Roller Frame Abuse

[Admiral]

A trick for racking on racks that have rough shelves is to flip the frames and rack upside down. 

One of our racks is actually an older "official" newman one and it's has these corrugated shelf wings that are very gentle on the frames.  The new ones they make are super crazy with some kind of flexible, soft plastic.  It's might all seem like overkill but it's not- everywhere the screen rests must be "mesh safe" or you just chase yer tail.  I've stuck to that rule and we use nothing but delicate, thin thread mesh on rollers and don't need mesh protector sleeves (just newman yellow tape) or have premature breakage issues.  Handling is another story though...hope it all works out Al.

Even though all of our racks are mesh safe, the only time we have them print side down is when they are in the drying closet or on the racks to get imaged.  This way the emulsion dries properly and we don't get any dust between the screen and metal halide bulb.

All other times the screens are print side up which makes for easier moving of them and keeping the mesh even safer.

[alan802]

I'll update tomorrow once I get my head wrapped around what happened today.  I'm dumbfounded at how to handle this but it's something that I don't think anyone will quite understand unless you were there.  I had my artist sit in on it with me cause he's my right hand man around here and he's pretty close to my printer too and even he doesn't understand how or what to do but I have a plan as usual and I'm sure I'll discuss it with you guys before I move forward.  I accomplished what I wanted to (for the most part), everyone knows what is expected, they know the screens are getting damaged and what is causing it on most of the screens, and that if it continues the responsible party won't be around, but there is still unfinished business to attend to.

[Frog]

I don't know if part of this thread should have been split off as a restricted business discussion, in the Business section.
Think about future posts if they are about making and caring for screens (this section), or disciplining employees (Running and Growing a Business)

[alan802]

I've got more screen abuse I'd like to show off because I'm obviously so proud.  I've tried my best to handle this in a diplomatic way and give the guys the benefit of the doubt when of course we all know better.  I've let others within the company share their thoughts and ideas on how to handle it along with you guys and there is always lot's of good advice that I can use and I've tried more than a few of them.  This is what I found today.

You can see clearly that there are many "teeth" marks and I can count a dozen separate marks like someone tried that many times to puncture the screen.


These marks are on 3 of the 4 corners but the first/above is by far the worst. 






This screen was stretched last week and went through production a grand total of ONE time.


So here we are.  I've known for a while that the damage was being done deliberately but the first screen is so blatant and is almost like someone is begging to get caught or taunting me.  I had to sit in the dark room and gather my temper when I found these this morning and I won't give up on this but holy S, I'm about beat down.  I need to find strength to keep fighting this.  I've got a camera pointed directly at the FPU and taping station, so that's one more way to make sure I catch the culprit, but now I'm going to have to watch hours of tape over the next few weeks until I find something.

[GraphicDisorder]

That's crazy.  IMO that looks totally intentional. 

[Gilligan]

I'm going with intentionally careless in an attempt to mock you.

That's my take.

[Mr Tees!!]

...to me, there is a case to be made here that these are not intentional, but definitely careless. That tape has thread reinforcement running through it, and any sharp abrasion on the tape will leave marks along the thread lines, resembling teethmarks.

...take a metal ruler and run it kinda hard across the tape when it is applied to a hard surface. You can try it on a perished screen if the tape remains on the roller. Its pretty easy to replicate actually.

...not saying that you don't have some monkey business goin on, or at the very least, some carelessness. But its worth a thought before taking the situation to a level that cannot be undone. No one likes to be falsely accused, and they may not realize that this is possibly happening.

...Just a thought.

[prozyan]

Seriously Alan, between this and lost shirt you found in the catcher box that everyone was like "meh" about, you have some serious attitude problems going on there.  Maybe not defiant attitude, but certainly an unacceptable amount of complacency and carelessness.

You should clean house.  No positives can possibly outweigh these negatives, especially since judging by your past posts this has been an ongoing problem for some time.

[JBLUE]

I agree with the above. Time to make an example out of someone. They need to know your serious and it needs to cost the person with the biggest attitude problem their job.

[Homer]

Just to be on the flip side here. WHY would somebody do this intentionally and HOW? how do you take a screen or tape gun and slowly gouge into the tape without going all the way through? it doesn't make sense to me. I would look at a few more things, screen cleaning sink/station, screen racks in dark room, frame holders on the press - there might be a few burrs someplace...it's a long shot and carelessness is still in play here but it just doesn't add up that somebody would do this on purpose. I would do the opposite and offer a reward for the person to find the issue. every single guy is going to watch those screens like a hawk...never know what you may find.


this has gone on long enough and rules to live by -keep doing what you're doing, you'll only get what you got.....time to find another route to the issue....but this is just my take....

[mk162]

yeah, i go with carelessness, not intentional.  nonetheless, a little management generated turnover might be what the shop needs.

[inkman996]

If you look at his second pic that is a very odd spot to have so much damage. It is several inches in from the frame corners and nothing ridged is behind that spot. A chronic damaged spot like that should be fairly easy to figure out why that is happening. I think Homer has the best solution, offer an incentive to the person that discovers why that is happening.

[GraphicDisorder]

Id hit the ATM.  Id get 5 x $100 bills out.  Id walk into production chunk it out on the table, id announce that your offering $500 to the person that rats out who is causing the screen issue.  Id walk away, you will have your problem solved in minutes.  Which means it will either stop happening or you will be told by more than one person WHO it is. 

[Gilligan]

Just to be on the flip side here. WHY would somebody do this intentionally and HOW? how do you take a screen or tape gun and slowly gouge into the tape without going all the way through? it doesn't make sense to me. I would look at a few more things, screen cleaning sink/station, screen racks in dark room, frame holders on the press - there might be a few burrs someplace...it's a long shot and carelessness is still in play here but it just doesn't add up that somebody would do this on purpose. I would do the opposite and offer a reward for the person to find the issue. every single guy is going to watch those screens like a hawk...never know what you may find.


this has gone on long enough and rules to live by -keep doing what you're doing, you'll only get what you got.....time to find another route to the issue....but this is just my take....

Great idea, and by the guy that sh!t cans someone once a week.

[alan802]

You guys don't think the recent damage is intentional?  I see what Mr Tees is saying about the thread beneath the top layer but when I try to abrade the tape I don't get marks like that no matter what I do it with.  The first image on this page has an indention like a lot of weight was put on that corner then the outer layer of tape was perferated many times in different directions.  But when you try to replicate it...it's not something I can imagine someone doing.  I couldn't replicate it really.  I've spent the last 2 hours carrying a screen around and trying to find somewhere that could do that damage and I'm about halfway through the entire shop without finding anything.  I'll figure it out one way or another and I really hope it's something that isn't being done on purpose, but at this point I can't see a scenario that it isn't.  If you watch a screen go through it's entire cycle and see everything that it comes in contact with, nothing I can think of would do that to a screen without trying.