Reclaiming S mesh

[mimosatexas]

I tried the gong brush recommended in another post...with poor results.  We got one at lowe's, two at home depot, and one from an auto parts store.  None worked well.  2 of them were simply too stiff, even though they were pretty soft to the touch.  One was shedding small fibers like crazy, and the one where the bristles actually seemed right still failed to properly and evenly disperse the 701.  Back to the scrub pads like the photo listed above.  We get ones from walmart that are 97 cents and utter crap, but they are soft enough to not damage the mesh, disperse chemicals well, and get out all the ink/stains.

[Zelko-4-EVA]

I tried the gong brush recommended in another post...with poor results.  We got one at lowe's, two at home depot, and one from an auto parts store.  None worked well.  2 of them were simply too stiff, even though they were pretty soft to the touch.  One was shedding small fibers like crazy, and the one where the bristles actually seemed right still failed to properly and evenly disperse the 701.  Back to the scrub pads like the photo listed above.  We get ones from walmart that are 97 cents and utter crap, but they are soft enough to not damage the mesh, disperse chemicals well, and get out all the ink/stains.

look for a CPS brush

http://www.macdermidautotype.com/products/96-screen_cleaning_brushes

[ABuffington]

Al from Murakami here.  OK the reason to avoid stiff bristle brushes and scrub pads is that S thread is very thin thread.  So Ozite pads and stiff bristle brushes can act like sandpaper on thread that can be the thickness of a human hair or less in the upper mesh counts.  The whole reason to use a soft sponge is to avoid putting tiny cuts in the thread that later on may cause the mesh to pop.  Whatever you decide to use here is a test:  Scrub the back of your hand.  If it scraps or scratches your skin it is doing it to the threads as well.  Chemistry in dip tanks can do much of the work.  Whether it is to reclaim, or to dehaze the images.  BTW, washing your screens right after production prevents much of the haze.  I recommend using soft sponges for degreasing or reclaiming, the chemistry does the work! Also avoid sharp corners of dry wall spatulas.

Here is a detailed article on using S Mesh
http://murakamiscreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/The-Power-of-S-Mesh-1.pdf


S thread has some unique advantages.  I can print 45 and 55 line halftones on 150S mesh that simply cannot be printed on a 110 mesh typically used for base plates.
Here is a video of me printing at an ISS show a while back:

ISS Show 2011 Murakami Screen 150 S Mesh Screen Printing Video

Watch how little squeegee pressure I use to print the whitest base plate I have ever been able to do in one pass.  The ink doesn't matter.  150S has a 51% open area, 110T has only 43% open area.  That extra open area means less squeegee pressure.  This lays the ink on the surface to give you the best 'soft hand' feel you can get on a shirt.  110T drives the ink into the shirt.  The image I printed is a 55 line halftone at 22.5 degrees.  The one other tidbit I will give you is you will use a lot less white ink with S meshes.  I have a major 40 auto shop that will save 30% of their white ink cost this year and make a ton of money in the process.

Outdated?  Hardly.  Answers for success?, you bet.   

Alan

Expose the Quality,

[mimosatexas]

That looks really similar to one of the brushes I got from Home Depot.  I'll see if I can find a link to it on their site a bit later to compare. The flagged ends left little fibers all over the screen.

Just started using S thread mesh and I love it!  The walmart pad I am using is soft enough that it does not scratch the back of your hand and I have seen no abrasion issues thus far.  As a bit of a tangent, is anyone using a degrease/dehaze dip tank?  I would love it if that actually worked...no scrubbing at all!

[Rockers]

I can ask the guys at Murakami here in Japan who actually make the mesh what they would recommend.

[Rockers]

I tried the gong brush recommended in another post...with poor results.  We got one at lowe's, two at home depot, and one from an auto parts store.  None worked well.  2 of them were simply too stiff, even though they were pretty soft to the touch.  One was shedding small fibers like crazy, and the one where the bristles actually seemed right still failed to properly and evenly disperse the 701.  Back to the scrub pads like the photo listed above.  We get ones from walmart that are 97 cents and utter crap, but they are soft enough to not damage the mesh, disperse chemicals well, and get out all the ink/stains.

look for a CPS brush

http://www.macdermidautotype.com/products/96-screen_cleaning_brushes

That`s the ones we use as well for 10 years now and never had any issues.

[Evo]

That looks really similar to one of the brushes I got from Home Depot.  I'll see if I can find a link to it on their site a bit later to compare. The flagged ends left little fibers all over the screen.

The ones I use from the local Home Depot work great. They start off a little stiff but once broken in they're fine.

I would prefer to use sponges or the light scrubby pads but the 701 just eats them up. The brushes just work every day.

BUT - if they broke down I'd have to look for something else. Maybe different Home Depot stores source products from various sources and you got some duds?

[mimosatexas]

Yea, it definitely did not work.  I will probably just order the one linked above or keep using the walmart pads.