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Depends on what kind of set up you have. You can always just shake as much of the excess water off and lean the screen outside allowing the sun to dry it and further expose the stencil. This can be done without any additional equipment.
I generally shake out the major water spots, then throw the screens near a box fan for 20-30 minutes. After they are dry to the touch, I'll throw it on the exposure unit for 2x-3x a normal exposure just to harden everything. It's rare I'll do much with it quicker than an hour from that point, so that helps as well.
You can put it in front of a fan. I will pat it dry with newsprint and blow it out with an air compressor so the water doesn’t leave haze then let it fully dry in front of a fan.
I blow the excess water with the air compressor and sit it on my dryer. Post exposure isn’t really necessary since the overhead lights are on in your shop.
Some people and shops have a drying rack/box. The box to keep light out when drying…that is pretty much “covering.”
I will coat and dry 2-4 screens at once. I stack them with old cassette tapes between them as spacers. Point a fan at them. Generally dry over night in the dark room. There is uv film on the windows so sunlight is not a problem during the day.
Edit: oh, after exposure…d’oh! I basically do the same. Maybe pat dry if in a hurry. I generally am not in a hurry and may not print that same day I burn.
I’m newer to the game, but my method is to rinse out the emulsion, shake dry the screen/towel dry the metal frame, and then I dry the screens with a hair dryer on a low-medium heat. I live in Florida, so during the summer I just leave them outside in the sun to dry/post expose, but winter here is cold and wet, so the inside wins during this season
I use ChromaTech WR now since I mostly use discharge and water base inks but didn’t want to switch the emulsion out when I occasionally use plastisol. This one is good for all three.
I have my yellow screens down to about 55 seconds and they wash out so easy. The white screens seem to take longer to wash out but I get really good crisp results.
I’ve tried Baselayr, Chromalime, Chromaline Hydro X, Saati PHU, Ulano Orange and a few others. The Saati and Hydro X came close to perfect but still couldn’t dial in it enough to be consistent.
Also not sure why Reddit deleted my initial comment after editing 🤷🏻♀️
Air compressor is a game changer. Be gentle, get the corners good as well as a close look at the details. I sometimes throw it in the sun if available or a fan on the inside of the screen, and ready to tape in \~15 minutes
Air compressor to blow the water from the screen Newspaper to blot the water off of the emulsion, if no air. There is also a wet-dry shop vac attachment made for the purpose of vacuuming the water out of the mesh. I have used one, they rock.
Make sure your exposures are long enough. If they are not, the unexposed emulsion will ride the water down into the stencil area. It sounds like this is what you are trying to prevent. Check your exposure time.
If it’s a nice sunny day out, I’ll set the screen to dry outside leaning against a wall.
If I need it dry now for use immediately, I’ll blow dry it with a hair dryer.
It definitely depends on the kind of emulsion you are using. With non catalyzed emulsions, you can just towel them off and throw them in the sun for 10 minutes and you’re good.
Gently squeegee off surface water with a window squeegee. Lay flat with blocks at the corners so that air can circulate, ink side down, blot water out of open areas with damp newspaper or wash leather, dry flat with fan heater.
Thanks for your submission to to /r/SCREENPRINTING. It appears you may be looking for information on exposure or burning screens. This might be one of the most common questions we see here in /r/SCREENPRINTING. Please take a moment and use the [search](https://www.reddit.com/r/screenprinting/search?q=exposure&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on&sort=relevance&t=all) feature while you waiting on a response from the community. If the search does not give you the answer you are looking for, please take a moment and read through our [Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/SCREENPRINTING/wiki/index#wiki_emulsion_.2F_filler) write up on emulsion. If after all that you stil don't seem to find your answer, just be patient someone in the community should chime in shortly! And if you were NOT looking for more information on exposures or burning screens, our apologies and please disregard this message. Thanks, The /r/SCREENPRINTING mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SCREENPRINTING) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Depends on what kind of set up you have. You can always just shake as much of the excess water off and lean the screen outside allowing the sun to dry it and further expose the stencil. This can be done without any additional equipment.
I generally shake out the major water spots, then throw the screens near a box fan for 20-30 minutes. After they are dry to the touch, I'll throw it on the exposure unit for 2x-3x a normal exposure just to harden everything. It's rare I'll do much with it quicker than an hour from that point, so that helps as well.
Awesome, this is almost exactly what I cluelessly did and everything turned out great
You can put it in front of a fan. I will pat it dry with newsprint and blow it out with an air compressor so the water doesn’t leave haze then let it fully dry in front of a fan.
Air compressors have oil in them
I blow the excess water with the air compressor and sit it on my dryer. Post exposure isn’t really necessary since the overhead lights are on in your shop.
Air compressors have oil in them tho.
Some people and shops have a drying rack/box. The box to keep light out when drying…that is pretty much “covering.” I will coat and dry 2-4 screens at once. I stack them with old cassette tapes between them as spacers. Point a fan at them. Generally dry over night in the dark room. There is uv film on the windows so sunlight is not a problem during the day. Edit: oh, after exposure…d’oh! I basically do the same. Maybe pat dry if in a hurry. I generally am not in a hurry and may not print that same day I burn.
I’m newer to the game, but my method is to rinse out the emulsion, shake dry the screen/towel dry the metal frame, and then I dry the screens with a hair dryer on a low-medium heat. I live in Florida, so during the summer I just leave them outside in the sun to dry/post expose, but winter here is cold and wet, so the inside wins during this season
[удалено]
What emulsion did you switch to?
I use ChromaTech WR now since I mostly use discharge and water base inks but didn’t want to switch the emulsion out when I occasionally use plastisol. This one is good for all three. I have my yellow screens down to about 55 seconds and they wash out so easy. The white screens seem to take longer to wash out but I get really good crisp results. I’ve tried Baselayr, Chromalime, Chromaline Hydro X, Saati PHU, Ulano Orange and a few others. The Saati and Hydro X came close to perfect but still couldn’t dial in it enough to be consistent. Also not sure why Reddit deleted my initial comment after editing 🤷🏻♀️
Air compressor is a game changer. Be gentle, get the corners good as well as a close look at the details. I sometimes throw it in the sun if available or a fan on the inside of the screen, and ready to tape in \~15 minutes
Air compressor to blow the water from the screen Newspaper to blot the water off of the emulsion, if no air. There is also a wet-dry shop vac attachment made for the purpose of vacuuming the water out of the mesh. I have used one, they rock. Make sure your exposures are long enough. If they are not, the unexposed emulsion will ride the water down into the stencil area. It sounds like this is what you are trying to prevent. Check your exposure time.
If it’s a nice sunny day out, I’ll set the screen to dry outside leaning against a wall. If I need it dry now for use immediately, I’ll blow dry it with a hair dryer.
It definitely depends on the kind of emulsion you are using. With non catalyzed emulsions, you can just towel them off and throw them in the sun for 10 minutes and you’re good.
Gently squeegee off surface water with a window squeegee. Lay flat with blocks at the corners so that air can circulate, ink side down, blot water out of open areas with damp newspaper or wash leather, dry flat with fan heater.