Help with a possibly ruined screen

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lajoyce
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Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:16 am

Help with a possibly ruined screen

Post by lajoyce »

Hi- I am new to screen printing- I recently bought a speedball screenprinting kit and made a stencil and did some prints, then I went to strip the screen, and it appears that I let some ink dry on there that I did not know about or see until after I stripped the photoemulsion off.

There is a good amount of ink on the screen that would probably ruin any stencil I tried to make on there. I tried a bunch of different household cleaners to remove the ink (windex like the instructions with the kit recommended, ammonia, paint thinner, bleach- each in separate sessions, washed with dish soap after each time) and it did nothing at all. I used Speedball water based fabric ink. Is there something I haven't tried that might work?

If not, I would like to get a new screen. I saw that speedball sells precut screen fabric- what does getting the mesh back onto the frame entail? Is this something I could just do or is it a difficult process? Is it not worth my time and I should just buy a new frame w/ screen in it?
Sorry if these are painfully n00bish questions, I just haven't seen any information on this anywhere.
broham23
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Re: Help with a possibly ruined screen

Post by broham23 »

Hey there-

That's called a haze, or ghost image or something like that. If you hold the screen up to a light can you still see through mesh? If so it just means the screen is basically stained and can probably be used again no problem. If you clean it really well (which it sounds like you did) and degrease it, then you could probably use it a couple more times, overlapping new images without any problem.

If it's bad and it's clogged up with dried ink, then you have a couple options. First, you could buy something called haze remover or stripper, which is basically a spreadable acid that'll eat the old ink off. You need a pressure washer to blast at it though. If you dont' want to deal with that, you could find a local print shop (if there is one near you) and ask them to reclaim your screen. If they're cool enough they'd do it for next to nothing.

If I'm not mistaken, speedball screens are the kind where the mesh is not glued to the frame right? I believe there is a groove cut into the frame and there should be a kind of white cord hammered into this groove locking the mesh in place. If that's what you have you're in luck. You can just rip eveything out, lay a new piece of fabric on the frame and press the cord+new mesh into the groove. Just start on one side and pull it as tight as possible all around. Use a dull screwdriver or something to help get it shoved in the groove all the way around. After that just trim off the extra around the edges and you're good. It might take a few attempts to get it tight, but it'll be worth it. Good luck!
lajoyce
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Re: Help with a possibly ruined screen

Post by lajoyce »

Thanks for the reply!

It is definitely clogged up with dried ink (can see it in the mesh holes when I hold it up to the light). I will be checking to see if there are any print shops in my neighborhood.

And yes, the speedball frame is as you described it, with the groove and the cord. It's good to know that its not a huge deal to change the fabric.
Thank you for the tips!
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