A few questions regarding working in the garage...

[sbrown]

Hi!
I had a few quick questions that I was wondering if you might be able to answer for me??...

I'm just getting started and have been slowly accumulating all the necessary tools to make some shirts in my garage. My current road block right now is emulsifying a screen and drying it effectively.

I do not have a drying cab, and also am running very low on extra room for something like that. My table top press is mounted to a mobile rack from ryonet, however it is open to outside elements. I initially assumed I could just coat my screens in the garage with a light safe bulb and then load the screen into my rack with a fan on it to dry, but after lots of research on the topic I'm concerned about 3 issues - 1. Humidity, 2. Dust, and 3. UV light sneaking through the sides of the garage door (not too sure how much I can let in and what's acceptable?).

In short, I hope I can still use the current setup I have to effectively dry a screen in my garage but i don't want to waste emulsion and $$ if I'm approaching this incorrectly.

Attached is a photo of what my garage looks like in the day time. I presume I'll have to coat screens at night to be safe?...but it'd be nice to be able to get away with it in the day time. I just don't know if the amount of light sneaking through the sides is too much or ok?

*Also wondering if I might be able to possibly drape some blankets around/over my rack so that I can possibly shield off some humidity and dust... would that be a solution for the time being until I can build a dry cab?

Thank you for your time, I appreciate your help.

Best,
Shaun

[Prosperi-Tees]

You can coat screens in that garage, after coating place them in a rack and cover it with a dark bed sheet. Easy peazy lemon squeezy. That little bit of light wont harm a thing.

[sbrown]

Hi, thank you for the reply!

Do you think I should wait till the sun goes down to coat screens considering the amount of light sneaking through the sides of the door or should that not be an issue? Im using a dual cure diazo.
Also, my humidity meter is commonly ranging anywhere from 30%-50% at the moment due to the previous rainfall. I presume that will cause issues for effective drying? And lastly, should I refrain from putting a fan on it as that will kick up dust from surrounding areas in the garage?

I know there is no silver bullet and many variables determine dry time, but given the info Ive listed with the relative humidity, location, and how I plan to dry them - what would be ballpark for duration to get a fully dried screen?

Im glad to hear the blanket idea may be sufficient for the time being. 

Thanks again,
Shaun

[Prosperi-Tees]

Heck with a diazo emulsion you can coat with the door up. For the most part emulsions are not light sensitive until they are dry.
I wouldn't put a fan on them. What temp is the garage usually?

Right now in my shop it takes a full 24 hours to get a good screen dry. Temps in the 40-50s.

[sbrown]

I live in California and even though its typically warm in my area, we've been hit by an extended storm system for some time now. As a result temps range from about 36º-66º depending on the weather and time of day. Relative humidity has been high lately as well due to the storm. Once we get some consistent sunny weather it should drop quite a bit, especially once summer really hits.

[Frog]

You may also want to consider sacrificing a little more of your home and perhaps commandeer a closet for this exclusive use. Use blocks for stacking with space between, add a dehumidifier, and voila! A one hour drying cabinet.
Also, depending on your exposure method, diazo emulsions require a lot more light/time than the more forgiving pure photopolymers.

[sbrown]

Good stuff, thanks for the info!
Right now, I am pretty limited on space options but I am pondering how I can squeeze in a makeshift dry cab later on in the garage. For the time being, I really want to try and make it work as is in the garage and it sounds like it may be doable according to your feedback.

[Frog]

You can certainly capture a lot more space moving that damn car out of your shop!
You have to decide if you want to work where you also park cars, or if you want to make a production facility out of your garage.
Where for instance are you going to put your conveyor dryer? If you don't have one now, you will start wanting one in about a month!
Also, I touched on this before, how are you exposing your screens? A decent light source and/or unit is another necessary piece of the puzzle  to transition from hobby to real production.

Now, if this is only about a few shirts here and there, you can skip a lot of the advice that you will get above and beyond the initial questions you asked.

[sbrown]

I will pull the car out of the garage when I plan to print and position things accordingly as everything is on caster wheels, but I really am not even close to the point where it is viable to purchase a conveyer drier or an exposure unit. I basically have the bare essentials at the moment. Some 4-5 years back, I decided to purchase a basic 4 color starter package from Ryonet (Silver Press, now a legacy product)... later I accrued a flash drier for flash/curing along with a few other small items to get started since the package only came with a heat gun. My exposure unit is that funky 500 watt work light attached to PVC pipe that came with the kit. (I did however go to the glass store and purchase a much more suitable piece of glass for sandwiching the artwork to the screen to achieve better positive contact with the current light I have). I have a cheap utility sink that drains into buckets I can take to my local waste disposal place for washout. Once I nail down the basic process of positives, coating, drying, burning, registration, printing, etc. and feel like its going somewhere I will proceed to get an exposure unit, and from there if things are looking like I am even getting somewhere - THEN a conveyer drier. It just doesn't make any sense to spend that much $$ right now on something I cant even afford as it is before I even have the basic skills of the process down yet. Right now Im just focused on learning and getting it right as much as I can with what I got. So I suppose you could consider it at a "hobby stage" at the moment.

