TSB
screen printing => Screen Making => Topic started by: Monkeysmakemenervous on February 18, 2012, 02:24:09 PM
-
Old post delet
-
Everyone has their own approach to this, and my conclusion has been to buy new or near new rollers and avoid most of the hassle. Barring that, here's what I do:
- Remove all tape, etc. Some recommend a heat gun for help with this. The white polyken tape is a serious biatch to remove cleanly and the heat will often help. Use heat before using solvents or you might make it worse.
- Soak in a robust but not overly caustic solvent. I use Ickee Stickee Unstuck from Franmar. I believe it's a combo of soy and citrus solvents. Limonene is popular but don't be fooled by it's citrusy whiff, it can still be toxic and needs respectful handling and good 'industrial hygiene' practices.
- Scrub em down. Soak again. Repeat. Overnight soaking helps.
- Blast 'em with the pressure washer until yer satisfied
- Repair all the edges and any points of contact with mesh. Various grades of emery cloth and wet sanding auto finish paper works great.
- Pop out your bolts, clean and reapply c5a anti-seize. Yes, it needs to be c5a and yes, this is critical and not optional. Brush on is best, you want 'just enough' on there not a big sloppy amount but a thin, even layer across the entire thread surface. Omit the anti-seize if you have black bolts which have it baked on.
- Sand and smooth the end caps so the roller can turn freely and without catching or hanging up. This is where the metal end-caps excel over the black plastic in my opinion.
- Reassemble, wash down with simple green or some other degreaser and do a final look-over with fine grit sandpaper.
It's a lot of work prepping gnarly used frames for proper use but can be done efficiently if you break it all down production style and utilize the soaking approach for getting the tape gunk off.
Remember that you only need them perfect where mesh will contact the rollers. Don't forget to sand and smooth your locking strips.
As an owner-operator I too found the prep to be a little too lengthy hence the policy of like-new or new only from here on out. If you have someone to do detailed work like this for cheap, buying gnarly used ones could still make sense.
Hope that helps.
-
After having bought a bunch of used newmans that were filthy, I keep mine clean so remeshing isn't too bad. I do take a scotchbrite pad and run it through the channels where the locking strips go, and over the edge of the square bar where the mesh crosses, feeling for any crap or a nick with my finger.
-
When we have the issue with any metal, we use acetone, wash with a pressure washer and normal soap, or soak in a mixture. Goof Off also works on sticky crap and some other junk.. We also use palm sanders and 4 inch grinders with high high grit to debur any metal. Trick is to not repeat the procedure that made the mess in the first place!!
-
Not much need for anyone else to respond because Zoo covered it. I've never had the same problem, or to the extent that most have had with getting the polyken tape off, but I heat it up with a hair dryer and it comes off easily.
I had my screen guy take some old frames and clean them up and it took him hours to do about 6 frames. I wanted them spotless and from that point on he makes sure that none of them get that nasty ever again.
-
Ian not a roller frame user so I may be way off. Can't you just use a protective tape on all the areas the mesh touches. It will protect the mesh from poping. I know it is not the right way but possible?
-
Great breakdown Zoo. Although I'm not a dip tank or soaking fan, a viscous caustic (I use LSR-30) works extremely well, not only pulls up shredded tape edges, but softens up random emulsion drips as well. After that, a scotchbrite and some press wash will clean up the remainder, and the channels.
The biggest problem I've run into like matchbox's happens when someone reclaims that doesn't rinse the crap out when it settles between the mesh and bottom roller--then when you retension, all those little hunks of crap start stressing your mesh and you get random rips.
But I'd 100% agree on the best point in the thread, the best way to not waste time cleaning, is to not make a mess in the first place.
SG: Protective tape helps a bunch, but everytime someone knocks over a stack of screens, at least one of them pops--or will pop soon. Even just fast careless handling--like with the corners against the rollers, or tossing a couple of shorter statics against a stack of rollers can screw one up. And you usually don't find out until you're retensioning... so although you always have your suspicions, it's tough to know who to beat up. >:(
-
Thanks all for your input. Yeah, we're using protective tape and it helps a ton in the day to day, it's just all that sneaky crud UNDER the mesh that gives me the grief. And Foo....I'm an equal opportunity beater: if that aint the guy who popped the tiny hole in my screen, then he's probably the guy who left the spatula handle-deep in the ink, or maybe the one who mixes ink and double-dips from the blue to the yellow, OR...well, you get my drift. :).
-
Thanks all for your input. Yeah, we're using protective tape and it helps a ton in the day to day, it's just all that sneaky crud UNDER the mesh that gives me the grief. And Foo....I'm an equal opportunity beater: if that aint the guy who popped the tiny hole in my screen, then he's probably the guy who left the spatula handle-deep in the ink, or maybe the one who mixes ink and double-dips from the blue to the yellow, OR...well, you get my drift. :).
LOL this does suck.