Exposing a Screen
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Step 3:
The screen needs to be dried in a dark locaon. Dry the
screen in a horizontal posion with the outside print side
facing down. This posioning is essenal to aid the
drawing emulsion to create a at and smooth surface. A
fan can be used to circulate the air around the screen
decrease the drying me. The normal drying me for a
properly coated screen can be anywhere from 30 –60
minutes. However, areas that have moisture in the air
will take exceedingly longer.
Step 4:
There is no standard exposure me because of all of the variables
involved. Use an exposure calculator to properly determine the
correct exposure me. Most emulsion manufactures have their
own exposure calculator, but they all relavely funcon in the
same manner.
Exposure calculators are lm posives that have various degrees
of detailed lines that are covered with dierent factors. The
purpose is to expose the calculator onto a screen as a starng me and
each lter will have a factor number. Aer the screen is washed out,
observe which image is the hardest while containing the most detail
and mulply the factory number by the starng exposure me to get
the correct exposure me.
A Workhorse SD-10 drying cabinet will immensely speed up the drying process and eliminate the danger of
dust, which will guarantee high quality screens and increase producon speed.
For example, a screen is exposed for one minute with the calculator and the best image washed
out has a lter factor of .5 , so 1:00 x .5 = 30 seconds. To guarantee the best screens test every screen that
has a dierent variable like: dierent mesh count, dierent emulsion brand, and dierent coang technique.
It’s best to test for each season change. The seasons inuence temperature, humidity and moisture that will
aect the exposing of a screen.
