Need help with question about emulsion
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 9:14 am
Hello, I am new to the forum and new to screen printing. I am doing something that is fairly rare and need some direction. I recently had a screen made for me for my product I call One Drop Alarm. It a flat mat that is placed underneath a sink, laundry machine, fish aquarium or any where else that a water leak may occur. If one drop of water hits the mat, it triggers an attached alarm, notifying the user that a leak has occurred.
I am screen printing a conductive ink on a polyester film. The design is a series of lines that are 4mm apart from each other. No two lines are touch each other. When a drop of water lands on the mat, it completes a circuit and thus, sending a signal to an attached alarm.
Here's the problem I ran into. After the first run, I didn't get the screen cleaned well enough, using RC5 to clean the scree. I then used a screen opener on the screen, scrubbed it lightly with a paper towel and it took off some of the edges of emulsion, rendering the screen now useless.
I will need to have another screen made for me. My question is, even though I am sure that the emulsion is suppose to me chemically resistant, is there a stronger emulsion that can be used to be more chemically resistant or a hardener that can be added? I am not sure what was used before and all I know about it is that it was red in color. I will never need to remove the emulsion, so something that is 100% permanent (and very durable) is okay. I was a little long-winded, but I wanted to make sure the reader understood what I am doing.
Any advice on this?
Thanks,
Matt
I am screen printing a conductive ink on a polyester film. The design is a series of lines that are 4mm apart from each other. No two lines are touch each other. When a drop of water lands on the mat, it completes a circuit and thus, sending a signal to an attached alarm.
Here's the problem I ran into. After the first run, I didn't get the screen cleaned well enough, using RC5 to clean the scree. I then used a screen opener on the screen, scrubbed it lightly with a paper towel and it took off some of the edges of emulsion, rendering the screen now useless.
I will need to have another screen made for me. My question is, even though I am sure that the emulsion is suppose to me chemically resistant, is there a stronger emulsion that can be used to be more chemically resistant or a hardener that can be added? I am not sure what was used before and all I know about it is that it was red in color. I will never need to remove the emulsion, so something that is 100% permanent (and very durable) is okay. I was a little long-winded, but I wanted to make sure the reader understood what I am doing.
Any advice on this?
Thanks,
Matt