Converted the MSP3140

[inkman996]

Only posting this because I do not think I seen anyone else post how or even if they modified their exposure unit to still have the glass and blanket function and still be able to slide a screen in under  the glass and blanket when you print your screen off of CTS.

Here since we will still be occasionally using old films for screens I decided I want to have the full advantage of a direct printed screen and exposure time. So I modified out MSP3140, all I did was cut a double notched knockout on the front sheet metal panel. That panel is only bolted in so easy to take out and work on. I then installed some brackets front and back to mount the two rails to. Made sure to keep all measurements close as to not have a problem sliding screens in and out. I drilled tapped everything test fit then painted all black. As you can see in the images its really simple but damn worth it. I am still dialing exposure times but so far I am in the 50% less range.

[3Deep]

Looks like to me you might run into a problem with burning a hole in your screen being that close to the point light, I could be wrong kind of hard to tell what you got there in the pic.  Hey if it works I'm sure someone else will be glad you posted this idea.

[Doug S]

I just did the exact same thing with a 6000 watt mh "not as pretty though".  I didn't make room for the glass though.  My aluminum angle iron is holding the screen roughly 1 1/4" lower then what the glass held them.  I haven't noticed any issues yet.

[mk162]

We shoot through the glass on our 7500w Amergraph.  We use plastic 90 degree angle bar as a spacer for the screen so it's not touching the glass.  We have to have a pretty big chunk of stuff on the glass for it to show up on the screen.

We looked at changing it, but we decided that it wasn't worth saving maybe 5 seconds per exposure to modify the unit.

[inkman996]

Definitely no issue with heat, the unit is only 1,100 watts. The screens now sit 4.5" lower than on the glass and thanks to the inverse square law the benefit in exposure time not to mention removing the glass form the equation is working out quite well for my unit. It may not have the same returns on a much more powerful light point obviously, but for us lower power units this can give some good returns for the little bit of work needed.

Before modifying we just laid the screen on two standoffs on the glass, we never could get the burn time to be less than the printing time so it always bottle necked at the exposure unit. Now it burns much faster than the unit prints which is great for us.