Eliminating threads/fuzzies/etc. on print side of screen

[Frog]

The easy answer is that it doesn't take much tack. Remember that you are only trying to snag loose threads, not stick the shirt to the screen. Use a mist rather than a web type.

as Mattleague said, "I expose a screen by itself then set it up in the first print station. I'll put some clear ink in there and lightly spray the bottom of the screen with a bit of tac. Heads prints, tac picks up fuzzies. Just be careful not to put to much tac on or it will pick up the shirt."

And eb, who brought it up, "Next, dummy screen in the first head, exposed emulsion, ink/base/whatever in it,
_light_ coat of spray tac on shirt side to pick up lint."


A little finesse here Chadwick. Just a light misting.

[Get Shirts]

Just an update, this was an enormous time saver! 

[Chadwick]

I'm still thinkin' of the kids, haha.
Every new guy I've ever worked with didn't have the word finesse in his vocabulary.

If it works, great.

[Frog]

You are over-thinking this one Chadwick.
It really is no biggie. I light spray of mist adhesive, and voila! a magic dust bunny and lose thread magnet.

[mjrprint]

Just an update, this was an enormous time saver!

good to hear!

[ScreenFoo]

 PLEASE tell me how you are filtering your air in a screen print shop? seems to me that lint and threads are the norm snapping shirts or not..

Cheapest way possible--a couple box fans on the floor by the load and unload stations, with 20x20x1" cheapo furnace filters taped to the back.  Takes a lot less time to vac the backs of the fans than it does the whole shop. 
It doesn't catch the very very tiny stuff--I've been debating whether or not to get a proper blower and set up a staged filter with mesh, but you know how it is...  Lots to do.

And really, I don't know why using an extra screen is going to hurt children in any way--in fact, it keeps me from smacking the kid that unloads here for not paying attention.    
In the middle of 3K with huge prints (for us)--nearly two square feet. I'd be stopping every dozen or two if we didn't do this.

[RICK STEFANICK]

that makes sense...thanks

[Inkworks]

*Thread resurrection*

We ran our first sticky screen last week. I had the trick in my back pocket for a long time but never felt motivated enough to bother as most of the shirts we print are fairly clean and don't generally cause too much problem with fluffs and threads.

Enter an order of 5000 cotton totes. These things are loaded with extraneous thread, fluff pieces of fabric etc. and it was putting a serious hurt on production. One little trick we did was put pallet tape on the shirt side of the sticky screen which made clean-up dead easy, much better than trying to get rid of the matted glue and fabric bits would have been otherwise.

I'd say we went from stopping every 15-20 prints to about 6-7 times over an 8 hour shift.

I can see how one of those roller squeegees from action Eng. would be a good investment if we use a sticky screen enough.

[Admiral]

Enter an order of 5000 cotton totes. These things are loaded with extraneous thread, fluff pieces of fabric etc. and it was putting a serious hurt on production. One little trick we did was put pallet tape on the shirt side of the sticky screen which made clean-up dead easy, much better than trying to get rid of the matted glue and fabric bits would have been otherwise.

that's what I've done for large jobs of light colored shirts with big prints, lasts 500-1000 shirts and takes just a couple min to put on new sheet

use inside of a hoodie after applying new sheet to reduce the tack of the tape, also put down new tack on platens to make sure shirts don't pull off with new tape in place

[ericheartsu]

i'm getting ready to do a 1600 peice order and i'm going to try this.

Should i put the pallet tape sticky side up, then adhesive it? or sticky side facing down towards the garment?

[Inkworks]

Should i put the pallet tape sticky side up, then adhesive it?

Bingo, watch for the shirt/garment lifting off the pallets for the first piece or two after gluing the back of the screen, after that you're good to go. We just re-applied pallet glue at the same time as re-gluing the back of the screen and it worked well as they both started losing their tack at the same time.