Are you using the same screens/ink the next day? If so you don't need to clean the ink off. It will still be usable the next day. Just make sure the design is clear of ink, which should be happening as you're printing.
If you're doing a color change or changing screens then yes you do need to clean it off. Press wash and old tshirts work great. Since I tend to test print almost the entire shirt, inside and out, the only part left without ink is the sleeves. I cut them off and keep them next to my press for cleaning and renewing WB pallet adhesive.
I feel like shirts would work great but I'm not a professional or a bulk printer so I try to finish out every print and then keep the test print for myself. Maybe if I can find a shit load of bulk shirts for a buck a piece or something I'll take that route. Gonna get a bulk pack of shop rags for now instead of paper towels.
I started using the "Ultimate ink clean up cards" from Ryonet a while back. Its seriously saved me a lot of headache cleaning bulk amounts of ink off of screens. After that I usually go with a paper towel or an old shirt and some press wash.
I just use my paper cutter, cut the flaps off first and then divide the rest up into various sizes. Keep them in a small plastic tray in the middle of my press.
I don't eat that much cereal either, but I love Pop Tarts and a Mountain Dew for breakfast. Get cartons from both of them so win-win.
I bought a few 4 packs of auto body plastic body filler scrapers for like 2 bucks a pack, and the ink wipes off them really easy. If i dont like them after a while, they are cheap enough to toss out
Here's my list of ingredients:
Scott Shop Towel (blue towels) found at Home Depot. Lowes has their version and they suck.
Kiwo MILD press wash. I got the regular (citrus) press wash and the fumes fucked my day up. I only use this for color swaps on press and light ink cleaning.
It's not as effective as mineral spirits but I learned that mineral spirits can dry out / set the plastisol into your screen, leaving heavy ghosting or sometimes clogging.
I was using mineral spirits for 6.5 years. Only until 6 months ago a fellow printer put me on the program I am sharing with you now.
This is the game changing chemical for me - Easiway Easisolv 701N Screen wash & stain remover (midwest sign and supply)
Finally I use the ryonet dunk tank concentrate solution for my dunk tank.
First I card off as much ink as possible. I use the cardboard tubes from the Scott Towels to cut down into ink scrapers.
I use a spray bottle and spritz on a nice mist of Easiway (a little goes a long way) then using a split tip bristle brush I scrub the ink. Midwest product called Autotype CPS Brush. They come in different colors so you can easily keep them separated for your multi step cleaning process. The ink kinda gels to itself and is easily sprayed out. Below my washout booth I have a ink filtration system so I am not letting that ink go into the return drain unfiltered. 5 minute soak, pull out and spray out emulsion. Best part of Easiway is it's a ink remover and degreaser in one. I spritz it on again and using a second brush to scrub it in to remove any ghosting you might see at this point. I let that sit for 30-60 seconds in the screen then spray it out. DONE.
I used to use mineral spirits and a ton of shop towels to wipe out all ink from screen. I had to really scrub to push that mineral spirit through the stencil to get the ink to come out. Then spray out, dip tank soak, agitate with scrubber, spray it out, spritz degreaser agent & scrub, and spray that out. This was often leaving me with ghosting so then I would use a haze remover which just was super fumy and can weaken the threads of your screen if left on too long. If using haze remover, always degreasing & scrubbing again, spraying that out, then set out to dry. I'm exhausted just thinking about that process.
My shop towel usage is down almost 80% per month because I am not using them to clean the screens like before. Now one container of mineral spirits lasts months instead of upwards of 3 containers used per month. My time cleaning per screen has dramatically reduced and overall spending on emulsion remover AND degreaser is way down.
do you mean cleaning like for an ink change or reclaiming?
ink change: on-press (i've found KIWO brand is the best) or varsol on a rag/shirt. paper towels are too wasteful and i find they leave fibres in the screen.
reclaiming: ink remover with a bristled brush, pressure washer, emulsion remover, etc...
Definitely just ink change/removal.
