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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: broadway on April 22, 2014, 09:55:29 AM
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I have '13 Diamondback S. I know i can change sq/fld directions. Wondering if i can just change head 1 direction for discharge under base and leave the other heads alone for plastisol?
Peter
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That would be the front/rear option if the menu
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Thanks, just figured it out.
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While many people (including press mfgrs, ink chemists/distributors, consultants and "experts") advise this as a necessary precaution this can actually cause problems. Given the proper chemistry and airflow most times you can leave a screen open for as much as an hour. Flooded WB can quickly skin up. We never do this.
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If you clear 99% of the ink from the stencil with your print stroke there shouldn't be anything left to dry up in the screen. The more ink that is left in the mesh openings the worse your drying-in-the-screen problem will be. Easier said than done I know, the DC inks we've used tend to not shear as cleanly as a good plastisol ink does and there is more residue left in the mesh, therefore your drying issues.
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we stopped doing this too. Especially if you get a booger in your image. Now you have a flooded screen, that you have to contend with. Not the worst thing in the world, you can load a dumby shirt, clear it out, it's just a pain in the tail to have to do it. I like having the image open in case of the lint boogers, blow it out quick with an air line. Like Alan said, if you are going to walk away for a bit, do a print stroke with a little less speed to make sure you really clear it out, and even have a water bottle with a sprayer close, and do a little spray and wipe, "both sides". You should be good. "wipe all the excess water on the shirts side gooooooood!!!!" Hit a couple test prints and you should be back and running.
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Careful with the water on the underside of the screen. Even slightly activated water can get trapped in the screen tape causing the dreaded tape marks that can't be seen until garments exit the dryer.
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Just getting ready to do do my first dc ub job shortly. I will try not changing the fl/sq direction. It should be fine with my mesh choice, small quantiies. Two operators will make things go quick.
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I have not used water based inks since 1984. I am well aware of its pitfalls... Obviously many improvements since then. Back then it was easy for me to go all plastisol for t-shirts.
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I thought this was going to a be a major problem on our Gauntlet, not being able to flood at rest, but it's not. I agree with all here that you're probably better off just clearing the screen and a quick spritz of distilled water and a wipe down. It keeps the ink all piled up, less surface area for water to evaporate out of. It's actually what all HSA manufacturers recommend too.
TW 5500 series flatstock ink is the only stuff in here that really requires that constant flooding but it's far, far more aggressive on dry in than any textile ink, just a whole different animal. The textile WB inks are all very forgiving in my opinion and it's quite dry around here typically.
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While many people (including press mfgrs, ink chemists/distributors, consultants and "experts") advise this as a necessary precaution this can actually cause problems. Given the proper chemistry and airflow most times you can leave a screen open for as much as an hour. Flooded WB can quickly skin up. We never do this.
Totally agree, we just did a 1500 discharge run and the times we kept the screen open we had much better results.
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I'm going to revisit the idea of soft flood vs no flood with discharge on my manual now that I am using mostly S-mesh. With normal mesh and using 160-230 meshes, I had major dry-in issues without doing the soft flood, even with print and clear strokes. No issues with soft flood unless I use lower mesh and take a break, which causes the ink to settle through the screen and the next print is almost always blurry.
Great topic!
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While many people (including press mfgrs, ink chemists/distributors, consultants and "experts") advise this as a necessary precaution this can actually cause problems. Given the proper chemistry and airflow most times you can leave a screen open for as much as an hour. Flooded WB can quickly skin up. We never do this.
OK, so how come if freezes up on us so quickly? Now I know there are a number of factors, but I'm no newbie; it's always been a pain for us. Are there retarders of sorts, besides water, that folks use? Leave open for an hour sounds totally insane to us, because I know it would freeze. Somebody enlighten me... and thanks in advance.
Steve
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Couldn't say without being in your shop but we do it all day every day. Lunch is 45 min.
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Couldn't say without being in your shop but we do it all day every day. Lunch is 45 min.
Oh great, more sh!t to think about...
Steve
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I'd be interested in a thread discussing the nitty gritty details of how people are getting such insane screen open time. If I'm printing matsui through a 230 or 280 with any kind of halftones, and I don't soft flood, it will dry-in in less than 10 minutes. That is mixed with water and printgen. Even with a soft flood I get dryin around 20-30 minutes on detail, and the screen is a mess from the ink settling through due to gravity. An hour is simply not doable. I understand the idea of fully clearing the screen, but in practice even with a clearing stroke, it isnt 100% clear, and that invisible 1 or 2% that didnt fully clear adds up over time causing blockage.
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The better DC inks in which Glycerin and other products are added to the homogenization process are designed to re-wet themselves after 2 or 3 test prints.
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I'd be interested in a thread discussing the nitty gritty details of how people are getting such insane screen open time. If I'm printing matsui through a 230 or 280 with any kind of halftones, and I don't soft flood, it will dry-in in less than 10 minutes. That is mixed with water and printgen. Even with a soft flood I get dryin around 20-30 minutes on detail, and the screen is a mess from the ink settling through due to gravity. An hour is simply not doable. I understand the idea of fully clearing the screen, but in practice even with a clearing stroke, it isnt 100% clear, and that invisible 1 or 2% that didnt fully clear adds up over time causing blockage.
Start one! Splitting these threads can be really tough sometimes.
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Start with looking up "hydroscopic"
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*hygroscopic...
Steve, I've seen no mention of you using an "S" thread mesh?
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We've been using a 140S for the discharges. (Haven't had any fine detail just yet) For the very rare straight waterbase, 99% of them on towels, it's a 110S. Unfortunately, since it's spring, and we all know that means crazy busy, we can't spend as much time as we'd like, too much to get out the door. And, I will be looking up both Hydroscopic and Hygroscopic, because they both sound right, LOL.
Steve