figure of speech?

[tpitman]

My first set of squeegees were triple-durometer, but I didn't really like them so they sat. I used a set of 70 durometer squeegees for about 8 years (in aluminum handles) and just this past year got around to replacing the blades with 70/90/70 material.
The old squeegees sat, and a couple of years ago I dug them out. The blades had deteriorated to the point that they were all gummy. I tossed them. Apparently just sitting around can render them useless, too.

[Maxie]

We use polyurethane.
Fimor in a product data sheet say that "squeegees that come directly off the press and are still soft and swollen from chemicals" cannot be sharpen so I guess that the inks and cleaning materials do affect the squeegee.
I have been using the same squeegees since I bought my machine in 2005 so I guess it's time to change.

[TCT]

Swapping out your squeegees while kind of expensive and not the funnest job, is defenatly worth it. Especially if they haven't been changed since 2005. You should notice a pleasant difference!

[Get Shirts]

Man, you are going to notice a difference when change those blades!

[tpitman]

At the shop in Daytona we had a mix of older and brand new squeegee blades for the auto, and there was an older blade with fairly rounded edges that I typically used on the black screen in the last position. I was having a hell of a time getting a decent laydown of ink, and I finally grabbed one of the new ones and voila! Problems all gone. I know on my manual the newer, stiffer blades are so much nicer to print with. Using a push stroke the old 70 durometer blades had a tendency to fold over if too much pressure was applied.
The blades aren't cheap, but well worth the money for the ease of printing and the quality of the print.

[mk162]

I had a local shop that i am friendly with come over and sharpen his blades on our sharpener, he said they hadn't been sharpened in 15 years.  I was thinking, hmm, might be better to replace them at this point, but man those must be some good blades to last that long.