Smilin' Jack Squeegees

[TCT]

Where are you guys getting yours? I picked one up from T&J Supply, but they only have one kind and very limited info about them.

[screenprintguy]

I'm using the ones from xenon, freakin awesome! Especially with discharge.

[Printficient]

I'm using the ones from xenon, freakin awesome! Especially with discharge.

To clarify these are double bevel squeegees.  If I were to buy smiling jack squeegees I would get them from Joe Clarke himself.  joeclarke@cprknowsjack.com.  The main difference is that a smiling jack squeegee will print the outer edge of an 18" print on a 23x31 screen.  A double bevel will print a 16.5" outside edge on the same screen size.

[Ryan]

Alex I got mine from Joe. Here is my issue so far as you are the only one that will understand (SRoque Problems folks). 1.They are a Bitch to get into the holder. 2. You have to decide which way you want to run them, beveled edge or sharp edge. 3. I haven't really touched mine because of that. I tried to get Action to get me 2 squeegee holders, but they failed twice and I have not heard from them about my refund or if they are going to try a third time. The couple times I tried just printing with them I wasn't real happy. I also didn't use the exact instructions from Joe, because I wasn't using the SJ to flood and the and the other one (can't remember the name) to print. This is what he suggested, but with the difficulty getting them in the holder, I only used the SJ to try printing with the Bevel edge. So in fairness to the SJ I didn't use it the way it was reccomended because of the holder issues. Hope that makes sense.

Just to derail this, I am taking one of the holders to a machine shop and have them shave it out and see I can get it to work better.

[alan802]

We use the smiling jack, manny and Dr J at our shop.  If you can't use both sides of the blade it doesn't totally defeat the purpose of having them but it does take away half of the blades ability.  The SJ is the most versatile of the bunch but we use the different blades for different needs.  The manny works great on the auto, sharp edge from 150-205 puts down a perfect ink deposit, the Dr J is also very nice in those same mesh counts.  We always start with the sharp edge and from what we see with our test prints, if we need more ink we just flip the blade to the beveled side and away we go. 

If you want to get the most from these blades, you really need to use them like Joe says.  Upright, print fast, with minimal pressure.  You can add a little angle when printing with the sharp edge but don't print like you would with a normal blade.  There is no doubt the blades work better than any traditional blade, but you have to use them the right way or you'll get average results.

[Ryan]

Its part of the reason I was hoping Action would come through a blade holder. they build them straight up and down, unlike ours which are angled. I could then flip them to either side and would work perfect for the SJ blade as WE would only be able to print from 0 degrees to 10 degrees with the Action holders. I will get back to testing with them at some point but when you have to fight to get a blade in and make sure its flat, it's exhausting...mentally atleast for me.

[TCT]

Thanks Ryan, these are some things apparently only we are cool enough for;)  Like our versatile power switches .
I'm not sure they can make the reversible/straight holder for us S.Roque'ers because of the nature of how they attach(which I wouldn't want changed for any reason).

I threw the SJ one in one of our holders and used it for discharge and love it!  I would just like some more options of one's to buy.  So you guys are saying by direct from Jack's smilin' face directly?

[Ryan]

yup. thats were I got mine.

If action can do it, it would be perfect for these squeegees because we could only print 10 degrees or less and thats what these are made for, but they failed twice and not sure they are going to want to give it a 3rd try  .

[Rockers]

Or you can get them from Silkscreeningsupplies.com, that's where we bought ours. I think Ryan Moor had as well some good info on how to use them on his website.
http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/SQBSJT-16

There is a lot of information under the above link.

[TCT]

Or you can get them from Silkscreeningsupplies.com, that's where we bought ours. I think Ryan Moor had as well some good info on how to use them on his website.
http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/product/SQBSJT-16

There is a lot of information under the above link.

Except his are half again more expensive for the same thing T&J sells. Thank you for the suggestion though.

Sounds like I'm best off talking to the smilin' man himself on Monday.

[bimmridder]

If you've never had the pleasure of talking to Joe, get ready for more than a head full of information. Plain and simple, an amazing man to talk to.