Murakami T3 Emulsion

[ScreenPrinter123]

So, I got this in an email today -- anyone tried Murakami's T3 emulsion?  Apparently, (1) you don't need to add hardene and (2) it reclaims as easy as a "plastisol screen" (presumably photopolymer emulsions?).

Questions:
(1) I take it this still has diazo that needs to be added to it that comes separately or no?

(2) Anyone run any multi thousand prints with it -- like 3,000-20,000 prints?  Success?  Signs of breakdown? etc.?

(3) Exposure times?

If this is true, wow.... all you need to do is eliminate (1) the double stroking, (2) the need for longer exposure times, (3) the ink drying in the screen during production, especially on higher mesh counts, (4) the ink drying in the screen (that you missed) left on press overnight for large jobs, (5) the ink being non-usable after 24 hours with activator (for most part), (6) the ink reacting differently on different garments from different lots from different vendors, (7) the apparent trend for the market to be going 100% polyester (though an ink is in existence that will make discharge obsolete that can do this and retain UV, etc. characteristics of the garment), ( having to mix ink as you go to mitigate #5 (especially on long runs for us small shops makes this so much fun to stop production to do [even having to add activator to mix for 5 colors eats away at production time]), (9) the desire for clients to have a glossy look, (10) the desire for clients to have a vibrant white, (11) clients appreciation of the hand you can achieve with "S" mesh when printed right with that type of mesh, (12) the desire for smaller shops who can't fit a large (gas) dryer to actually produce garments fast.... and you're set for discharge with this emulsion.  :-)

Seriously though, any experience with the emulsion in light of the questions above? 

[tonypep]

If "Photo" implies photopolymer then probably no diazo. Al will weigh in but there are more than a dozen emulsions that will accomplish this

[dirkdiggler]

I did some beta testing on it a 6 months ago.

[alan802]

Just 12 huh?  DC sounds wonderful

[tonypep]

Sorry in advance for the hijack but we discharge tri-blends that have only 25% cotton

[ZooCity]

I'm looking forward to testing this and the TSR when we get a warm enough spell to ship samples.   Also interested to hear how it is going in the field. 

[ABuffington]

Ok Murakami T3 and TSR are new to the states.  We have had them in production in Turkey for a few years now since they have to print to European standards, which means no plastisol basically, only HSA and WB ink types.  The print runs are huge.  The key thing about these emulsions is they do need strong light.  5k and 8k lamps work best.  And exposure is longer than usual.  We are seeing 4 minutes for TSR and 5 minutes for T3 on a 5k with a fresh bulb.  The result though is a screen that can hold up to the newer ink systems and wb/dc well.  Good mesh is an investment, Hardening for discharge screens is a pain in reclaiming, especially on fine mesh.  Murakami T3 is really strong stuff, the guys in Turkey are hitting the 20k to 80k range.  The key is max out the exposure, post exposure does not do much for a diazo screen's strength.  Murakami TSR is for HSA inks.  It will also print WB and DC and Plastisol.

What I like about these new emulsions is even with long exposure times the resolution was better than SP-1400 and washout of image was really quick.  Both emulsions have high viscosity so stencils are well coated with 1:1 dull edge coating. 

Like Chris says, this is only part of the wb/discharge/hsa print headache.  I always looked at these inks on press as if the press were a spinning top.  You really don't want to ever stop to replace screens, or have fix its, because that down time kills other screens and may caused the screen room to rush screens to press that aren't ready furthering the headache and downtime.  Some things we did to help prevent stopping:

1. I used Murakami Aquasol TS back in my shop (HVP is better IMO for ease of use, but TS has incredible resolution and strength).  It allowed us to print for a month straight on a Little Mermaid job with one set of screens.  200k+.  Yes we did some additional work on the screens, face coated both sides, strong 7.5kw light with new bulb, max exposure time.   Overcoated all squeegee paths on inside and in the landing area of the squeegee and floodbar.  I had an MHM with thin 7mm squeegees that were very kind to the squeegee side of the screen.  Chopper style would not have made it this far. We used low to no off contact for WB/DC.

2. Screens:  Dry Well, Expose to the Max possible time, Dry very well, blockout well with emulsion.  Bake in SoCal Sun for 3 hours or post expose squeegee side 3x the exposure time (Watch out for pre-stretched screens, the frames can expand in the heat and sun and pop your S meshes, better to set up a hot box at 80 degrees with lots of air movement and post expose in sun for 10 minute max using pre-stretched screens),   Harden with A&B Hardener 2 times (you can over harden a screen, it may crack when you do so and usually only happens in cold very dry air conditions.)

3. Avoid tons of tapeout.  Especially on the bottom of screen.  It traps water in the stencil.  The bottom stays dryer if exposed to air, with tape all over it, it will soften and peel off eventually.

4. Low off contact, soft 60-65 squeegees, there are even softer ones available.  Avoid hard sharp plastisol squeegees of 70-85 duro.  Round off squeegee corners and polish smooth.  Squared and sharp is like a knife.  The path never changes, eventually sharp corners wear through the tape and stencil.

5. Ink dams:  Use tape to localize the ink so it doesn't start to loose color punch.  Keep 3/4 to full on the blade. We had a dedicated press helper to monitor inks.  Stopping to wash out a screen that ran low was far more costly in terms of lost production and rejects.

6. Add inks constantly to keep ink levels up.

7. We rotated crews through at break to never stop.  Can't do that in Calif anymore, labor laws an all, but a quick wash with warm water top and bottom will still allow you to print the ink in the screen.

8. As much of a pain as it is, pull all ink before closing.  Wash screens with warm water top and bottom as well as the inside of the screen.  Aim a high volume fan at the press to dry the screens out overnight.  Activate fresh in the morning, newer ink systems may be able to make it.  We printed for Disney, so no chances were ever taken on inks to avoid color shifts.

9. In super dry conditions like the Santa Ana winds we get in So Cal we aimed swamp coolers.  Check out a foorball sideline in really hot conditions.  They have these huge fans that blow fog over the players, this would help a lot back when I printed.  In Arizona I have shops with monster (6ft fan?) evaporative coolers aimed at the press.

10. For waterbase we just washed the image area on both sides, pulled squeegees and floodbars and cleaned by the press so different squeegees were never set up on the same job, good way to get color shifts (Also marked each side A and B and noted in the recipe).  Once squeegee and floodbar are removed and screen cleaned the 2-3 inch wide puddle of ink was at one end of the screen.  Plastic wrap could then be torn off to size and patted lightly on top of the WB inks for use the next day.

11. Flashes: no more than 2.  Anymore heats up the pallets a lot and causes inks to start curing in screen.  Quartz flashes with precise timer controls help.

12. Garments:  they all can print quite different.  Each had it's own recipe of additives, mesh counts, and retained samples to show customers what works what doesn't work well.

Anyway, I'll talk all day, come to the show, I'll be hoarse by Saturday.

Al