How Long Does Screen Printing Emulsion Last?
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2018
- How Long Does Screen Printing Emulsion Last? Stay tuned as we demonstrate using 6 month old emulsion that's stated to last 1 screen printing equipment and supplies, be sure to use promo code MikeyDesigns at catspitscreenprintsupply.com
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Have you guys ever had problems with your emulsion going bad? I haven't? The stated shelf life is 1 month for dual cure, and 1 year for photopolymer. What are your experiences?
Mikey Designs & Silk Screen My experience has defied a lot of "expiration warnings" for emulsion and even coated screens. "What are they talking about"? 😜 HaHaHa!!!
LOL! I felt like I was the poster child of how not to produce screens when I first started. Took 20 tries to get one right. Ugh... almost gave up, but here I am.
Mikey Designs & Silk Screen HaHaHa!!! Look at 'cha now!
Haha! This is true.
The Eco-Tex ones definitely expire...their DC blue went bad after about 3 weeks it just wouldn't expose properly at all. Was a really nice exposing emulsion but given the short shelf life we never purchased again... This Xenon dual cure I started using is pretty good I'm past the expiration with it and it's still working fine tho.
I'm with ya on that one!! Your channel keeps getting better & better!
Thank you!!! We really appreciate it. We're learning. lol
Good to know. I will be starting soon. Just trying get a couple more pieces of equipment and finish cleaning out the garage.
That's great to hear, Jim. Keep in touch and let me know how it goes or if you have any questions. I'll be happy to help.
YES!! I had some Diazo expire after a few months and it drove me crazy. Basically, the image would look fine and after washout and I would set it out to dry. After a lot of confusion over why the image wasn't printing I found some of the emulsion wasn't curing and was drying in the image. I since started testing other Diazo's and some would even just hit a point where they would almost completely wash out after a normal exposure time. Now I buy by the quart and keep it in the fridge and that works for my small business
Great to hear you found a solution. I've yet to come across anything remotely like that. However, we tend to go through the emulsion pretty quickly. For this video, I used the emulsion we have on hand that is the oldest. Still works great and went to press with the screen.
This is the main reason why I’m even on this video lol was scared at first seeing a lot of videos saying the shelf life doesn’t matter. Because mine was doing the same thing just watching right away but I’m glad I found your comment to find out it’s my emulsion !!!
*washing
I'm new and bought some used equipment that had been in storage for 3 yrs. I have some 3 yr old emulsion which will be tested soon haha
LOL! That's awesome. Let us know if the emulsion stood the test of time.
I had a dual cure that was a year old and still worked...and I had a screen in a black bag that was coated with photopolymer emulsion I forgot about. 3 years it was in that bag. It exposed fine and I ran a job with it :)
What do you look for to know if it's bad? Not exposing? Doesn't coat right? Harder to reclaim?!?! Makes me want to do some testing. My photopolymer is in my fridge for the first time ever. Curious to see if there's any difference. I have the humidity in my shop down to 35% but I'm having issues with the photopolymer taking days to dry in my vastex dri-vault. Dual cure dries in like 15 minutes in there, photopolymer stays sticky for 2-3 days. ?!?!
I'm still trying to figure out why manufacturers state those time frames. I get it can help save a company from wasting a bunch of time or product, but part of me thinks it's a selling / marketing strategy... to an extent.
I have never had emulsion go bad on me yet, so I couldn't even tell you. I'm curious to know myself. My understanding is the stencil will not holdup during washout. What photopolymer are you using? The humidity here is 57% right now and we don't have any issues with the film sticking.
Mikey Designs & Silk Screen it first happened with a sample of Kiwo I got from ISS. It worked out amazing. Not thinking that I didn't use the screens coated with that for a few days. Tried it again and the poo wouldn't dry. Assumed I got a bad batch. Then same issues with saati textil pv. Didn't use the coated frames for a few days, but burned great! Tried again, tried burning a screen hours later...it stuck to the film so bad, it took almost all the ink off the transparency. Now today, 3 days later, it worked fine (thicker stencil screens are still sticky).
Same issues with kiwo and 2 quarts of textil pv...so I'm assuming these aren't bad batches. I'm at a loss at what the issue is cause dual cure is dry in 20-30 minutes in same conditions.
Thanks for sharing! What’s the longest you’ve ever kept emulsion on screen before exposing?
Any time! Not very long because they get used up quicker than I can keep them on the shelf. As soon as they're dry they get exposed. I'll have to test it out. I know I've kept one for a couple weeks because it was a low mesh count I didn't need right away.
