Emulsion solids content

[barm]

So I was always under the impression a higher solids content yields a thicker stencil and with that rational the emulsion would be thicker...I ask b/c I just switched from murakami photocure pro to ulano 925wr, the murakami was great but the shelf life was a little short for me and I had to throw out a bunch...the ulano has a higher solids content but it is much thinner than the murakami, I'd say it is the consistency of nestlequik chocolate milk before refrigerated. On the high side it has a much quicker burn time, but a much smaller window of under/over exposure. Since its on the same topic I have seen a lot of guys only coat the print side of the screen which in essence sounds great (use less product, faster burn times) but I have always coated once on print once on squeegees side then scooped excess with an old Kinko's card etc. to have a nice inform stencil...just curious to how y'all coat? Just figured pinholes would be an issue.

[Andymac]

2&2, sharp edge of the coater. any where from 110 up to 380 mesh. I sometimes do a skim pass with the coater if it is really thick, and sometimes only 1&1 if I'm low on emulsion.

Murikami Pro. I buy quarts, and sometimes use it up to 4 months later.

But that's just me and my setup. In my coating room, it's never more than 60 -65 f. IN the iwnter it's around 50 f.

[barm]

Wow Andy I keeping it in the fridge and it was good like 7 weeks on the site it says 3-5 weeks shelf life...the ulano says 3 months in the fridge. I should buy quarts but the price difference is silly...kinda like two inks fire red quart is like $100 and a gallon $180...well ya know what I'm getting!

[barm]

Tw...

[squeegeethree]

I dont recommend anyone just coat just one side of the screen. We do 1/1 mostly but 1/2 and 2/2 when it's needed.

[crosshair]

I do 1/1 always, Murakami Photocure pro.
I haven't had shelf life issues because we typically go through a gallon a month. Kept in the fridge.

Prioritizing quicker burn time over greater under/over latitude doesn't make much sense to me.
You can do something else while a screen burns.

[edwardo_machino]

I use 925WR and it works really well. I coat twice on the substrate side, and once on the print side. My exposure setup uses a single halogen 500w worklight which shines from below. White mesh is around 28 minutes, yellow 40 minutes around 20 inches from the mesh.

If you are buying gallons it is possible to split into quarts - I wrote about this in this thread. It involves splitting up the liquid diazo EQUALLY into canisters (I use 35mm film containers) and saving for future use.

925WR is good.

[Andymac]

17 minutes from a cold start. I just carry a little alarm timer around with me and can get lots of shit done. years and years of perfect exposures and no screen breakdowns is all I get and all I want. I could give a shit if I save a buck or two, or a minute here and there.

the single side coating with direct emulsion kind of defeats the purpose and advantages of direct emulsion - to really grab the mesh and stay tough during printing and on press-cleaning. single coat is like fivestar or novastar or any of the other indirects. look at them sideways and they would come apart in production, or sometimes even before getting on press.

[barm]

Their both great I've found, but if I can split it up I may go back to photocure I was getting it for $50...925wr is $70...I burn with only a 400 watt metal halide with a vacuum table...murakami 12 min 925wr 6 min...yeah I don't care about time bc that's when I mix inks, rack prints, etc

[barm]

Also I was just curious about the one coat bc I was watching YouTube and that's how some really well known gigposter artists on here were doing it