How often do you check tension?

[TCT]

In this coming year I hope to put a few new "systems" into play. My systems may only rival the systems I imagine Alan has in place to make his morning coffee but we need more standardizing.
So how often is the tension on the screens in your shop checked? Every reclaim? Every other Tuesday? After they rip?
Looking for some feedback!

[sweetts]

I am a small home based guy but I check mine once a month usually at the last reclaim of the month, I was doing it more but once they settle nothing changes


Roger
RT screen designs
Www.rtscreendesigns. Com

[bimmridder]

We check for flat and tension after every run, before reclaim. (That alone should be controversial) 

[brandon]

Yup, after the screen is reclaimed so after every run. If not what is the point of using rollers?

[TCT]

If not what is the point of using rollers?

Fitting in with the crowd....

[brandon]

Hahaha that's a good one!

[alan802]

I check a screen after every run until it's work hardened.  I put a little inconspicuous mark on the corner where I can see it if it's work hardened.  I retension in bunches so I just need to make 25 minutes to knock out 10-15 or so screens on the roller master.  Right now there's only 10 screens out of the bunch that need to be checked and if they drop from 26 to 25 I don't mess with them.  We run mostly S thread so they don't need the attention that a lot of the other mesh we used to use that would drop 20-30% after one or two production runs.  This S thread drops around 5% so you can go two runs through production without retensioning them.

[ScreenFoo]

If it's got some ghosting, it's work hardened, if it looks too clean, it probably needs to be checked and re-tensioned. 

[JBLUE]

If it's got some ghosting, it's work hardened, if it looks too clean, it probably needs to be checked and re-tensioned. 

Thats a good point.

[mooseman]

we are a one man operation use mostly 3 primary mesh(s) 230 195 and 155 maybe 2 or 3 110's
Every time we grab the scoop coater we take out the tension meter too.
At this point I can almost tell by poking my calibrated finger into the screen if it has become a little soft.

we tried to keep track of the "seasoned" screens vs the "green screens"  so to speak but it just so much easier to drop the meter on the  darn thing before coating.
the process seems to be working as we seem to need to re-tension only 1 or 2 screens in each group of 8 or 10.

Or target tensions are 230 at 30 min       195 at 38 minimum     155 at 43 minimum   110's at 48 min.
Another interesting discovery, we find when we re-tension it is only necessary to work the side rollers to get the tensions back up to snuff. We hardly ever have to touch the top roller.

mooseman

[screenxpress]

Question. 

After the initial stretch, I put down that yellow (not real cheap) tape to protect the screen in the grooves (print-side). 

How do you retension without retaping?  And if retaping every time to retension, how do you build in that cost of business?  Or do you guys use a cheap tape to protect the grooves that I need to know about?

[tpitman]

I've started using blue painters tape to cover the rollers along the edge against which anything will rest. Up until now I never covered the rollers, but I'll occasionally find a small hole. Oddly, these are almost always on the short roller opposite the square one. Go figure, since this roller never touches anything in the normal course of using the frame.
It's surprising how well the painters tape holds up. I've been using it for years on the square ends to write the mesh count so I could see what I was pulling down from my screen rack.
It's not the cheapest tape but works good enough so far. I doubt it'd hold up in a dip tank, but I've never lost any to regular reclaim. If it tears, just slap another piece on.

[mooseman]

we use Gorilla Tape to protect the mesh from damage. When re-tensioning we simply ignore the tape and just retention.
the tape doesn't seem to be an issue.
One advantage of the tape is it is thick as a brick and if the mesh tears or pulls from under the tape the mesh will ooze out from under leaving a tell tale adhesive track marking the defect.
mooseman

[TCT]

We use that polykunk-whatever tape and usually it doesn't present a issue with retensioning either.

Thanks for the other replies guys, I kind figured after every use makes the most sense. I'll just have to add that to my checklist for screen prep.

Anyone have advice or something that works to keep a permanent number on a screen?
I'm thinking this may be extreme, but would probably seem routine after a few months. I had thought of individually numbering every screen, and then keeping info about that exact screen on a database that would be on a computer in the screen room. It would be nice to know EXACTLY how long or how many prints that particular mesh on any given screen lasts and such. Like I said initially it seems like overkill, but it would be nice info to have.
Thoughts?

[Prosperi-Tees]

Never... My screen inventory is in horrible shape right now.