I was just wondering how often people clean their screens? For example:
Lets say you have a design in your press and you are printing 20 shirts using a red ink. You finish the 20, but the customer gives the impression that they may order more within a few days or maybe you are thinking about printing a handful more to leave in inventory and possibly using a different color. Do you clean your screen at the end of the day or do you wait until the order is complete even if it takes 5 days to complete your order?
The reason I am asking is because my orders are very small and when I get new screens with new designs, sometimes I leave it set up on the press. I will get an order today, an order for tomorrow, maybe 2 tees 2 days later and I am not sure if I should clear/clean my screen of the ink thats on it even if I am going to potentially use it tomorrow. So, how often do you clean your screens?
Why are you even accepting those small orders? You should have a minimum order, and charge screen setup fees.
I break down and clean screens every day. If the customer needs more shirts, it's a separate order.
Believe me, when you get busy, you can't afford to leave jobs set up like that.
I haven't branched out into the custom orders or wholesale world yet. I just started making retail sales from my website and rather than print an inventory worth of tees, I print mostly on-demand until I can afford to do more.
Okay, thanks, I will do that. I will clean them nightly. Again, I was given the wrong information when I got started working with plastisol. A screener I know told me I could just leave the screens as they are over days and it wouldn't make a difference to the screen. I have found however, that the ink seems to dye the area in the screen it sits in and getting the open mesh areas to be perfectly clear after cleaning it seems difficult. I use 160 and higher mesh count screens and I see some residue ink deposits in the open mesh area that are high in fine detail. I can't seem to get these little deposits out. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your counsel! I appreciate it. Learning something new here everyday.
liquid renuit and elbow grease. You really have to scrub it in. Still sometimes i find that there is a very faint image still left. When i recoat the screens it doesent seem to affect the job.
Thanks Angie but what I meant was that there appears to be a little residue ink in the open mesh area on the screens that I am still using/same design. For example: I screen a tee with graphic One using Flo Yellow. I clean the screen when I'm finished. The next day, I screen a tee with the same graphic One but this time is use Scarlett Red (just random color choices here)... After cleaning the screen, there are appears to be some tiny residue of yellow left. And I cant seem to clean it out. Thats the stuff I'm having an issue with.
You may want to try a couple blasts of screen opener after you finish taking the ink off with whatever solvent you use. This seems to take out most of the remaining ink, especially red and yellow pigments.
does not hurt a thing to leave your screen inked up, but your squeegee rubber will suck the oil out of the plastisol and swell. that said i leave my auto inked up for a week, even the squeegees. water base is a different story.
For whatever reason, if I leave screens set up on my press, I card the ink out , wipe out all the excess ink film with an old shirt, then wipe the screen down with press wash, paying special attention to the open areas. If I need to reprint, the open stencil area is clean and I'm ready to roll. As you've noticed, while the ink doesn't "dry", it will thicken up in those small spaces making it harder to get a clean print. And when you're finished with the job, I find the faster you wash it with ink degradent and water then reclaim it, the less of a ghost image you get from the ink. Blue inks seem to be the worst.
I once had a sleeve print I used all the time, and over two years that screen was re-burned twice. The emulsion was fine for at least 6 months until it gave up eventually and it was pinhole hell. This was for a corporate print, and they were always fine with the results. And this was a screen that always had the ink left in it. If plastisol seems dried in the screen, the pigment has probably separated from the solvent and it just needs to be stirred up. If you have dried particles in the open areas of the screen, spray a rag with Sprayway screen opener and wipe the back and top of the open area, then dry it with a dry rag.
How often do you clean your screen? 
