January 18th, 2012, 10:26 AM
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#6 (permalink)
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Member
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- Jan 2012
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Re: Darkroom.........................
Ted ... I would suggest that you do something where you end up with chambers ... the room that the screens are coated should be far removed from any of the water processes (spray out / wash out / reclaim / etc.)
The emulsions are light sensitive therefore ALL coating, drying, shelving, and exposing should be done in rooms that are yellow light ... drying cabinets are good if maintained properly (clean them often including the fans -and- heating elements) ... think of this as a laboratory environment ... ALL dust particles should be cleaned from the walls, ceiling, floors, doors, etc. ... moisture is your enemy as it inhibits the cross linking of the emulsion ... as discussed keep the emulsion itself contaminate free as well ... don't use your finger to paddle the emulsion back into the bucket <--- the salts, oils, etc. = contamination
Fans in a screen room are your enemy ... they are dust Slingers -and- the static they produce make it even worse ... remember it is called SCREEN printing because it starts with the SCREEN ... Look you have one of the nicest textile screen printing machines in the world and your Mustang deserves to be fed a healthy diet of fantastic SCREENs :-o
Note: a good clean water dip tank with agitator for post exposure would go a long way as well ... once water is reintroduced to the screen it will quickly block the post exposure issues -and- soften the emulsion for a later rinse out <--- but keep this far away from your screen storage as to not reintroduce moisture in your process
Warning YOU are in Louisiana where the humidity levels are ridiculous ... so ... You need to pay particular attention as to exterior walls, windows, doors, etc. otherwise you are fighting an up hill battle for no reason !!!
BTW ... a common misnomer is that people are always adding more heat and raising the temperature of the coated screen ... where they really should be more focussed on getting the moisture levels down
Hope this helps :-p
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