Tweet
I'm very new to screen printing and am struggling burning screens. Anyone in San Diego willing to help a newbie?????
-
-
Welcome Newbie,
Glad you're here, we have a ton of resources for you!! Burning screens is a common complication for new printers. Coating screens takes practice with proper techniques and there are various issues that can arise but we've got your back! Check out these links (you may need to copy and past). Adjust your techniques and reach out anytime with specific issues you're having!
-
Awesome, thanks!!!
Comment
-
Ok, so I watched the videos and have questions I should have asked first...
I am using Ulano Orange Emulsion on a 120 and a 160 white screen....I am using a 500w light shining down onto my screen. I put a large pane of glass over the
I have wasted about 6 screens now trying to burn them properly. I have tried 3:45 , 4:20 & 5 minute burns and have mixed results at best. My last 3 screens didn't wash out at all. I've used the shower with a strong flow and an outside hose with a power washer (not at full strength) as well.
What the hell am I doing wrong?
I don't have a dark room so I'm using my garage as dark as I can get it. I started burning screens at night and they turned out a little better than during the afternoon with some light.
Am I overexposing the screen by the time and/or by the ambient light??Comment
-
it sounds like you have some pre exposure light issues. If you can see natural sunlight coming in from anywhere, you can and typically will, have issues with your emulsion partially exposing. Other than creating a truly light free environment, we have an easy adjustment for this. We suggest using an emulsion that is more forgiving of sub-optimal lighting conditions like our WBP. It is a diazo emulsion, so your exposure times will increase. But your light contamination issues will drop considerably. This doesn't mean you can keep your garage door open, you will still want to move forward with creating as light safe of an environment as you can.
The other question I have: Are you rinsing out your screen inside the house, or outside? I ask since you mentioned the outside hose and pressure washer. If you are rinsing outside, then that is issue number one. The light from the sun is exposing your screen - this can happen within 3 seconds.
Let us know some deeper details and we can help to get you dialed in!Comment
-
Chuggins....thanks for taking the time to point out issues I would have never known about so I will absolutely adjust my pre-exposure issue. I think I can somewhat mitigate that by only coating my screens at night and also getting a safe light to use.
For the most part I am rinsing the screens out in my house in my shower. I was not keeping the screens covered from light however so I have to change that. I did however try and do an outside screen rinsing but it was in daylight so nothing washed out......your answer explained why unfortunately.
I will have to look into the diazo emulsion.....I hope my local supply store has that and I'll ask next time I go get some.
I'm going to take a class on screen printing and hopefully can find someone in San Diego who is willing to mentor and teach me because I really want to learn and get good at this!
Thanks again for your help!Comment
-
We'd love to have you at one of our classes, they're on sale for summer too! Check this out...https://www.screenprinting.com/colle...ience-class-ca
Also check out our dual cure diazo emulsion. We highly recommend this for your process as it's more forgiving than other emulsions...
-
Find out more about JDRABINE
Comment