I recently bought out a small screen printing business. With the pile of screens was a dozen locked in screens of various mesh. Most of them appeared to be DXP dual cure and some were the blue emulsion. All of them had the reclaim process started and then left to dry and were really locked in.
I tried soaking them in emulsion remover, tried bleach...heck I even tried paint stripper, acetone, laquer thinner, just about anything I could find. I threw the bad screens in a corner and forgot about them. I even did some searching on the net and in this forum but only found info on how NOT to get into locked in emulsion messes.
A few weeks later I was burning some screens for a job the next day and had issues. The last owners never pressure washed the screens and they were hazed to badly to burn well. I also had run out of de-hazer the day before and wasn't sure what I was going to do...then I had an inspired thought. De-hazer is basically just lye and I had a bottle of drain cleaner, again, basically lye.
I coated the screens and saw the locked in ones in the corner. Just for fun I spread it on one of them and let them sit for 20 or so minutes. I was able to de-haze the screens and when I got to the locked in one it started to clean up!
The next day I grabbed another locked in screen, coated it liberally with the drain cleaner and let it dwell for 40 minutes. I hit it with the small pressure washer and the emulsion came out fairly easy. To make sure it wasn't a fluke I did another 5 screens, 40 minute dwell and again, it pressure washed right out!
thank you very much for the info. somewhere in big shops, small shops, the garage, or even in the frontroom we all have screens that have emulsion locked up.
if it harms the mesh then it's not worth the trouble at all. You'd be losing time.
PrintsCharming: first response i didnt comment, but now?? are you serious?? locked screen means your only option is to have the frame reMeshed.. so again i ask, what are you talking about harming the mesh?? its a lost screen?
PrintsCharming: first response i didnt comment, but now?? are you serious?? locked screen means your only option is to have the frame reMeshed.. so again i ask, what are you talking about harming the mesh?? its a lost screen?
have you read this post?
__________________ "well, you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't."Bart Simpson www.wabangwear.wordpress.com
im pretty sure im the 3rd post.. stating it worked on 4 screens.. locked for years and nothing would break it loose. a few minutes with Draino with sodium hypochlorite and almost perfect and brand new.
printscharming please explain your definition of a locked screen? how do you suggest getting the emulsion out? you must have an answer that does not have the chance at harming mesh, even though draino does nothing but help
It TOTALLY WORKED!! I bought Draino gel, couldn't find the active ingredients anywhere. But let it set for 40 minutes and all pressure washed right out..YOU ROCK!
Locked in emulsion...a fix (at least for me) 
