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[wenico]

Some questios please thatI need answered.

I've been asked to do 150 tee shorts for my grandson;s holiday programme adn would love to help.

I've recently bought a screen printing set up but have not put it to use as yet.

I've got Kiwocol Poly OPlus SRX emulsion which I haven't mixed together yet.

I'm told that when it's mixed together it has a life span of four to six weeks.

My question is if when I mix it I coat four screens with the emulsion and keep them in the dark.   How long will the emulsion still be good for on the screens.   There is a web site for Kiwo products  www.kiwo.com  but I'm having dificultis finding my answers.

Second question.   Forgive me I did say I was brand new to this.

I am using or wil be using Permaset water based inks.  I only have available a heat gun and a heat press to cure the ink.   I'm hoping to give them an initial going over with teh ehat gun to seal the inks and then finish them off under the heat press.   What temperature setting and for how long should I press to cure the ink.

I'll stick up a photo when I've completed my first oen so that you can all see.


Regards


Roy N.

[boomerbabe]

I found this on another forum. I personally have not used Permaset inks. You'll have to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit for the proper temp unless you use Celsius. From what I read curing is mostly driving out the moisture in the ink so hovering the heat press above it for a time before pressing may be advantagious. The below is a quote:

I use permaset inks with a heat press and it works well. I use a heat gun to dry the inks before I put it in the heat press but it only takes like 10 to 20 seconds to dry on high heat, then I put it in the heat press cover it with a Teflon sheet and press for 90 seconds at 200C degrees with medium pressure. I have found that the permaset gold metallic inks need 2 presses to be cured fully. Besides that I have done hundreds of shirts using this method and they have all turned out great.

Hope this is helpful.

[COCHISE]

Roy, I do not use water based ink, however your site has how to articles that would be handy to review for general knowledge of this part of the industry..

http://www.kiwo.com/Articles/Articles.htm

Having said that here is a couple of links to Ryonets videos on that subject and more.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Ryonet&annotation_id=annotation_882844&feature=iv#p/search

http://www.ryonetblog.com/free-video-how-tos/?tubepress_page=1

IMHO, water based ink takes special skill and understanding of the process to be successful. Google search 'screen print, water based ink", buy some coffee and clean your glasses, you have many hours of videos to watch. You can do it.......... do not get discouraged. You must start with screen cleaning and prep then emulsion coating, then proceed from there to burn the screen.

ken

[wenico]

Thanks Ken

I'll start watching


Regards


Roy N.

[COCHISE]

GREAT........... GOOD ON YA.

There are several folks that do screen printing here. I am sure they will chime in to answer questions.

Ken

[MonkeyMeMe]

 I use only waterbased inks, for screening,
I use my heat press to cure my inks,,

For the emulsion answer first tho, once your screen has been burned your emulsion is stable on the screen,, so you can keep it for a very long time, and reuse it when every you want..

Now to the water based ink,
I use envior strip to clean my screens from ryonet.. when i want to strip off the emulsion.

Plain luke warm water clears our screens of ink.
I use a laudry tub in my laundry room...lol

After i have pushed my ink thru i hit it carefully with a blow dryer, heat gun or if it is a short run and i have  helper, i line up 10 shirts on a table, by the time i have 10 the 1st one is dry enough to hang,
I kinda like letting the air dry the ink,,
the reason i do that is when you hit it with a heat gun or blow dryer and get it to dry your ink could crack
when i air dry i have never had any crack,,,,
so i hang them and keep that going,,
water based drys fairly fast,, so you will need to keep the ink going in the screen too. re flooding the screen, as you go.

I heat press them all at once.
20 sec,,, 350 degrees
done..
when you first start,, do some tester shirts wash them 10 times,,, just to make sure you have everything down right,,,

for black shirts i like speedball white,, and metallics,,
other wise i use permaset,,
 hope this helps
MMM

[wenico]

You're a winner Sandy Jo.

My question with the emulsion is really before it is exposed... If the emulsion is only good for 4 to 6 weeks after I've mixed it... I'm trying to stretch my money out a bit.  Otherwise as I'm only really starting it's going top cost me almost $50 every four or five weeks to keep myself in emulsion. 

When the screens are coated with emulsion but not exposed can I keep them isolated in a darkened place until I need to expose them or is the four to six weeks still applicable to the unexposed emulsion.

 Can I mix part of the emulsion to save that way... possibly mixing half amounts.

Regards

Roy N.

[chrise]

Hi Roy

Have you looked into emulsion sheets? They may have a longer shelf life. Or maybe try a different emulsion to coat your screens. I use speedball emulsion and once mixed has a shelf life of 6 months in the frigerator.

[MonkeyMeMe]

I use the capillary film, cut it to sheets and use what i need when i need it

[jadran]

Can you use the capillary film with solvent inks?

[MonkeyMeMe]

I am not sure, but I bet booger and Ken know,
MMM

[deChez]

Can you use the capillary film with solvent inks?

I think you can use only water based inks

[jadran]

Thanks for the reply girls. In the meantime I checked on Ryonets site and it seems that its more suitable for plastisol and solvent inks, and only shorts runs for water based inks.

[COCHISE]

On a recent run of 100 shirts, using four screens, I used capilary film for my plastisol ink, I have no experience with water base or solvent ink.

It is a ROYAL PITA............... I absolutely hate the process and the uncertainty of a good adhesion to the screen and complete saturation with water/EMULSION from the front to the back...
This was done with brand new screens, properly abraded and cleaned (this ain't my first rodeo) and following Ryonet's directions to the letter.

 When I have more time I'll cut some more screens and report back.

 On the plus side, it does expose well with my DIY exposure unit and it holds detail quite nicely. These were NOT halftone screens, just simple two color.. I do not know how well it would hold halftones but I suspect it would be suitable for simple screens.

That is only my opinion, others may have had outstanding success with it.
How about it YUDU users.......... what am I doing wrong??? OR is my desire to see the pink travel completely through the screen a false one?? The job ended and I have not contacted Ryonet for further info and assistance, yet.

On a related topic........... I had purchased a roll of Ryonets Cap film a while back to serve as a backup in case my liquid emulsion exceeded it's shelf life.......... yup, when I needed to use the liquid, it had turned to jello. Okay, I broke out the roll and applied it to the new screen.......10 min at 500 watts at 20" has burnt 30 or so screens with the roll on..............nope not a ghost of an imprint......WT*??

 I contacted Ryonets customer service department and they sent a fresh roll, NO HESITATION, NO ISSUES. It exposed properly.
I will support Ryonet in every way I can and I applaud the personnel in their employ.

ken

[chrise]

I could not get the hang of it with the capillary film so I have been using emulsion. I still have an occasional problem with the emulsion bubbling up when washing out but it is a lot cheaper  to redo a screen with emulsion than the capillary film so I am less stressed about it.

[knifemaker3]

Different emulsions for different jobs.  Water based takes it's own, plastisol and solvent as well.

I used the pink dxp emulsion ryonet sells ever since I started screening.  I don't like the shelf life of it so I bought a gallon of chromablue emulsion from Alpha supply.

What a difference.  I have a homemade exposure unit with 6 black flourescent bulbs @ 5" from the glass top.  with the pink dxp I could expose in 3-3 1/2 minutes. 

With Chromablue and simple spot colors it's 30 seconds and with halftone 15 seconds!    I'm definitetly in love with chromablue emulsion.  I'm not sure how well it would work with other types of exposure units but with mine it works great.  Plus it is supposed to have a year shelf life and comes presensitized.

[COCHISE]

Great tip........... thanks Craig. I'll go check it out.

ken