# Speedball Diazo Emulsion and water based inks



## kimkimkim13 (Aug 20, 2009)

Hi, 
just wondering if Speedball Diazo emulsion is okay to use with water-based inks. I have already had some problems with professionally shot screens from Standard Screen Supply breaking down while i was printing water-based inks. just wondering if the speedball will do the same.
thanks,
k


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Speedball emulsion is made for waterbased ink.


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## gerry (Oct 4, 2006)

yup, waterbase, and plastisol. my emulsion expired so i had to run to the hobbystore and hope they had some there to do an order for tonight.. 43.00$ for a small container that coated 3 screens and remover..yikes!


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## adawg2252 (Dec 12, 2007)

If you're going to use emulsions other than the Speedball (which is perfect for water-based inks) make sure you get a water-resistant emulsion.

Ulano makes two specifically for waterbased inks. One is called TZ, and the other is 925WR (the WR stands for "water-resistant").

Many emulsion makers put WR at the end if it's water resistant, but some do not. Those two are pretty popular for speedball inks, so if those are available in your area you may want to check them out. They are both diazo like the speedball so you will have to mix them, and they have the shortened shelf-life once mixed.

Ulano QX-1 is a pre-sensitized (no mixing required) emulsion that is plastisol, solvent and water-resistant. This will also work great with waterbased inks. May be more or less expensive depending on where you get it, but it's shelf life is over 12 months, as opposed to a few months (3-4 max) with diazos, especially in high-humidity situations. 

Hope that helps you out.


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

gerry said:


> yup, waterbase, and plastisol. my emulsion expired so i had to run to the hobbystore and hope they had some there to do an order for tonight.. 43.00$ for a small container that coated 3 screens and remover..yikes!


That's a good point about cost, I never priced how much it was.

Silk Screening Supplies .com, screen printing equipment, silk screen printing kits carries a waterbased emulsion. It comes in quart sized container that will coat a lot more than 3 screens for less than $30.


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## corradomatt (Jan 16, 2007)

Many standard emulsions can also be used with water based inks with the addition of emulsion hardener. The emulsion hardener is easy to apply and this is done after the screen has been exposed and washed out. You simply apply the emulsion with a damp cloth, wiping it all over the screen. Once the hardener dries, the emulsion is ready for use with water based inks.

Definitely check with your emulsion manufacturer or distributor for recommendations about hardeners, but most standard emulsions can be hardened for use with water based inks. As a distributor, we usually recommend using hardeners with your standard emulsions because this does not change your exposure time and you can use the same emulsion for plastisol and water based inks. This can save some headaches during screen production and might even save you a $1 or 2 in the long run.

One last word on hardeners. There are 2 basic types. The hardener I'm talking about in this post is a 1 part hardener that is reclaimable. It does make the image a little harder to reclaim but not by much. The other type of hardener is a permanent hardener and it is usually a 2 part system. The permanent hardeners are perfect for clothing lines that want to keep their screens for a long time without needing to reclaim.


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