I should clarify though, that my end goal is to be able to screen up my own merchandise that I will hopefully later on be able to sell via an ecommerce store and a few local shops here in town. I come from a design background, branding to be precise so selling my own "brand" has always been something I wanted to do ever since I took screen printing in high school long long ago....

Ive attached a few photos of what my current set up consists of to give you a better idea.

[Frog]

Your choice of exposure light source reinforces my suggestion of the benefits afforded to you by switching to a faster photopolymer emulsion.
And yes, baby steps are fine, but many of us have suggested for years that beginners put almost all of their profits into an equipment fund, and get that stuff that takes you to the next level.
By the time you have enough for a decent used dryer and exposure unit, you will see the need and they will zoom you to the next level.

[sbrown]

Thank you, I fully agree about having the "right tools" for the job and am a big advocate of that mantra. As soon as I can afford a more appropriate exposure and dryer unit I will definitely be looking to upgrade. It only makes sense, especially if the demand is there. I've seen what the proper tools can do and how it makes the whole process much easier so trust when I say I wish I had those tools already!

Right now I'm focused on learning as much as I can to use what I have to perfect the process so that in the future I can also justify the expense of purchasing said tools since at the moment I am not an experienced printer.

With that said, I do hope that I am able to obtain decent results with what I do have at the moment. You said there is a more preferable emulsion to work with in the case of using a work light like the one I have? I'd be curious to hear what that particular one is...

I ironically just purchased some new emulsion since the stuff that came with my kit had expired long ago and I'm just now getting around to breaking this thing in.

I purchased the following - http://www.screenprinting.com/ryonet-wbp-water-base-plastisol-hybrid-emulsion-quart

Hopefully I can still successfully expose this stuff with the setup I have.

[Prince Art]

A couple pure photopolymer emulsions to look at are Ulano QTX & Saati's Textil PV. (They're essentially the same thing.) I've never exposed with a shop light, but it works well (& pretty quickly) with high UV fluorescent bulbs.

You want to keep dust & light away from the screens on the rack you've got? Cover the sides & bottom with cardboard. Just tape it on. Make a door on one end; use tape as a hinge & a magnet/velcro/whatever to keep it closed. If you want to get fancy, put a board on the bottom, and put a tiny dehumidifier in there. (I have one that's about 10" tall, purchased online, used for drying screens in the shower a long time ago.)

I'd also suggest giving some careful thought to exactly how you lay out your work space. Even if you're doing this at hobby level, you want this to be as easy & efficient to use as possible. You've got a lot of empty wall there- can you install shelves & put as much up high as possible? What about partitioning off a coating/exposure area with a curtain? (I've used ceiling mount flexible curtain track. Cheap on Amazon, lets you curtain off in shapes other than a straight line. Then open up the floor space when not exposing.) Think about your work flow, and try to set everything up so that it flows from step to step without interruption & without backtracking. Even if you have to roll everything into position when the car is out of the garage (I noticed the casters- good), make it so "work mode" is quick to setup, quick to put away.

When I see bare bones hobby setups, I'm reminded of what my first guitar teacher said at my first lesson. I brought in an old department store guitar someone had given me. He took a look at it and said, "That's not a guitar." And then went on to explain what he really meant was that it was going to be so frustrating to use that I'd probably give up. And then he told me where to find a usable pawn shop guitar he'd found for cheap. I bought it, and have been playing ever since. The point is, I believe he was right about there being a minimal level of functionality necessary to prevent frustration. Your current setup may be enough to get your feet wet; but if you find yourself frustrated, don't think it's screen printing you're frustrated with. If you have a real desire to print, you're going to need to think further down the road, and really research what you need to do this effectively (even at a one man show level), and decide whether that's really what you want to do.

[sbrown]

Thanks, and I hear ya on the "minimal level of functionality necessary to prevent frustration". For me, the investment I made in the gear I currently have now was still a lot ironically so I hope it wasn't in vein. I really am serious about becoming a printer and getting good at the craft, so I hope that is still possible with what I have for the time being.

[ABuffington]

Coat after sunset, use blocks to separate screens.  Let dry.  Get up before the crack of dawn and put the dry screens in black trash bags for storage, thats the hard part.  A dedicated closet is best for drying. 

[sbrown]

The heck happened to this thread? Everything's gone now!