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I'm a complete novice at this and every time I go to use a screen I've burned (two time to be exact) the ink either doesn't pass through at all or I get a partial print. Is this because I've over exposed it or I didn't wash it out enough( I use a garden hose)? I've tried varying the exposure times and all. What causes this? I'm like frantic thinking I need to take an IQ test to prove that I'm not as dumb as this! Thanks, Ryan.
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Re: Complete stupidity?
Thu, March 22, 2007 - 10:45 AMhave patience! Are you covering your exposing screen with a piece of glass? If so, make sure it doesn't have a UV coating...I know that bit of advice is not the most helpful pearl of wisdom..but..um...can you describe what you are doing when you burn a screen?? -
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Re: Complete stupidity?
Thu, March 22, 2007 - 10:47 AMIt could be that when you rinse your sceen out after you've exposed it that you don't wash all the emulsion stuff off.
You really need to get in there and work at it...gently though so you don't tear the screen....till the image is completely free of residue...
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Re: Complete stupidity?
Thu, March 22, 2007 - 9:15 PMWell I'm starting with a relatively small screen, I have one of those wooden speedball frames taped down to a square( so I don't waste tons of emulsion) and I have a 500w halogen worklight suspended 12-14 inches above the the screen when I expose it. The screen sits drying in a dark storage room until its ready to be used. It's guess work from there, I dunno what my exposure time should be but I've let it go 10 minutes and down to 5 ( thinking I was really overexposing it? I need advice here too) and I wash it out with a garden hose and the image shows up and all but when its dry and ready(so I think), no ink passes through. And yes I have a peice of glass covering it, how can you tell if there is a UV coating on it?
Thanks for all your help, Ryan. -
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Re: Complete stupidity?
Fri, March 23, 2007 - 10:02 PMHave you blasted it with some screen cleaner? It's a spray solvent which will clean out the screen if it's just caked with dust or old ink. If you've inked it up twice, you've probably got a blocked screen.
Unless, of course the emulsion was never properly blasted out to begin with, in which case it would cure over time in places where you don't want it. Then you'll ned to reburn your screen and blast it out properly.
-=c
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Re: Complete stupidity?
Tue, January 20, 2009 - 8:02 AMcould be a number of things, first i would recommend moving your light up to 24 inches at least, halogen lights put off alot of heat, and if the emulsion gets hotter than 100 degrees it can cause problems. with a simular set up my burn time was around 15 minutes, but i have no idea what emulsion your using, or what mesh.
is your film positive good, a positive that is not opaque enough could cause these problems.
sometimes if you over expose a screen, it can be very hard to get all the emulsion out, but also if you under expose the screen emulsion residue can drip into the print area while the screen is still wet, causeing the same problem.
sometimes this works, put a very small amount 1/20th of emulsion remover in a cup fill with water & stir, work this mixture into your problem areas and quickly wash out.
www.chaosprinting.com
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Re: Complete stupidity?
Fri, April 6, 2007 - 9:26 PMI think you might be squeegeeing (I don't think that's a word) incorrectly. Are you flooding the screen, running the squeegee with nominal pressure at an angle? Do you have a peice of wood or something in between the shirts or under whatever you're printing? if you're using plastisol ink, are you flashing it in between passes with the ink? -
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Re: Complete stupidity?
Sun, April 8, 2007 - 6:54 PMThanks for everyones help. The problem was in me not finding the right exposure time and then not scrubbing away the "soft" emulsion good enough. I made my first (successful) print a couple of days ago. Thanks again, Ryan.
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