I bought ryonet wbp dual cure emulsion about 2 months ago. I coated around 15 screens the first month and around week 6 i coated 2 more. As i was printing the emulsion was coming off in a small area next to the tape. I just taped the bottom side and continued printing. Ultimately i ended up exposing a new screen to finish the rest. As for the screen i was replacing it wouldnt wash out completely. I used emulsion remover a scrub pad and even went to the car wash for the pressure washer and still it didnt completely come out. I assume it was because the emulsion is stated to be good for only 6 weeks but then again maybe the screen is junk? Not sure as i am new to this but i guess ill try to label the date mixed and see if the issue remains. Hopefully i dint have to spend another 200 for new screens
It could be that the emulsion was going bad. Also, when you put emulsion remove on the screen, be sure to not let it dry because that could lock them and you won't be able to reclaim the screen.
Update, after watching a video from catspit productions it turns out it is screen lock from under exposing my screens. I usually set my screens in the sun to dry bud since it was cold and wet recently i just dryed my exposed screens next to a heater vent and i should have set it back under the light for a while first. Guess you have to learn the hard way sometimes hahaha
We run autos and manuals and use 60-355 mesh... I’ve used emulsion that was 3 years old and capillary film that was almost 4 (and I’ve got some that’s prob 10yrs still in the tube I cld try lol)... I’ve never had any failures... The only problem that I HAVE had and that is even with brand new emulsion is the emulsion coming off BRAND new MESH that needed to be abraided and degreased.. THREE DIF TIMES🤦🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️.. I mean coming off in large clumps where you cld tell it was not adhering to the mesh... that’s some new 110 mesh I just bought and I coated those 2 screens with a diff emulsion last night,,, along with 22 other screens with the standard Ulano BLUE we normally use... we’ll see.. great clips Mikey! Happy Thanksgiving😉👊👊
Thank you!!! And thanks for sharing. Let us know how things turn out! Happy thanksgiving!
Im just starting the printing business. I have a question which is the best emulsion i saw some guys use red some blue i don know how man others are . Can you help me
Certainly. There a few types of emulsion, but the most commonly used are photopolymer, which is a fast exposing emulsion, but doesn't hold good halftone dots, and dual cure, which exposes much slower but holds better detail. I personally like to use Ulano Orange photopolymer, and TZ emulsion. I've tried others, and this combo seems to work really well for me. Here are some links to those emulsions. I hope this helps!
Ulano Orange Emulsion - amzn.to/2sSWpIE
Ulano TZ Emulsion for Halftones - amzn.to/2nyXxhH
I am new as well but the ryonet wbp dual cure emulsion has worked well so far. It usually takes me around 5 1/2 mins to expose a screen with a 500w halogen work light.
keep it cool and will last a long time
Like 1 month ago i burned a screen with an emulsion expired from 6 months, now the emulsion remover doesn’t work, i have a lot of residue on the screen.. I have to try with bleach and high pressure water
Did you let the emulsion remover dry on the emulsion at any point?
Do you keep your emulsion in the fridge to keep it fresher?
I just keep it in an air conditioned room. You don't want it to get too cold or too hot.
I have NOT encountered a problem with emulsion going bad other than a few years ago I left a gallon out where it froze. That gallon after thawing was NOT useable. In addition, I have had capillary film that was several years old that was good.
Thanks for the feedback! It's great hearing everyone's experience and learning from it.
Hello, I must be doing something wrong! I am new at this, I am exposing my screens, they look good to start with then all the emulsion just washes away. I thought that it could be because the emulsion was a few months old but you just crashed that idea. Please help
Hi Maria. Was the emulsion washing away during while washing out your image? Was it after printing? If after printing, what emulsion were you using and what ink? I'm thinking it could be under exposure but I'll need more details.
Hello, thank you for replying. yes it washed away during washing out the image after exposing. Not at first, i could see the image washing out as it should then after a few minutes the whole lot washed away and I was left with a perfectly clean screen. I exposed it for 45 minutes under a standard house hold lamp. I have now bought a 1000w halogen lamp (a flood light). So frustrated with myself! my emulsion is the two part type and quite a few months old.
Yikes! Yeah, it probably did go bad then. We store ours at room temperature and like to use Ulano. What brand of emulsion were you using?
Jacquard.
Never heard of it. Ulano, Chromaline, or Kiwo would more than likely last you longer and not go bad. I hope this helps.
which emulsion are you using? Diazo emulsion expires and it will drive you crazy if you are a noob and don't understand why everything is screwed up.. lmao not that it happened to me or anything.
would you be interested in a business idea?
It won't expire bro just put it in a cool dry dark space I have experienced it
Thanks for the feedback! We keep ours inside the bathroom here at the shop which helps keeping it going bad.
How d'you even know if your emulsions have gone bad?
It'll just rinse out instead of holding.
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Thanks!
Yes!
Thanks!!! I'll keep using this or similar music then.
I just wanna say halo
Halo!!! Great to hear from you. Thanks for checking out my videos.
Hello, and no i haven't ran into any real problems yet.
Good to hear! Keep on printing.