"He who marches out of step hears another drum." ~ Ken Kesey
uline sent us a box of a 2" tape by mistake - i tried to get the screen guys to use it, but they pissed and moaned until i got the 3" tape back in stock. we ended up using the 2" to tape up registration marks at the press.
So is it cheaper to use 2" tape and more emulsion or 3" tape and less emulsion? I guess I could run the numbers and experiment but I don't feel like it.
@jsheridanproblem solved 3" is the winneri never would`ve put all that math togetherthank you
Quote from: alan802 on February 01, 2012, 01:42:21 PMSo is it cheaper to use 2" tape and more emulsion or 3" tape and less emulsion? I guess I could run the numbers and experiment but I don't feel like it.I did cost it. On average if you tape a 23x31 frame on the inside top and 2 sides with 2" tape you'll need 170" as you have to double down with the tape to cover the frame and emulsion edge. 3" tape on the same screen uses 85" of tape as you only need 1 piece per side. Now if you tape the back of the screen like we do to block out reg marks, then you need to add 24 to 40" to your number. Okay.. still with me.. A 110 yard roll of tape has 3960" of tape on it. Take the cost of the tape and divide it by the length of the roll. 2" tape = $1.79/3960= .00045 per inch3" tape = $3.49/3960= .00088 per inch. Take that number and multiply it by the amount of tape you use... 2" tape @ 200" (170" + 30" for back of screen) = .09 cents per frame. 3" tape @ 115" (85 + 30" for back of screen) = .10 cents per frame. Well look at that, it's .01 more for the 3" BUT.. it took you 1/2 the time to apply the tape so now you have to figure in labor and how long it takes to tape a screen.. I went there to.. lol! $12 per hour employee breaks down to .20 cents a minute. It takes 3 minutes to tape using the 2" tape for a cost of .60 centsIt takes 1.5 minutes to tape using the 3" tape. for a cost of .30 centsNow add that to the tape cost2" tape = .09 + .60 = .69 per frame3" tape = .10 + .30 = .40 per frame. Now multiply the amount of screens you use in a year and see just how much it's been costing you to tape screens. who's going to stop using 2" tape now... Oh yeah.. btw I've costed the emulsion per screen as well.. about ..25 to .40 depending on the mesh and how many coats you use. this is all part of my consulting work, costing down to the minute. If I just saved you $500 a year with a simple post about screen tape.. what can I do for you in person.
Quote from: doublestroke on February 01, 2012, 02:48:07 PM@jsheridanproblem solved 3" is the winneri never would`ve put all that math togetherthank you Glad I could help!!
Am I wrong in my process of "cheating" the scoop coater to one side then the other while I coat. This coats more of the screen but keeps the extra coats compiling where it counts.I always end with a proper coat down the middle.Now for you guys not taping top and bottom... is that mainly on autos, or are ya'll just careful not the get ink that for back and forwards? Or do you guys just run the scoop coater all the way from edge to edge on the final "outside" pass?Newbies need to know this stuff.
all of this is based on the premise that you can not use a single piece of 2" tape which we are doing quite successfully. It also shows the cost of tape a little lower than it should be and the amount of tape used can be lower. In principle though, the conclusion is correct (if you are unable to use 2" tape). What EVERYBODY should be taking from this is that one should NOT double up on the 2" tape and stop taping the top and the bottom part of the screen! pierre
No offense but if people didn't already know how to do that math then they just aren't math junky/nerds like me.
Quote from: blue moon on February 01, 2012, 03:27:53 PMall of this is based on the premise that you can not use a single piece of 2" tape which we are doing quite successfully. It also shows the cost of tape a little lower than it should be and the amount of tape used can be lower. In principle though, the conclusion is correct (if you are unable to use 2" tape). What EVERYBODY should be taking from this is that one should NOT double up on the 2" tape and stop taping the top and the bottom part of the screen! pierreYou can't get much better than that and it's a very viable way to coat and tape to keep cost and labor down for static frames.. but... what are you going to do when you get roller frames and you can't coat all the way to the edge due to the corner softening.?? Coating to the edge works awesome on a static frame.. not rollers. you'll leave blobs of emulsion in the corners so you have to use 3" tape if you want to cover the roller and emulsion edge. It gets even worse when the corners are to soft and you lose over 6" of top to bottom coverage and 3-4" of side to side. This costing was done for the shop I'm working with now as the owner kept saying the 3" tape was to expensive.. so I had to show him with math how much he was losing a year (about $800 in extra tape and labor) by using and doubling the 2" tape. I just gave away one of my formulas that I've had for years so I hope everyone uses it the best you can and looks at how you tape a screen differently. Did I save you a few hunderd or even a thousand bucks this year .. send a paypal thanks to my email. Thanks for the Idea Jason