The grand master Michel Caza showed us this technique – he has used it for years, and has so many awards for fine detail printing they lost count….anyway, put your screen face down. I put tape on either end, and along the sides where the squeegee end runs – just to keep it all clean.
Pour a bead of emulsion – not too much not too little – and then with the screen held, pull the squeegee in one direction, and then back the other way – 2 pulls.
Remove the excess emulsion, and the tape. Dry bottom side down.
We used the tester from the kit, and the 50w LED exposure lamp at 18.5″ – Best exposure with the most detail is around the 5 or 6 minute mark.
As you can see by the test sample it reproduced surprising amounts of detail – this 110 mesh screen is not ideal for the 4 pt micro type, but think of how nice this would be on a 230 or 305 mesh screen…..
Don’t have a scoop coater? You can still make a beautiful even photo stencil coating!
Interesting read! So, if I understand correctly, using a squeegee to coat a screen evenly with a substance is crucial for achieving quality results in various applications, like printing and electronics. I wonder, what types of substances are commonly used for coating screens, and are there specific techniques for using the squeegee effectively? Additionally, how important is it to maintain the squeegee itself to ensure consistent coating results over time?
Hi Lisa – thanks for your inquiry, we don’t monitor the website now that we don’t have regular instructional courses.Sorry for the delay.
So…not exactly sure what you are asking….the material we coat is emulsion, in this case a dual cure.
Yes, a perfect coating is what people are looking for – even, no streaks or thick and thin sections, and when you get into it, especially for critical electronics works, you need to know what the thickness of the stencil is.
Does the squeegee method give you this?…..not exactly. If you were careful and used the same squeegee/angle/pressure/speed/mesh/emulsion, and you had a thickness gauge, and you could measure and be consistent, you could use this method, where normally shops use a scoop coater.
The higher end/larger shops have an automated scoop coater, and this – after testing and measuring and then locked in, gives the most consistent results.
But as I say, the technique is used by the master himself, Michel Caza. He prints 125 line halftone screens or higher using this method, on high mesh screens. So, if you practice and get good, you could use the method in production.
Re the squeegee, it needs to be dead straight, no waves, we use a 70 duro, and it was sharp. If you pull out some crappy, wavey, nicked, round edged old beast, you won’t have much success.
So, do you work for the supply company?