Standard vs Winged , Special Squeegies...

Printwizard

The M&R ink traps look really interesting but no clips on YouTube showing them working, fitting on and off and a clean. Info like fitting on and off, cleaning times etc, how they adjust with the squeegee or flood bar angles. I can see that a big wing on a flood bar given any angle will dig toward the mesh.

Action Engineering -1

If I'm not mistaken, we were the very first to introduce the winged flood bars. We manufactured them for use on Precision Hydraulic Ovals starting in 1990. Since then, the design has been applied to all brands of automatic machinery.

We have had only very positive feedback over the last 20 years about these special flood bars. The time savings when these are used is immediately apparent and the cost justification is almost immediate. Most printers think it's a no-brainer. If you're not using them now - you really should be.

We offer the first one at 50% off.

Recently - we altered the design slightly to make them a bit more clean up friendly. Additionally, the wings are now 1/4" taller. We stock our winged flood bars in 6 different sizes and can make custom sizes if required.

We will have our Winged Flood bars on display for your evaluation in Long beach next week. I hope to see you all there.

__________________
Erik Naftal
Action Engineering, Inc.
Atlanta, GA. U.S.A.
800-228-4668, 770-934-1584
www.actionengineering.com

Printwizard

Any user feedback on the double stroke squeegies, are they that good? Also, sharpening them?? What is your favourites for what ink or jobs??

RobertWBarnes

I was watching the Printhead on the Mustang cycle during Ted's install and I thought to myself ... since the squeegee and Floodbar both have independent valves to move them up and down ... why couldn't we devise a way that you could flood using a squeegee in the Floodbar position -then- use the digital controlled squeegee pressure to energize both the squeegee cylinders -and- the Floodbar cylinders -and- end up with a double squeegee printing in one stroke ... hope I explained that well enough to understand :-?

The great thing about that is you would have independent control of both squeegees during the print -and- plenty of ink well on white ink (patent rights reserved by RWB)

RobertWBarnes

If you understand the proper use of the ink traps they really are the best solution aside from walling off the ink area ... I've been in a shop that literally tapes off a wall on both sides of the print stroke just outside of the squeegee / Floodbar width -and- they can then custom mix a PMS color based on the size of their production run they accurately calculate the amount of ink required to complete the job and literally end up with a tiny amount of "left over ink" at the end of their job that "left over ink" then goes into a small container in their test lab ... Really great idea :-))

As for the ink traps ... they will conveniently mount up to a certain width on many presses as most MFG's simply do not have a wide enough mounting bar to pinch them between ... example ... if the mounting bar is 16" wide and the squeegee is 16" wide it is not a problem -but- if the squeegee were 20" wide then that means the ink trap is dangling 2" out side the mount bar on each side ... much wider and you would need to add an external clamp to hold them on ... not a dig on Anatol -but- conventional mounting of the ink traps won't work on the Anatol style of clamping system because of the way Anatol's snap clip thingy holds the Floodbar :-(

Admiral

We have about 10 winged flood bars, a lot of QCM inks are thick bodied and work much better with them, not to mention 2 for white, 1 for black at all times.

We have a smiling jack and I have successfully used it for one hit whites and very fast printing of underbases but it's trickier to setup and sometimes doesn't work like I would hope, only have a few thousand prints on it.

screenprintguy

if you get into any waterbased printing, they really become an essential addition. I also use M&R inktraps, but for water based printing, the inktraps drag on the emulsion and break it down quicker, set your flood bar about a quarter's distance off of the emulsion with the M&R winged flood bars and they keep the water based ink in the print area, keeping it from moving all over the screen which will eventually work under the tape, then cause a mess, not to mention, they don't touch they screen, keeping your emulsion strong. I'd go with M&R's wings over action if I were you. Just my opinion, I have both

Printwizard

Screenprintguy, what is the difference between the two??

screenprintguy

The M&R winged floods are lighter, more of a solid body, so easier to work with, especially cleaning ink build up. The actions are fine, but if I were to buy more, I'd go with the mr's

jasonl

I have used both for over 10 years and they both have good and bad sides. The traps will break mesh is they are not kept clean. Mostly on white plastisol. The springs will get clogged and not function and will rip mesh if you dont keep them clean. They also break down emulsion on long runs. They are GREAT, when maintained correctly. My printers used to break screens everyday with them till I got ****** and threw them in the garbage! My bad, should've made them just clean them properly.

Winged flood bars are good, but the wing flares to far outside, I bent all of mine to keep the ink in the middle of the screen. Also, the wings should be taller, I complain every year at the show in ATL, but I am told I am the only one who has ever complained about it. Looks like they may be offering a fix to that now. With that said, they are better than nothing at all, and I use them on my whites and blacks, or colors with long runs.