One of our biggest cringe moments is when we see shops full of ink droppings, screen presses growing fur from the spray adhesive that starts attracting all the dust and lint from all over the shop, and the list can go on and on.
Here are a few things you can do to organize and keep your shop looking squeaky clean when you don't have any jobs lined up.
1. Clean your platens: Lint and dust build up over time from print job to print job. This lint makes it hard to see the center line and can also create a bumpy printing surface, which can affect your future prints. So now is a great time to clean them off and apply some fresh new platen adhesive.
2. Clean ink residue: Screen printing squeegees and screen printing screens collect ink residue. Grab some plastisol press wash or water-based press wash, depending on what type of ink you use and get to cleaning!
3. Clean your press: This is the biggest one in our book. A screen printing press is the most important tool to keep clean, dirty knobs with ink drips will spread ink on anything you touch. Ever wonder how ink mysteriously followed you home and wound up on the fridge handle? Probably ink left on your press. Micro registration that is full of lint, dust, and adhesive build up is going to make it hard to turn those knobs and line up your print jobs. Don't sacrifice the quality of your next print job because you opted out of cleaning your press.
Recommended cleaning products:
When you are removing ink we recommend using normal ink cleaners such as plastisol press wash or water-based press wash. When it comes to removing the lint build up you need to be careful, harsh chemicals can ruin the finish on your press. Some people use hot soapy water and a scrub pad and others use mild de-greasers, both are great non-harmful solutions.
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