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screen printing => Screen Making => Topic started by: Screened Gear on August 05, 2011, 08:00:41 PM
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I need to free up some time and frustration. I want to bring in a guy to reclaim screens and so a few other odd jobs around here. I have heard people just having a guy come in one day a week and clean screens. Some shops pay by the screen others by hour. I am really interested in knowing you do to get your screens cleaned?
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We usually have someone come in twice a week. We pay by the hour but have an expectation of how many screens per hour need to be cleaned. Also since i coat i can tell if they did a shitty job or not.
Our guy is in about 10 hrs a week. I let him set his own times to be in, just has to be certain days. Doesn't matter to me what time he comes in as long as i have clean screens the following day.
Days where we don't have enough screens for him (which isn't often) i have a number of other cleaning projects that always need to be done. Odds and ends. I'll take notes during the week of stuff i need done but don't want or have the time to do. This way he has a list when he comes in.
Works good for us.
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Your screens are your life.
I do my own.
:o
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We usually have someone come in twice a week. We pay by the hour but have an expectation of how many screens per hour need to be cleaned. Also since i coat i can tell if they did a shitty job or not.
How many screens an hour is acceptable? Do you have them just reclaim them then you degreese them and coat them?
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I have a guy that does it.. I use franmar stuff.. so a 3 step process. The way I am set up in the sink area we do 6 at a time..I can do 6 in 45 miinutes..I give him 1 hour..I want him to do a good job.. I coat the screens so if something doesn't look right I let him know and we adjust.
I did tell him that every 6 screens is an hour. I pay him by the hour, but if he wants a break(really a break for only working 2 hours) he can have it ...if it takes him an hour and 10 minutes for 6 then he only gets paid for the hour.
I feel like I do a better job, but I can't stand to do it.
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:-* I have a little fairies with tiny wings that come in and do it when I am not here. I am not sure how they get in but I have seen them once in a while so I know they are real.
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I reclaim my our screens. Toss them in the dip tank with the Franmar one step for about 10min, rinse, dehaze, rinse, degrease, rinse, dry and they are done. I am tired now just talking about it. I think I will go take a nap.
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:-* I have a little fairies with tiny wings that come in and do it when I am not here. I am not sure how they get in but I have seen them once in a while so I know they are real.
was this taken at your shop??
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I stretch 'em, coat 'em, shoot 'em, reclaim 'em and bust 'em.
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:-* I have a little fairies with tiny wings that come in and do it when I am not here. I am not sure how they get in but I have seen them once in a while so I know they are real.
was this taken at your shop??
I think we can rule out "little" and "tiny wings" all in one felt swoop, lolololol.
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I recently hired as part timer. Two nights a week he cleans my screens. I now have him learning to coat my screens. Best money I ever spent. Ideally he will be reclaiming, coating and exposing screens. I will see where I go from there.
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Who reclaims your screens???.............................some guy from my bank.
mooseman
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:-* I have a little fairies with tiny wings that come in and do it when I am not here. I am not sure how they get in but I have seen them once in a while so I know they are real.
was this taken at your shop??
That was not at my shop but hey if he/it can reclaim well?
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I did tell him that every 6 screens is an hour.
6 screens an hour? That seems way too slow. I know we all clean out screens a little different so it would take longer for some peoples process. I know I clean about 20 to 25 (20X24 manual) screens in an hour. I have not timed me cleaning auto screens. I know it is slower but not that much. I would guess I do 12 to 20 an hour. I don't use a dip tank. I know people that do can soak 6 at a time. they have to be able to do 3 sets of them in an hour??? Am I wrong.
This is my process...
On the press.
remove all ink (The auto screens get taken to the Manual for deINKing)
Then squeegee out all the remaining ink so there is just a fine film on the screen.
remove the tape
After this they sit until reclaimed.
Reclaiming (this is the timed steps)
use GR70 from CCI to remove the remaining ink in the washout booth (Spray on, wipe with scrub brush, let sit, pressure wash off.
Use ER-35 to remove the emulsion (Spray on wipe with scrub brush, let sit, pressure wash off.)
go back at it with some GR-70 to remove any ink stains (this stuff works great the screen looks new after using it)
then I set them aside until I have all the screens to that point.
degrease and put them in the drying cabinet until they are dry and ready to be coated.
Am I missing something
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We do 6 at a time...its 3 steps..after each step we stack them back to back for a little soak while we are doing the other one's.. When we rinse off each step on each screen we start with the back and go back and forth on the way down and then on the way up..then we flip to the front and do the same..so doing that for 2-3 steps takes time I guess, but the screens come out awesome! If the person reclaimer does not take the time to do it this way and just sprays all around when I go to coat they look like crap.
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Full time human, 40 hours. I was a screen guy for 18 years (and the only one who kept up on everything else, including going digital and training the art dept. in it) and we've had full time screen makers for most of 20 years here. There are 4 of us who can do it from beginning to end.
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I've had from two to eight full time Screen Techs. Cross trained and rotate duties.
