How do you dry your screens?

[Frog]

I semi-joked with Mimosa about coming up with plans for one, but at $9, unless someone knows of a negative, something like the floor squeegee/sucker that TCT got makes the PVC fittings and the labor involved seem less practical. It would have to be, like some of Mimosa's and other's projects, done as a labor of love.



* I'm waiting for the first post of someone complaining that they got one, and the first time they tried it, it messed up the screen, and clogged with emulsion. 

[Grumpy Ole Artist]

Tried squeeges, old newspapers, plastic shop vac floor attachment, (as pictured) does not work all that well...all else pales beside the "hammer head" (used to be called "seri-vac") High pressure air works well, but if you don't have central compressor, kind of a pain. Seriously, just bite the bullet, get a hammerhead with a dedicated shop vac and move on to the next weak link!

[inkman996]

Seriously a blast with from the air gun to remove the bulk of the water and then placed in front of fans is all it takes.

They make a vac attachment specifically for us but it is ridiculously expensive.

[whitewater]

After we rinse we wipe back with a paper towel, then wipe and blot the front with paper towel then go around outside of frame then in front of a box fan vertically..never an issue.

[Grumpy Ole Artist]

One of the cool things about this biz, is that there are lots of approaches to solve any given problem...I have always preferred the high pressure air approach to clearing water from an image, but, lacking a central compressor, it's not an option here...I MUCH prefer the noise of a shop vac to a "mini jackhammer" air compressor...With our inherent underexposure, wiping/blotting on the inside of a freshly exposed screen is likely to smear undercooked emulsion everywhere. Tried it all, FINALLY got the bosses to pony up for the hammerhead, and wonder how on earth I got by without it...One less weak link! Well worth the small expense, (IMHO!) Hang it up for a minute or two, suck it, lay it flat under the fan in my home built, de-humidified, cabinet until dry, secondary burn (if necessary), and voila! I am as retentive as I can be around here...in my fuzzy lil mind, it's all about eliminating variables.
But, as a wise man once said..."If it ain't broke, don't fix it"! LOL!

[ZooCity]

Tried a bunch of things in here including a dry vac and window squeegee and clean, plentiful, compressed air wins.  You'll need an additional coalescing filter but it's worth the small cost to get air in your coating/resolving/degreasing area. 

Bonus benefit that wound up being huge for us- hitting degreased, dried screens with air before coating.   Eliminates a lot of errant pinhole issue that are not chem/back spray related. 

In my recent search for a better air gun for this I found these, in case it's helpful.  High flow and wide patterns, looks good:

http://www.amazon.com/Vacula-VAC112100450-MultiFLOW-Blow-Fluid/dp/B005257QYG#productDetails
http://www.mcmaster.com/#blowguns/=pqgdzg

[3Deep]

since my shop is small I can do things that some you fat cats can't or just will slow you all down, but I dry my screens with a fan also, and use those blue shop towels to dry up some the water out the image, one roll last for a really long time.  I do like the way Greg's guy pre-soak the screens then blast them..allways something good to learn on this forum.

Darryl

[Sbrem]

Tried a bunch of things in here including a dry vac and window squeegee and clean, plentiful, compressed air wins.  You'll need an additional coalescing filter but it's worth the small cost to get air in your coating/resolving/degreasing area. 

Bonus benefit that wound up being huge for us- hitting degreased, dried screens with air before coating.   Eliminates a lot of errant pinhole issue that are not chem/back spray related. 

In my recent search for a better air gun for this I found these, in case it's helpful.  High flow and wide patterns, looks good:

http://www.amazon.com/Vacula-VAC112100450-MultiFLOW-Blow-Fluid/dp/B005257QYG#productDetails
http://www.mcmaster.com/#blowguns/=pqgdzg

The important word here is "clean"...

Steve

[mimosatexas]

I semi-joked with Mimosa about coming up with plans for one, but at $9, unless someone knows of a negative, something like the floor squeegee/sucker that TCT got makes the PVC fittings and the labor involved seem less practical. It would have to be, like some of Mimosa's and other's projects, done as a labor of love.



* I'm waiting for the first post of someone complaining that they got one, and the first time they tried it, it messed up the screen, and clogged with emulsion. 

The prebuilt ones being only 9 dollars makes me less inclined to try to DIY something like this, unless they didn't work very well

That said, I'll probably get one, and if it isn't up to par I may spend some time "modifying" it.

A bit of a tangent, but I would LOVE a DIY subsection on the forum.  I probably have 10 or 15 well documented DIY projects related to printing.  Everything from the drying cabinet I linked earlier in this thread, to squeegee racks, to small modifications or self made tools that help with standard processes.  I would be happy to share and get feedback, and of course see what others have done.  I know things like Alan's reverse engineered and modified tri-loc would fit right into a subforum like that.

[TCT]

A bit of a tangent, but I would LOVE a DIY subsection on the forum.  I probably have 10 or 15 well documented DIY projects related to printing.  Everything from the drying cabinet I linked earlier in this thread, to squeegee racks, to small modifications or self made tools that help with standard processes.  I would be happy to share and get feedback, and of course see what others have done.  I know things like Alan's reverse engineered and modified tri-loc would fit right into a subforum like that.

*LIKE*

[Shanarchy]

[/quote]
A bit of a tangent, but I would LOVE a DIY subsection on the forum.  I probably have 10 or 15 well documented DIY projects related to printing.  Everything from the drying cabinet I linked earlier in this thread, to squeegee racks, to small modifications or self made tools that help with standard processes.  I would be happy to share and get feedback, and of course see what others have done.  I know things like Alan's reverse engineered and modified tri-loc would fit right into a subforum like that.
[/quote]

Shanarchy and 1 other likes this.

[Frog]

A bit of a tangent, but I would LOVE a DIY subsection on the forum.  I probably have 10 or 15 well documented DIY projects related to printing.  Everything from the drying cabinet I linked earlier in this thread, to squeegee racks, to small modifications or self made tools that help with standard processes.  I would be happy to share and get feedback, and of course see what others have done.  I know things like Alan's reverse engineered and modified tri-loc would fit right into a subforum like that.
[/quote]

Shanarchy and 1 other likes this.
[/quote]

Well, if you like that, you should love this!
http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/board,79.0.html

[Homer]

I mounted one of my old windshield wipers to a handle....fits perfectly inside the 23 31 screen...one quick pass on each side and then in front of a fan, 5 minutes or so....

[mimosatexas]

I mounted one of my old windshield wipers to a handle....fits perfectly inside the 23 31 screen...one quick pass on each side and then in front of a fan, 5 minutes or so....

Love it!

[Shanarchy]

[/quote]

Well, if you like that, you should love this!
http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/board,79.0.html
[/quote]

Thanks Frog!