# Emulsion Cracking all over after washing out



## coolpapafunk (May 26, 2017)

I'm at a loss here. I started having issues exposing my screens a month ago or so. I had it locked down consistently for years - 28 seconds, give or take depending on halftones and mesh count, spray it down on each side using the shower setting on my hose attachment, which is lighter than the fan spray, wait one minute, and boom, everything comes out great. All of a sudden, I started getting uncured emulsion running into the washed out parts. Trying to bump up the exposure time just makes it hard to wash out and I end up blowing out the edges of the design. After getting used to ruining 3 screens for every good one and using spit to clean out the blocked stencil (gross, I know, but it works), now it has started cracking all over the back of the screen after I wash it out while it's drying. It washes out as well as I can expect, other than the uncured emulsion issues, and everything looks fine, but then the back cracks all over when it dries. I tried placing them various distances from a space heater, in front of a fan, and just in the middle of my warmer dark room. Every once in a while it will work, or only one edge will crack, but I'm now wasting 5 or 6 screens just hoping to get one to come out.

I'm using the same emulsion (Chromalime), some new screens, some old screens I've had for years, same degreaser (701), and same exposure unit (ProLight vacuum top w/8 uv tubes).

I bought new Chromalime emulsion when this started, but no change. I'm sure the bulbs in the exposure unit are getting weak and need replaced, but I can't image this crap would start up overnight like they did. They are all lighting. Also, the shop is fairly cool (around 50-60°), but it's been much hotter and a good bit colder and I've never had these issues.


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## coolpapafunk (May 26, 2017)

I noticed that my film positives weren't printing very dark. I did some research and found out that "preserve pure black" was unchecked in color management in Corel. I reprinted a darker black film and will try bumping up the time. 

Also, despite the dark room being very cool and running a space heater, could humidity be my issue? 

One other thing that has confounded me: I keep reading about most people exposing their screens for around 3 minutes using fluorescent tubes. Based on my experience, I would think I'd end up with rock hard emulsion after that, but it seems odd that I've been getting away with exposing for under 30 seconds on that thing! Is that normal, or did I somehow get the most overachieving bulbs in history?


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