I am pretty much brand new into the screen printing, and I am having some troubles getting my emulsion working with me. We turned an extra bathroom (6' x 6') at our new shop into a dark room; changed lights to yellow bulbs , blacked out the window, and put a screen rack in there. I read that people use a dehumidifier, draw fan, heater, vent, and filters in certain locations to idealy control the drying and contamination of screens. The setup controls the air flow, temperature, and filters dust/dirt out. I live in Southeast Texas where it is very humid and warm almost all year round and I was wandering if anyone could tell me at what humidity level and temperature should I keep the room and if anyone had any guidance on how to layout the setup to control the airflow.
Proper Dark Room Specs
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I have a problem just washing out. I have found out about drying and cleaning screens properly and now I am trying to discover the best exposure time for my setup and the best technique for washing out. I tend to blow everything out, and I am pretty sure I have been doing things all wrong and thats why it takes me 5 or 6 trys to get a good screen. I have what i believe is a 500W UV exposure unit, bought used and has no brand or model number on it. I expose for about 12 minutes and then pressure wash with the tip fanned out. I read you shouldn't pressure wash and that i am exposing too long. Tomorrow our dehumidifier will have been running on its 3rd day and I should have 5 fresh nicely dried screens and I can perform test to find my best exposing time and hopefully learn to wash out right.
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what type of light can we used in dark room for operation...for example when we put the emulsion to the block..??
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SLeach, I am in the same boat as you are but with a little different set up. I live in Western New York (Buffalo) and my set up is down in my basement next to a utility sink. I have a make shift screen rack that I built from scrap wood, a yellow bug light over my work area and 2 x 250W halogen work lamps that I removed the UV filter/glass from.
My first attempt I applied the emulsion and let the screen dry for 4 hours or so and exposed the image for 15 minutes. When I first start washing out the screen I could see the artwork and everything but as I continued to wash it out, all of the emulsion around the artwork started to run and the image just completely washed out.
My second attempt yielded similar results. I applied the emulsion (CCI DXP dual cure emulsion) and let the screen dry for a day and a half and exposed the artwork for 30minutes. Not knowing what I did wrong I figured this would be the easiest first step in determing what the problem was.
So, hoping that someone may be able to shed some light, I am posting my dilemma here! I know my equipment and work area are the complete opposite of "professional" however I have seen some youtube videos of other peoples setups which are a lot worse than mine!
My first attempt I applied the emulsion and let the screen dry for 4 hours or so and exposed the image for 15 minutes. When I first start washing out the screen I could see the artwork and everything but as I continued to wash it out, all of the emulsion around the artwork started to run and the image just completely washed out.
My second attempt yielded similar results. I applied the emulsion (CCI DXP dual cure emulsion) and let the screen dry for a day and a half and exposed the artwork for 30minutes. Not knowing what I did wrong I figured this would be the easiest first step in determing what the problem was.
So, hoping that someone may be able to shed some light, I am posting my dilemma here! I know my equipment and work area are the complete opposite of "professional" however I have seen some youtube videos of other peoples setups which are a lot worse than mine!
The dehumidifier instructions said to just plug in and run as default settings for 3 days and then you can set timers up to just keep room at a certain RH. I found out that emulsed screens should be kept in 90-105 *F temp with no more than 50%RH. Our screens were dried great today and it only took 4 tries to find out my exposure time is 12 minutes. Also, go to youtube and search ryonet, they have great videos, helped me tremendously.
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yea, that's where I got my starter kit from. Maybe I should watch the DVD....again!
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sometimes the Polish in me shines through a lot more on some days than others. I was getting ready to coat my next screen to try all of this again when I noticed a little bottle on my shelf next to all the other chemicals I got. "ProChem Diazo Sensitizer" Maybe I'll have better luck with this stuff mixed in my emulsion huh?
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