I have recently exposed one of my screens with a halftone image. When I removed the emulsion, there were still places that would not come off. I have a home based shop, so i was using a high pressure garden hose to remove the emulsion. Is there anything i can do to get this off?
Thank you,
Brian
I agree that emulsion remover should be used as opposed to some household alternitives. Let it sit on the screen for a couple of minutes. I also agree that brushing the screen while the emulsion remover is on it will help. I would have to advise against using a green kitchen sponge simply for the fact that it can be damaging to the mesh. It is a rough surface that basically abrades the mesh again and again. I would reccomend getting a brush with bristles that are about mid range between very soft and hard bristles. You can usually find something like this in a Auto parts store. Once the emuslion remover has been sprayed onto both sides of the screen, brush in circular motions both sides. At this point you should be able to remove the stencil with a high pressure washer. Granted you are using a garden hose, but warm water is preffered.
Hope this helps
David J. Lee
Rhyno tech sells a dehazer. Cant remember what its called. It is strong stuff but I dont know how well it will work with a garden hose. Plus it will age your screen fast. It would be cheeper to invest in a cheep preshure (cant spell) washer than to use strong chemicals.
I would go and check out places such as Home Depot, or Lowes and look for some type of pressure washer. A lot of emulsion removers come in a concentrated form. They can be dilluted according to your specific needs. Use a stronger version, but I would advise against full strength, and some sort of pressure with your wash. There is no alternitive to a high pressure rinse. Luckily, most home improvement stores will have somthing that you can use relatively cheap.
Hi Brian,
I am home based also, one of the better investments I made was a cheap power washer from a local home depot type of place. This virtually eliminated that same problem. For about $60.00 you can't beat it.
Brian,
I would suggest making the correction upfront rather than making compensations, thus more work, in the end.
Gary mentioned one possibility, underexposure. If you are purposely underexposing an image, especially on vellum, in order to gain half-tones, then later treating the stencil with solvent-based screen wash (either on press or during reclaim), you can cause stencil lock-in, from minor to severe. There are ways to avoid this: 1. properly expose the screen the first time (use an exposure guide/calculator); 2. after development, dry the screen, then re-expose (post-exposure) the stencil; 3. use chemicals specific to screen printing (NOT mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, gasoline, etc.); or 4. use a photoemulsion which will not lock-in. I can recommend Image Mate DC 521 dual cure. It is formulated to avoid stencil lock-in from solvent attack, even when underexposed.
Outside of solvent attack, stencil lock-in can also be attributed to allowing the stencil remover solution to dry on the screen before washing.
Marty Medvetz
Technical Manager
www.image-mate.com
Gary points are right on the button. I emphasize his last point on not letting the reclaim agent set too ong on the screen. Especially if it were to dry, it would have a reverseeffect and cause lock in. Otherwise, there really is no getting away from the fact that a pressure washer is an essential item. Get one and put this issue far behind you.
PC
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