"He who marches out of step hears another drum." ~ Ken Kesey
I see mentions of MS-2 degreaser in this thread, but wonder. Something new, not on their site?Murakami's is just labeled MShttp://murakamiscreen.com/products/screen-chemistry-2/degreaser/
Does anyone else notice that their S mesh looks differently when coated? I can tell an S mesh from a standard by the amount of gloss it has. It's more shiny versus the standard mesh which is more matte and transparent (Saati PHU). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hello Al here from Murakami.Many have pointed out that S Mesh from Murakami achieves more EOM than a similar mesh count with a thicker thread. So also mentioned here, use the sharp coating edge on S mesh, 1:2 at the very most, or 1:1 for less EOM if you are having trouble exposing details. For Spot color try a 1:1 dull edge.MS Degreaser can be ordered through our distributors and drop shipped if they do not have it. If your Murakami distributor doesn't want to drop ship you can order it directly.800.562.3534. I also have an employee hand out/poster on how to handle S mesh if you would like one. Just PM me.The other main area of difference in Murakami S Mesh vs any other mesh is retained tensions. Longer print life at optimum tension is worth every penny. Accumulated elongation is another. As mesh warms up during the print it can elongate as well on top of the forces that it' under already. It's called Smartmesh due to "mesh memory", the ability to come back to it's original position stroke after stroke. Sorry for the sales pitch, but the phrase "mesh is mesh" is highly inaccurate and something I hear often, not in this thread, but it deserves some research.Al
We had the same issues when we switched to Smesh. We tried a lot of different things, degreasing, screen prep chems, even abrading, thinking that the emulsion just wasn't bonding with the mesh properly. But ultimately we realized that coating the same way was giving us way too much EOM. When I finally got a gauge we were up in the 50% range. All that open area can hold a lot of emulsion.So we started switching around our coating methods and even tried out a new scoop coater and we were able to get our EOM back down to the high teens / low 20s. There's a lot of variables that effect eom, besides the emulsion itself and how many coats per side. Also what kind of scoop coater, sharp side, round side, how fast or slow you pull it, how much emulsion is in the coater. As you're adjusting your coating methods, make sure to use an exposure strip calculator and see if you're rinsing out at least a solid 7 and make sure to rub it with your finger on both sides to see if the emulsion really holding on to a 7. It's definitely a balancing act with all of it. You don't necessarily need an eom gauge, but keep a note pad out and just keep track of your adjustments and results.
I can't imagine not degreasing...even not properly rinsing causes the only issues I have with adhesion. Skipping d egreasing and trying to get nice halftone would be a crapshoot...
Just call me lucky then. 45 lpi Halftones as well as 100% Solids.