been having probs with some of my screens when washing out. some clean up ok and some have a nasty shadow and some residue emulsion that i can't even scrub out. i don't jet wash them as i use an abrasive cloth. i only use sericol emulsion and stencil remover and i clean the screens with meths before coating.
regards steve i hope i have attatched pictures
This is pretty normal. If you use a pressure washer to clear your screens you'll remove more of it (and probably use less water). The haze does block up the screen a little. Not necessarily a problem at first, but it can definitely cause severe blockages eventually (or depending on the fineness of your work any haze can be a problem). Dehazer works absolute wonders. It's nasty stuff, but it will clean the mesh back to looking new.
A power washer is a must. If one is not available switch your emulsion to Chromaline CP2, it is easy to reclaim. I have tried lots of combos over the years and what works for me now is Murakami photocure BLU emulsion and CCI emulsion remover and degreaser. The photocure BLU has a fast burn time and holds great detail and the CCI products brings my screens back to looking like new without a ghost image everytime. Just spray them on,scrub them with a brush, let them set for a moment and just blast them out.
Hope this helps
would you use the dehazer instead or after you have cleaned the screens.
After you've reclaimed them, if there's still emulsion blockages and ink haze in the screen, you'd use it at that point - basically to clean up those stubborn bits the stencil remover can't handle. It's more or less a last resort, you shouldn't need to use it every time you clean a screen.
It's quite possible that a pressure washer would solve your problems for now, and dehazer is only something you'll need once the screens start to degrade further.
Quote:
Originally Posted by steve41
i don't understand why some come up brilliant and others rank like the pics you see.
A lot of it will depend on what kind of ink you were using, if there was any back flashing, if you're using waterbased how long each screen was left on its lonesome for the ink to dry in the screen (however little), etc. But to a certain extent, it's a mystery
Steve how are you exposing your screens?
Are you using a screen wash to clean your screens up?
It is possible that you have under exposed your screen and then the emulsion has "locked on" with a solvent, meaning that the emulsion will be very difficult to remove.
Did you let the stencil remover dry on the screen when you were removing the stencil? This can cause the emulsion to lock on as well.
As far as the ink stains go, did you use Sericol inks? as they can stain quite badly.
A good wash with a screen wash or a low caustic haze remover will get rid of the staining and the haze remover will get rid of the emulsion residue as well.
Phil
if you use a caustic haze beware that it will eat the mesh and ruin a screen. Scrub on both side and rinse asap. Leaving the caustic haze for too long will kill a screen. We keep a gal in our pit yet it usually last for a long time as we rarely have to use it. Its good to have on hand.
A pressure washer is great for reclaiming screens as well. Will pound out quite a bit.
washing out screen shadow/residue?????UK 