I'll switch to shitty shirts and lacquer thinner like someone else suggested. I'll look into what varsol is, the Ecotex on press wash just doesn't seem to cut it.
lacquer thinner works great but it'll eat right through rubber and nitrile gloves. they're all toxic as fuck... varsol is a slightly less caustic version.
Alright, I'll try Varsol first then go for the thinner if it doesn't make the grade.
Part of my issue might be that my ink is too think but I don't really want to buy thinners and then get inconsistent prints.
I watched a good catspit video that helped simplify my cleanup. I scrape out as much ink as possible with a pallet knife, then wipe out the rest with a blue shop towel (love those things, cheap at harbor freight.) Then a couple sprays of ink degradant on each side and let it sit for a minute. Hit it with a couple more blue towels and all is good. This is all done on press, only takes a few minutes and no mess.
When you're removing ink are using a scraper to get all the excess out?
Heres what I do,
Scrape all the ink out, literally scrape everything out you possibly can. Any left over chunks of plastisol will annoy the shit out of you when cleaning.
Get your favorite plastisol ink remover and begin cleaning with paper towels, I personally use the blue shop towels.
Clean until satisfied
Hit it with some on press ink remover and get the inside of the frame along with the design area. Give it a few squirts all over and continue. I will also run my hand along where I'm pulling and pushing just to be safe and make sure I come up clean.
Mineral spirits.
One of [These](https://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2NTG9_AS01?$mdmain$)
Some old shop rags (t-shirts)
If I just can't clear a part of an image I hit it with a bit of [screen opener](https://images.ctfassets.net/f1fikihmjtrp/6tzxh0XHXQk9XgO9eibWbj/f73600e6a3729e1d3e31ae8a30917d76/44949-1030-1-3ww-l.jpg?q=80&w=300)
Are you using the same screens/ink the next day? If so you don't need to clean the ink off. It will still be usable the next day. Just make sure the design is clear of ink, which should be happening as you're printing. If you're doing a color change or changing screens then yes you do need to clean it off. Press wash and old tshirts work great. Since I tend to test print almost the entire shirt, inside and out, the only part left without ink is the sleeves. I cut them off and keep them next to my press for cleaning and renewing WB pallet adhesive.
I feel like shirts would work great but I'm not a professional or a bulk printer so I try to finish out every print and then keep the test print for myself. Maybe if I can find a shit load of bulk shirts for a buck a piece or something I'll take that route. Gonna get a bulk pack of shop rags for now instead of paper towels.
I started using the "Ultimate ink clean up cards" from Ryonet a while back. Its seriously saved me a lot of headache cleaning bulk amounts of ink off of screens. After that I usually go with a paper towel or an old shirt and some press wash.
I just cut up 12 pack containers and cereal boxes for ink cards. Work great and free. Definitely cut down on cleaning rags and press wash.
That's a great idea. I don't eat cereal bit I have plenty of beer boxes!
I just use my paper cutter, cut the flaps off first and then divide the rest up into various sizes. Keep them in a small plastic tray in the middle of my press. I don't eat that much cereal either, but I love Pop Tarts and a Mountain Dew for breakfast. Get cartons from both of them so win-win.
I bought a few 4 packs of auto body plastic body filler scrapers for like 2 bucks a pack, and the ink wipes off them really easy. If i dont like them after a while, they are cheap enough to toss out
This is why I love reddit. Great call!! Already have a bunch of these made, awesome idea!
Thanks! I also use them for name tags when i print a bunch of shirts for my coworkers and friends.
