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screen printing => Equipment => DIY - From master engineered marvels to cobbled together jury-rigged or Jerry-built junk! => Topic started by: screenxpress on June 01, 2015, 11:49:16 PM

Title: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: screenxpress on June 01, 2015, 11:49:16 PM
I been seeing the posts with them fancy, automated, screen coaters and I've been thinking about this design for quite some time. 

The only thing missing is some Dueling Banjos playing in the background and some chickens running around. 

99% wood so should be a target for a Mooseberg rating, even if only 1 Moose Head.

And yes, I know the coating wasn't straight.  But to be honest, it was the very first screen on the device. I did 3 more after that.

I might just remake it in aluminum tubing so it won't be so flimsy.

Link to Video ----->

http://s129.photobucket.com/user/screenxpress/media/MySreenCoatingRig_zpssyyimyeo.mp4.html?o=0 (http://s129.photobucket.com/user/screenxpress/media/MySreenCoatingRig_zpssyyimyeo.mp4.html?o=0)

Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: 3Deep on June 02, 2015, 12:24:32 AM
Well I'll be dam if that ain't F'ing cool, I might have to ask you for some instruction's on how to build one of those...not bad at all

darryl
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: Dottonedan on June 02, 2015, 12:56:56 AM
Ha!  Thats awesome!  Nothing like it in the industry. You outta patented that. LOL.
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: Screened Gear on June 02, 2015, 02:31:31 AM
When I first saw it I laughed. Then I watched the video. You have a nice feature on there to rotate and flip the screen. It is rough but its a prototype, right. You put some thought into that. Good job.
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: mooseman on June 02, 2015, 04:33:47 AM
Hey Screen......
That is pretty cool, it took a bunch thinkin' and most likely a little bit of corn squeezins to come up with that.
Definitely hit the charts on the moosegoldberg scale, I give it 4 up. To get to five you are going to have to add some new-matics and
 lek-tronics to do the spinnin' and tippin' stuff ;)
I have engine-eared the hardware for the spinnin & tippin , simple sketch below but otherwise pretty darn cool.   

moosegoldberg
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: GKitson on June 02, 2015, 06:12:14 AM
AMAZINGLY simple prototype.  Figure out how to get rid of the wobble and keep the rotation mechanism from getting sloppy and you have a real tool.

Reminds me of the first 4/c I built.  Beat it self to death over a 3000 shirt run but made me enough money to buy something stronger.

~Kitson

Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: blue moon on June 02, 2015, 08:13:10 AM
AWESOME!!!

pierre
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: Orion on June 02, 2015, 09:05:59 AM
That is some damn fine engineering!
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: KevWilso on June 02, 2015, 10:17:56 AM
We got to make this... fit in to this.
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: Homer on June 02, 2015, 10:29:34 AM
I'm surprised you didn't get your zipper caught in it! great job pops....mighty fine redneck'n... :P
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: sqslabs on June 02, 2015, 10:31:27 AM
Wow, that's badass... When you turned/flipped the screen I just about fell out of my chair. 
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: Denis Kolar on June 02, 2015, 11:33:17 AM
I think Moose is a little stingy with only 4 antlers.

VERY nice job!
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: 3Deep on June 02, 2015, 11:39:36 AM
I had to take one more peek, I can this getting in more shops
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: mimosatexas on June 02, 2015, 11:43:19 AM
Awesome!
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: Sbrem on June 02, 2015, 05:30:29 PM
It's pretty cool, though I wonder if I'm the only one who doesn't rotate north to south when coating... nice work guy...

Steve
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: Screened Gear on June 02, 2015, 05:38:22 PM
It's pretty cool, though I wonder if I'm the only one who doesn't rotate north to south when coating... nice work guy...

Steve

I used to rotate but stopped about 4 years ago. No change in the emulsion on the screens. In theory it is better.
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: screenxpress on June 02, 2015, 06:05:31 PM
Thanks for all the comments. 

The main plan was to have something that I didn't have to lean screens on a bucket or stool when coating, something to keep the coater standing up when changing positions and be able to swing the screen in for coating and then out to minimize the side drips when backing the coater away.

I learned how to arc weld from my neighbor and he's pushing me to remake it out of aluminum boxed.

Maybe a marketable idea, although not a high demand I'd imagine.  Who knows? 

Even though my screen of choice is the Newmans, I discovered the darned thing worked just as well on my old wooden 18x20 and 20x24 screens with no modifications.  The spring mechanism took care of it.

Stay tuned, lol.
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: tonypep on June 03, 2015, 07:31:24 AM
Kudos to this. I have a a 15 yr old stainless vs. Does not rotate although we can still coat faster on both sides with two hands which I have always been an advocate of. Needs some tweaks. If it were me I'd trade the basic engineering to someone like Action for a free prototype. Either way very good start.
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: Itsa Little CrOoked on June 03, 2015, 08:10:15 AM
I used to rotate but stopped about 4 years ago. No change in the emulsion on the screens. In theory it is better.

I just stopped rotating also...after 6 or 7 years of doing it. The only difference I can see is less time spent coating.
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: mooseman on June 03, 2015, 08:25:27 AM
we do not rotate. I think it all comes down to technique, tried it a few times but saw no real difference.
We coat one handed, pretty fast on a table top no support for the screen.
 we tend to rock and change the angle of the screen based on the amount of emulsion in the coater. Example full coater the screen is pretty much almost vertical, half full coater maybe a 45 degree angle, end of stroke  rock back to vertical to break the coater away.
low volume coater the screen is darn near parallel to the table top, end of stroke  rock back to vertical to break the coater away.

I know for a fact I can not coat 2 handed

mooseman

Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: Sbrem on June 03, 2015, 11:06:17 AM
Kudos to this. I have a a 15 yr old stainless vs. Does not rotate although we can still coat faster on both sides with two hands which I have always been an advocate of. Needs some tweaks. If it were me I'd trade the basic engineering to someone like Action for a free prototype. Either way very good start.

Same here, we picked up a stand at an auction years ago, two hands is indeed easier, though I probably coated a 100,000 holding the screen in my left hand and coater in the right...

Steve
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: ABuffington on June 03, 2015, 12:05:00 PM
Great idea and there is a market for it!  The main reason to flip the screen is hand coating tends to put more emulsion on at the start of the coat and less at the end due to speed and angle.  Flipping the screen evens out the EOM across the screen, but I never did this in my shop and testing here the difference end to end is only a few microns difference, not an issue for textiles.  Great idea on the flip mechanism here and the tilt feature. 

Al
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: TCT on June 03, 2015, 07:28:50 PM
This is GREAT! There is a market for it for sure, where does the line start? I have done it 1 handed for 14 years though, so it would free up a hand so I could pick my nose or something with the free one... :P
Title: Re: Red Neck DIY Screen Coater - Purely Mechanical
Post by: screenxpress on June 03, 2015, 07:54:21 PM
I'm checking out materials now.  Let me see how it goes.

Thanks for all the positive comments!!