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Either Moises, Paco, or Gordo wash my screens. I despise washing screens.
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You have a guy working for you named Gordo?
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I had a Reeto and a Swa and then there was Goose.........don't get me going on him.
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You have a guy working for you named Gordo?
That's awesome Chris, you have Gordon Keith cleaning screens for you. I bet he's fun to work with.
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You have a guy working for you named Gordo?
Gordo is "Texican" for fatboy.
If Gordon Keith was working here, I doubt much work would be getting done.
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You have a guy working for you named Gordo?
Gordo is "Texican" for fatboy.
If Gordon Keith was working here, I doubt much work would be getting done.
When I first started listening to the ticket, he was my least favorite, now it's the opposite. Do you know who is printing their "drop gear"?
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Gordon's my favorite too.
An ad agency has their stuff printed. Probably at silver wing or impress designs. I had a beer or two with the lady that handles their account and tried to work my way into that gig, but didn't happen. Suprisingly the design work on their event shirts is pretty bad. Printing is good, but the art sucks. The last two events I have been to they only had one or two cases of shirts. I never see the standard ticket logo shirts anymore..I think money is a little tight at cumulus.
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We have one screen person 40 hours a week. That person is responsible for everything from coating to reclaiming and also during certain production runs, they are the ink watchers (keep the dirty hands on the dirty jobs) - making sure each print head has what it needs on longer runs. In the screen room they stretch, coat, burn, washout, dip, reclaim, degrease, and retension every screen. The press operator also QC's the exposed screens against the art to make sure the screen person has it down. We keep on top of the screens all day long, reclaim them immediately so they're free and dry to coat for the next design and we never have a build up of dirty stuff or screens that can't be used.
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We usually have someone come in twice a week. We pay by the hour but have an expectation of how many screens per hour need to be cleaned. Also since i coat i can tell if they did a shitty job or not.
How many screens an hour is acceptable? Do you have them just reclaim them then you degreese them and coat them?
The reclaim person does the degrease as well. Then they get put in the screen room to dry and then i coat them. If a screen isn't washed out or has chemical on it, it get's kicked back to the reclaim dept.
That usually only has to happen a few times and then they stop freaking it up ;)
I don't have a screens per hour goal. Clean screens are really important. So i don't mind if someone new is slow and through. They will speed up over time. The most important part is the screens look good and don't have to get kicked back to them.
If the person takes a bit longer than they are suppose to.. it's only a few extra bucks in pay.. like i said clean screens are worth it to me.
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We have one screen person 40 hours a week. That person is responsible for everything from coating to reclaiming and also during certain production runs, they are the ink watchers (keep the dirty hands on the dirty jobs) - making sure each print head has what it needs on longer runs. In the screen room they stretch, coat, burn, washout, dip, reclaim, degrease, and retension every screen. The press operator also QC's the exposed screens against the art to make sure the screen person has it down. We keep on top of the screens all day long, reclaim them immediately so they're free and dry to coat for the next design and we never have a build up of dirty stuff or screens that can't be used.
I love the dirty hands on dirty jobs idea! We usually keep screens until a day after a job is delivered. The reason is it seems like whenever we drop stuff in the dip tank we get a call with a sob story how they forgot 1 kid on the team or something. We're suckers for kids so we end up doing it. This way if they call with in 24-48 hours of getting their order we at least we still have the screen. Kinda eats up your screen inventory but meh.. whatcha gonna do?
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ink, I know how you feel. We try and work with our customers as best as possible.
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I the man....
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I have a High School kid comes in 3 days a week after school. If they are trained properly about 12 -14 an hour no prob. We do 6 at a time stack back to back so they do not dry, blast off then we use orange oil the make sure all ink is out blast again and then degrease and hose off.
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I have a dirty sink (ink/emulsion removal) and a clean sink (exposure washout/degreasing).
I like having one person do the ink/emulsion and another do the degreasing. Adds a second
pair of eyes and a layer of accountability.
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I have a High School kid comes in 3 days a week after school. If they are trained properly about 12 -14 an hour no prob. We do 6 at a time stack back to back so they do not dry, blast off then we use orange oil the make sure all ink is out blast again and then degrease and hose off.
How did you hire the HS kid? What do you pay them? I'd like to use younger help.. but it seems like kids don't like to work anymore.
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His Sister used to do them but she has gone to University now so she handed the job to her younger brother. I know the family and I pay $15.00 per hour.
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His Sister used to do them but she has gone to University now so she handed the job to her younger brother. I know the family and I pay $15.00 per hour.
Wow! That's pretty good pay for a high schooler! I guess if they do a good job though, it's worth it.
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You must remember that this is Australia and that is the Union rate for that job. They would shut me down if I paid less.
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Hmm,
I think I just started training another new kid, and he's about done before he even got started though..
Oh well.
I've trained a few 'kids' now.. a couple took pride in their work.
That was cool.
Things to ponder:
- Bad screens suck.
- It's step one in the whole f*cking process.
- Respect it, or it will f*ck you up.