Hey everyone. I'm about to receive some new equipment and was thinking about a screen drying rack / cabinet. I've ran a search here on the board and ran across this link ( http://screenprinters.net/articles/pdf/DG-drying1.pdf ).
I'm thinking about building a small cabinet that will house about a dozen or so screens (6 on each side) and I can put my exposure unit on top. I was going to add an air chamber in the back of the unit with holes leading in to the box similar to those in the plans in the link above.
I was wondering though about the fan and heating piece? I was planning on running a small squirrel cage type fan that I ran across the other day at wally world. Didn't look too powerful, but still looked like it could move some air through the box.
I'm not sure about the heat part. What kind of heater would you use in an application like this? Or, it it totally essential for a small operation? I figured I would be in pretty good shape if I was able to coat a dozen screens and have them drying at the same time.
I agree with Jasonda. No need for a drying element.
We keep our screens in a large office converted into a darkroom Screweed 2X2's on the walls and squeeze the frames between them. Works great, cheap and we can rack up to 60+ screens easily. We use a dehumidafyer (sp?) in the room to keep moisture out of the air. With our set up we can dry a scree, coat and be ready to burn in about 15 min.
I agree, the dehumifier is more important than a fan or heat. Even with a fan and heat, if it's humid the screens will not dry properly no matter how long they sit.
You can get them at places like Home Depot, Lowes, Sears... Just make sure it's a DEhumidifier and not a Humidifier. Humidifiers are much easier to find and much cheaper. DEhumidifiers are pretty expensive, relatively speaking.
Well, I really need to get started on this so I sat down this morning and sketched out a quick rough plan. It's actually almost to scale. I am in the process of setting up a small shop and waiting on my gear to arrive. So, with my small space in mind trying to maximize function, I figured I could build a rack that would house screens even if I wasn't drying them, hold my exposure unit, and hold a bug light for me to use to coat screens. That way all my screen stuff is in one spot.
Figured I would try to build it out of ply or mdf and 1x2's. I was going to build an air chamber in the back that the fan would blow in to and then force the air through the holes in the back of the main screen drying compartment. The only thing missing from the diagram is the exhaust vents. I was going to vent it with some pvc elbows at the top near the front on either side. It may be cheaper and easier to buy a couple of premade cabinets and just modify them.
Anyway, just thought I'd share this in case it helped anyone or gave any ideas.
Last edited by Solmu; March 6th, 2007 at 07:36 PM.
Reason: changed image to link to prevent sidescrolling
It looks like the door is hinged on the top and lifts upward? Won't that be a little awkward? You will have to lift up the door and hold it up while you reach underneath it to get to the screens.
Might be better to hinge from the bottom and put some chains on it so it doesn't hit the floor, or just make two "cabinet style" doors.
It looks like the door is hinged on the top and lifts upward? Won't that be a little awkward? You will have to lift up the door and hold it up while you reach underneath it to get to the screens.
Might be better to hinge from the bottom and put some chains on it so it doesn't hit the floor, or just make two "cabinet style" doors.
I agree. Didnt even notice it at first. Either on the bottom or even the side would be better to work with.
Good point. My thought was that it would only have 1 door and would always close and wouldn't accidentally come open and expose screens. Maybe I can add a prop of some sort to hold it up. Then again, I may set it up where the door opens all the way up to the top and leans back toward the exposure unit. That will work until it swings down while I'm leaning over in it and it smacks me on the back of the head and puts me on the floor! That would be my luck.
But I do like the bottom hinge idea with the chains. Then it would just latch at the top.
Drying Rack recommendations 
That would be my luck. 
