Who’s running the Shop?

Who’s running the Shop?

As a company grows an owner may have moved from a labor position to a management position. Gone are the days when screens were prepared correctly. Owner's look around the shop as they grow and replace themselves with the highest qualified candidates available. In today's tough economy it is rare to hire highly qualified screen makers and production management personnel, rather those positions go to recently hired workers who have taught themselves enough about the job to accomplish the tasks. However, as we will see, many techniques and ‘best’ practices disappear when job positions change within a shop. Often it’s the lack of training that runs the shop.

I get the call: "I've got some bad emulsion here, its falling off the screen.”

A conversation begins, starting at screen making 101, and then progressing to product knowledge. Too often the screen maker was promoted from screen reclaiming and before that he may have been a screen washer. In my shop if you could deal with cleaning plastisol screens for 30 days you passed the test and became a candidate for a better job, often assisting screen reclaiming, or development. As the worker progresses he may get to coat screens, then shoot them when the shop gets real busy. His training may have been minimal. The screens look the same as any others but too often the screen room develops habits that lead to poor performance on press.

So lets look at Screen Making 101.

First: Ambient Conditions

The screen room and surrounding area need the following conditions:

1. Humidity: 35% Buy a temperature and humidity gauge to accurately know ambient conditions in your screen:

Keep humidity low, 35% is a good level. A dehumidifier in a room away from reclaiming is the best solution to maintaining humidity.

2. Keep floor free of water and dirt. Water will increase humidity preventing proper exposure and dirt will create pinholes.

3. Fans - Keep them off the floor. Fans placed on the oor stir up dust and dirt that create pinholes.

4. Mop floor nightly, keep door shut. You say you cover your oor in cardboard? Why? When it gets old it breaks down to dust causing pinholes and weak areas in your screens. 

5. Dry screens in racks. Leaning them against a wall and blowing a fan on them will blow dust on wet emulsion causing pinholes.

6. Make sure screen room is large enough. I have seen bathrooms used as screen rooms, with 30-40 wet screens inside. The screens will never dry properly, the water from all those screens stays trapped in the small room. When screens are exposed from a room like this the screen will be weak as exposure is incomplete.