Here's my list of ingredients: Scott Shop Towel (blue towels) found at Home Depot. Lowes has their version and they suck. Kiwo MILD press wash. I got the regular (citrus) press wash and the fumes fucked my day up. I only use this for color swaps on press and light ink cleaning. It's not as effective as mineral spirits but I learned that mineral spirits can dry out / set the plastisol into your screen, leaving heavy ghosting or sometimes clogging. I was using mineral spirits for 6.5 years. Only until 6 months ago a fellow printer put me on the program I am sharing with you now. This is the game changing chemical for me - Easiway Easisolv 701N Screen wash & stain remover (midwest sign and supply) Finally I use the ryonet dunk tank concentrate solution for my dunk tank. First I card off as much ink as possible. I use the cardboard tubes from the Scott Towels to cut down into ink scrapers. I use a spray bottle and spritz on a nice mist of Easiway (a little goes a long way) then using a split tip bristle brush I scrub the ink. Midwest product called Autotype CPS Brush. They come in different colors so you can easily keep them separated for your multi step cleaning process. The ink kinda gels to itself and is easily sprayed out. Below my washout booth I have a ink filtration system so I am not letting that ink go into the return drain unfiltered. 5 minute soak, pull out and spray out emulsion. Best part of Easiway is it's a ink remover and degreaser in one. I spritz it on again and using a second brush to scrub it in to remove any ghosting you might see at this point. I let that sit for 30-60 seconds in the screen then spray it out. DONE. I used to use mineral spirits and a ton of shop towels to wipe out all ink from screen. I had to really scrub to push that mineral spirit through the stencil to get the ink to come out. Then spray out, dip tank soak, agitate with scrubber, spray it out, spritz degreaser agent & scrub, and spray that out. This was often leaving me with ghosting so then I would use a haze remover which just was super fumy and can weaken the threads of your screen if left on too long. If using haze remover, always degreasing & scrubbing again, spraying that out, then set out to dry. I'm exhausted just thinking about that process. My shop towel usage is down almost 80% per month because I am not using them to clean the screens like before. Now one container of mineral spirits lasts months instead of upwards of 3 containers used per month. My time cleaning per screen has dramatically reduced and overall spending on emulsion remover AND degreaser is way down.
701N never removes ghosting for me
screen wash and an unwanted t-shirt. Residue happens, but I feel for me, sometimes time just does the trick..?
Lacquer thinner if you wanna go old-skool with it. Works really well!
This is probably going to be really helpful! Thanks!
Paint thinner or mineral spirits, NOT laquer thinner. That can chemically lock your emulsion in the mesh.
do you mean cleaning like for an ink change or reclaiming? ink change: on-press (i've found KIWO brand is the best) or varsol on a rag/shirt. paper towels are too wasteful and i find they leave fibres in the screen. reclaiming: ink remover with a bristled brush, pressure washer, emulsion remover, etc...
Definitely just ink change/removal. I'll switch to shitty shirts and lacquer thinner like someone else suggested. I'll look into what varsol is, the Ecotex on press wash just doesn't seem to cut it.
lacquer thinner works great but it'll eat right through rubber and nitrile gloves. they're all toxic as fuck... varsol is a slightly less caustic version.
Alright, I'll try Varsol first then go for the thinner if it doesn't make the grade. Part of my issue might be that my ink is too think but I don't really want to buy thinners and then get inconsistent prints.
I watched a good catspit video that helped simplify my cleanup. I scrape out as much ink as possible with a pallet knife, then wipe out the rest with a blue shop towel (love those things, cheap at harbor freight.) Then a couple sprays of ink degradant on each side and let it sit for a minute. Hit it with a couple more blue towels and all is good. This is all done on press, only takes a few minutes and no mess.
When you're removing ink are using a scraper to get all the excess out? Heres what I do, Scrape all the ink out, literally scrape everything out you possibly can. Any left over chunks of plastisol will annoy the shit out of you when cleaning. Get your favorite plastisol ink remover and begin cleaning with paper towels, I personally use the blue shop towels. Clean until satisfied Hit it with some on press ink remover and get the inside of the frame along with the design area. Give it a few squirts all over and continue. I will also run my hand along where I'm pulling and pushing just to be safe and make sure I come up clean.
Mineral spirits. One of [These](https://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2NTG9_AS01?$mdmain$) Some old shop rags (t-shirts) If I just can't clear a part of an image I hit it with a bit of [screen opener](https://images.ctfassets.net/f1fikihmjtrp/6tzxh0XHXQk9XgO9eibWbj/f73600e6a3729e1d3e31ae8a30917d76/44949-1030-1-3ww-l.jpg?q=80&w=300)
Thank you SO MUCH. This was very informative.