# cleaning speedball screen photo remover problem



## katfish (Jan 5, 2007)

ok so i just started screenprinting with a speedball kit like a week ago. i made the mistake of running out of photo remover, what can i use before this screen gets f'ed up forever and i have to order another one of those?


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

The photo remover is to remove the stencil? If so, it will take (a lot) longer for the screen to get ruined than it will to re-order the stencil remover.


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## katfish (Jan 5, 2007)

yeah the photo remover is to remove the emulsion. i have removed all the stencil part that was on the middle of the screen but i have run out of remover and have a big patch of clean screen in the middle of a screen with photo emulsion all around it still. is it ok to just coat teh uncoated part of the screen with emulsion? i mean i know not to leave the stencil on but as far as the emulsion goes can it always be removed no matter the time it is on the screen?


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

If the emulsion is left on the screen for a *long* time it can get locked in, but that takes a long time (months at a guess). I've heard that if the stencil remover dries on the screen that can actually cause stencil lock-in, so if the screen is half-cleaned that _might_ be a problem (I don't know enough about this stuff to be sure).


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## ASAP Printing (Oct 6, 2006)

I'd just order more reclaimer, and clean it out when you get it in. Now if you sprayed it down and you let it sit for while the fluid redried you might of hardened your screen. But...... I have a solution for that. One day a kid came to our office with this cleaner, and was trying to show us that it can remove anything, he was spraying his magic solution on all sorts of stuff in our shop and rubbing it out. But he wanted like 35 dollars for a consentrated bottle of it, which he said makes 60 1 liter things of it. Then he said if I could find something that he couldn't get out he'd give me a free bottle. So I remembered a locked screen we had in the back and had him test out his little magic solution on it. He sprayed it and started to rub it with a little rag he had, and it didn't budge. I started to laugh and told him that it would never come out yada yada, but then I had a idea to spray the portion he coated with the pressure washer, and magically every spot the guys chemical hit, that I sprayed with the pressure washer, the emulsion came out. I instantly bought a bottle of it and saved 2 more screen we'd had in the back for months. The name of this cleaner escapes my mind right now but when I get back to the shop on monday i'll post the name of it. It's all natural and is made out of nothing but citrus. But it's the only thing i've ever seen take out locked emulsion from a screen.


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## drtalbert (Oct 16, 2008)

Scott,

I was reading your post from January 5th 2007, about the citrus cleaner that worked magic on your locked screens. Can you tell me the name of the cleaner? I have 2 locked screens that I'm trying to salvage.

Thanks

Dar


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