Degreaser

[TCT]

How often are you guys degreasing your screen? After every wash? I just had a sales guy tell me that the only real time you need to degrease a screen is right after they've been stretched. Sounds odd to me.

[Inkworks]

De-ink
Emulsion Remover
dehaze as needed.

We never use degreaser.

[ebscreen]

Every time.

It's certainly not always necessary, especially when using certain haze removers, but I consider it the last line of defense and cheap insurance.

[Inkworks]

Drop it from a few screens on the next run, rinse well and see if you have problems after coating, we did and never looked back.

We actually use dehaze on new mesh rather than degreaser, but emulsion still doesn't hang on 100% until the second run sometimes.

[Homer]

Every time.

It's certainly not always necessary, especially when using certain haze removers, but I consider it the last line of defense and cheap insurance.

same here....it's cheap and easy to apply, not a big deal for peace of mind.  from what I understand, dehaze actually removes a small amount of the mesh and makes it weaker so we only haze when needed. proper rinse seems to help the most...atleast the sales guy didn't tell you to use mesh abraider.

[Printficient]

The simple answer is every time with a caveat.  Use a "neutralizing" degreaser.  This neutralizes the chemistry and returns the screen to a "Virgin" state.  The simple truth of the matter is that most people really do not degrease properly.  To really do it right you should rinse your degreased screen about 15 minutes.  Not gonna happen.  Inkwerks what will happen is in the future at some point your screen will not "Clear" on a print and all sorts of blame will be spread around.  Truth is if you take a loupe and look at the mesh you will find it "blocked" by a chemical haze that is invisible to the eye.  Granted this can take some time to show itself but it will happen. 
Another major help is to always dry a wet screen horizontally mesh down.

[dirkdiggler]

NEVER! what a waste of time!  Dehaze only as needed.

[Inkworks]

15 years plus now without degreaser, any build-up is handled by dehaze. We run two different dehaze, mild and, well, not so mild, as we use some nasty inks like epoxy and other solvent based stuff on occasion. A surfactant probably isn't going to remove chemical buildup anyway. Need for a degreaser would probably manifest in fisheye and the like in emulsion after coating.

The only problems we've ever had is with screens where the emulsion was treated with permanent fixer for wb/dc, and only if they sat un-reclaimed for a very long time. We've moved to Aquasol HVP and it's much better for reclaim so far.

[TCT]

Looks like it is pretty well split. We use haze remover for stubborn stains but rarely besides that. The degreaser is cheep enough, but I was thinking more of the time aspect. Yes, it is not a whole bunch of time per screen but if it were to be eliminated along with not buying as much product, in a year I may save enough to buy a cigar, not a nice one, but who can turn down a Swisher Sweet  

[alan802]

We only degrease when a new screen is put into production.  We used to do it religously at the end of the reclaim process but during the training of a new screen guy the degreasing step was left out, well, it was forgot about and after a few months I finally noticed my guy wasn't degreasing the screens and that's when we realized that it hadn't had any affect at all on our screens that was noticeable.  So then I started testing and analyzing and I found nothing different between screens that had been degreased and those that had not.  Even at 80X magnification there was nothing.  True, it's cheap and it only takes a minute to apply and if you think it helps your screens then by all means do it.  It would add 15-25 minutes a day to our production and I honestly tried really hard to figure out if it helped our screens even the slightest bit because we would continue to use it, but I couldn't see anything.

[Gilligan]

I think it really depends on what you last step is before you would normally degrease.  Some chemicals (dehazers specifically) have a degrease effect built in.  HR6 supposedly does, but we don't like that product.

[tonypep]

Never. IMO unnecessary chemistry that has long since been outdated.

[IntegrityShirts]

Dip tank, spray out, easisolv 701, rinse, done.

[ScreenFoo]

Our stencil remover has a degreaser.  We use diluted simple green if clean screens sit around on the rack and gather dust, keeps the fisheyes away.

Never. IMO unnecessary chemistry that has long since been outdated.

Back when I was in the printmaking studio, we used diluted vinegar to 'neutralize' any residual chemicals.  I skipped it more than once and never had problems--that I could tell.  Of course, in comparison to now, I couldn't tell much back then.   

[3Deep]

I only degrease new screens to remove oils left by the manufacture, and sometimes after I dehaze...I think I have a gal that I bought 5 years ago.

Darryl