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Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:39 pm
by ellenchristine
I'm new to this forum so bear with me...

Every time I rinse my screen, so matter how gentle or cool the water flow, I always manage to wash away a good part of the burned emulsion and have to go back and touch up with screen filler. After looking at a few posts here, I get the sense it may be my burning method?

Here's what I'm doing now:

I'm using Diablo emulsion. I am just using a basic bulb (a pretty high wattage I think but still just a basic house lamp bulb) and exposing for 45 minutes. Just laying Plexiglass over the transparency.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:34 am
by d fleming
Wrong light source. Read your info that came with your emulsion and select the proper light.

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:09 pm
by ellenchristine
I got a Diablo kit and the instructions indicated that a regular high-watt lightbulb would be sufficient, if exposed for 45 minutes. Are there any light sources that seem to work pretty well across the board?

Also, from what I'm reading elsewhere, 45 minutes is a very long time to expose. However, that's what the instructions recommended for this bulb I'm using. Could the exposure time be the problem? Do I just need a different bulb and shorter exposure time?

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:40 pm
by d fleming
Unfiltered uv blacklights, Metal halide, carbon arc, the sun, pulsed xenon, mercury vapor, anything but house or flood lights. At 45 minutes of exposure nothing good can happen. And sorry but I've never heard of a Diablo kit. Exactly what kind of emulsion are you using? You may want to go to the manufactureer website and download an exposure table such as this one from ulano for rlx dual cure-

http://www.ulano.com/TechData/RLX.tds.pdf

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:41 pm
by ellenchristine
I completely got the name wrong - it's the Speedball Diazo stuff I'm using.

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 3:09 pm
by d fleming
Switch light sources, unfiltered uv blacklight flourescents are cheap. When you run out of the speedball stuff, switch to ulano products, you'll be much happier.

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 3:56 pm
by ellenchristine
Thanks for the tip! What's a good exposure time range? So 45 minutes is far too high?

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 5:03 pm
by d fleming
Using the proper flourescents and rlx emulsion my time is 4.5 minutes.

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:42 am
by doganonymous
seems like ur underexposing. I use a cheap 500W halogen light and expose for abt 6-8 minutes depending on the artwork. 45 minutes seems too long..but then again i've never used speedball products.

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 9:40 am
by jesssqueege
I feel like that is way too long. I've never had to exposed over 15 minutes and I've used Speedball emulsion.

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 5:19 am
by rustyjoshy
i use the same stuff but i got a construction grade halogen lamp. it seems to work great with a 15 to 20 minute exposure

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:09 am
by tompaine
The plexiglass is probably uv protected, it is stopping the light.

Re: Why won't my screen rinse properly?

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 1:42 pm
by taglessthreads.com
Sounds like you need a better exposure unit. Or just use sunlight to expose your screens. Start at 30 seconds with the film facing the sun. If the emulsion seems to hold better than adjust the time for the next screen.