Achieving the perfect exposed screen is every printer’s goal. To do so, you’ll need to dial in and refine your screen prep process. Ensuring that you have a good prep process will help eliminate any potential stencil problems such as poor images, pinholes/fisheyes, and stencil breakdown.
We’ll detail our best practices and processes we follow to prep your screens to achieve the perfect mesh surface for exposure.
Here’s our prep process to achieve the best screen exposures possible:
Remove ink and emulsion from screen
We use Franmar One-Step Ink & Emulsion Remover in our dip tank. If the screen is too large for our dip tank, we’ll use Franmar Emulsion Remover while processing in our wash trough (and yes – it’s big!).
Use a pressure washer to clear the screen mesh of any little bits of emulsion and rinse off with normal water pressure.
Remove any haze/ghost images
American Eagle HRlOOO Haze Remover is our preferred choice as it is biodegradable and has a built in degreaser, a great 2-in-l. For extra oomf on those really tough stains, we use a combination of the American Eagle Haze Remover Paste and Jones Brothers Haze Remover Liquid.
Use pressure washer to clear screen mesh of any little bits of dried ink or haze and rinse with normal water pressure for final clean. Ensure that initially a softer spray is used to prevent splash back of chemicals onto the operator.
For new or re-meshed screens
We highly recommend using FOTEC 2023 – Degreaser and Abrader.
Why? New polyester mesh is smooth, slick and has no tooth. Abrading your new mesh creates micro score marks on the mesh.
These score marks help your emulsion adhere onto the mesh allowing you to achieve a nice even coat and strong stencil once correctly exposed. Alternatively, on reused mesh we also use the Franmar Degreaser Liquid.
Drying your screen
We’ll let your screen dry in our drying cabinet. Our drying cabinet is set at 40 – 42 degrees Celsius to help evaporate moisture from the screen. Using a drying cabinet prevents dust, dirt, and debris from contaminating the prepped screen. It also speeds up the exposure cycle.
Once the screen is completely dry, it’s ready for coating! Get your emulsion, coater, and screen ready and off you go.
3 quick tips: Best tips for prepping your screens.
Tip 1: Use a hose/water source with adequate water pressure to help clear the mesh of any debris or dislodge stubborn emulsion.
Tip 2: Thoroughly scrub pre-press chemicals into your mesh and let sit for the prescribed duration. Ensure to thoroughly wash off product before moving on.
Tip 3: Let your screens dry in a clean, dust and dirt-free cabinet to reduce contamination. If you cannot dry in a drying cabinet, ensure that your exposure area is controlled for humidity as this can be problematic for screen drying, especially for coated screens.
How We Prep Your Screens for the Perfect Exposures
Product Recommendations
1. FOTEC 2024 2-in-l Degreaser & Abrader
The best product for brand new screens or re-meshed screens. Offering
2. American Eagle Haze Remover
Includes a built-in screen degreaser, offering a 2-in-l solution to help speed up your screen prep process.
3. Franmar One-Step Clear – Ink & Emulsion Remover
A clear solution that is used 1n combination with a dip tank. 5 galllons/20L concentrate can make up to l30L of solution.
