# how long for emulsion to dry



## cutty21

i was wondering if anyone can help and tell me how many coats of emulsion works best for them and how long for emulsion to dry and my last question is how long do you expose your image for and can you over expose? thanx


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## BillyV

Ryonet has a great videos at this link

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da3jLaF3JgU&feature=PlayList&p=D5009E521CC5561B&index=0[/media]

Follow the processes...

Enjoy!


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## InkedApparel

> how many coats of emulsion works best


I use a 1/1 meaning 1 coat on the shirt side and 1 coat on the squeegee side!



> how long for emulsion to dry


I dry overnight , but a few hours in a low humid enviorment.



> how long do you expose your image for and can you over expose?


I burn for 30 minutes using a 500 watt halogen 16 inches of screen ....... and yes you can over expose...with all that said.....

different emulsions have different burn time and dry times..do a few test burns to see what amount of time you need for your emulsion....and get a 21 step test strip to calculate burn time ...

Inked


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## JeridHill

cutty21 said:


> i was wondering if anyone can help and tell me how many coats of emulsion works best for them and how long for emulsion to dry and my last question is how long do you expose your image for and can you over expose? thanx


This will vary. If you have a homemade setup, then your exposure times will most likely be longer.

If you do a long run of shirts or need a thicker deposit of ink, then 2/1-1/1 works good. That basically means, 1 coat print side, 1 coat squeegee side, 1 coat print side, let it dry, then 1 coat each side. This keeps your stencil solid without pinholes over excessive prints. This is typically the best method for automatic machines, but it works well for thicker ink and large runs for manual jobs too.

As for exposure, there are so many variants. I've seen exposure take 45 seconds, I've done many at 2 minutes even with the double coating like mentioned above. It depends on your emulsion, light source, screen mesh, films, etc.

I can easily coat a screen and within 20-30 minutes I'm burning the screen. For quick drying you need 3 things: 1. Dehumidifier, 2: Heat, 3: Air flow. Some people have a drying box for this, but I've built a large room for this. With all these combinations, you can fully dry a screen in a very short amount of time. I think I placed a video of the room online, but can't remember. I'd have to look.


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## TshirtGuru

cutty21 said:


> i was wondering if anyone can help and tell me how many coats of emulsion works best for them and how long for emulsion to dry and my last question is how long do you expose your image for and can you over expose? thanx


Coat 1 squeegee side and 1 print side. When printnig white ink or specialty inks, we sometimes coat 2 times.

We usually schedule things out so that right before we leave the shop, someone emulsions the screens so that it dries overnight and we don't have to turn on the dehumidifier. 

We expose screens in about 60 secs to 2 minutes depending on the mesh count. As suggested above, you have to do your own tests to see what works for you.


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## Tj Ryonet Tech

Most manufacturers suggest allowing a coated screen to dry for 24 hours. I would let it sit at least 4 hours before exposing. Exposure times depend not only on your unit and the method you chose to coat with (1/1, 2/2, etc) but also the emulsion itself. Dual cure emulsion take longer to expose.


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## cutty21

thanx everyone for your input. ill let u know the outcome


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## Unik Ink

For 110 and 156 mesh, I usually coat 2 print side, 1 squeegee side, let sit overnight, and 20 seconds exposure time on a metal halide exposure unit.


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## RichardGreaves

*Drying time for emulsion is relative*

Each room or drying cabinet size and environmental conditions are different. Each emulsion and coasting method have different thickness and moisture contents. Arizona and Louisiana have different relative humidity today - and they are all different tomorrow.

Nobody can tell you how long, they can only guess. YOU, can measure the relative humidity of your own drying area with $19 Indoor/Outdoor digital thermometer/*HYGO*meter at Radio Shack. [Model: 63-1032] and tell the world how long it takes you.









Dry air is better than heat coils, but hot air is better than cold air because air expands as it is heated, and can hold more water. This is *Relativity*. 

Mother Nature controls emulsion drying speed. She likes things equal - *equilibrium*. A dehumidifier dries the air and the dry air sucks the moisture out of the stencil until it balances - equal. If the room or cabinet is 45% relative humidity, the stencil will never be truly dry.

IF you dehumidify the cabinet, or the whole room - The room will stabilize overnight and be as dry as the dehumidifier can make it. When you put a coated screen in the room/box, the humidity will rise and then return to a low humidity as the dehumidifier removes as much moisture from the screen as it can.

A US$150 dehumidifier, handling heated air is the fastest way to dry your screens.

How long to dry? 1 screen would take less time than 5 screens. A rainy summer day is different from a cold winter night. 

The hygrometer has no friends. When the hygrometer returns to its low, the screens are as dry _as you can make them_.


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## denck

Wow when I coat and need screens dried right away- I turn on my Hair dryer inside the darkroom.
Its not pointing directly on the mesh but its circulating warm air underneith the drying rack.
5 min and the bottom screen is ready to burn-keep the hair dryer running and just keep drying and burning screens. 
BE CAREFULL NOT TO LET THE HOT AIR DIRECTLY ON THE EMULTION- THIS WILL CAUSE THE EMULTION TO HARDEN AND ACT LIKE ITS BEEN OVERCURED-LET ALONE THE HOT AIR WILL MELT THE MESH.


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## RichardGreaves

how many coats of emulsion works best for them and 
http://www.ulano.com/FAQ/FAQcoating.htm#Q1

how long for emulsion to dry 
Post #9 above

and my last question is how long do you expose your image for and 
Exposure FAQ Screen Making Products how to measure exposure

can you over expose? 
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t77379.html#post459987
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t75851-2.html#post455791
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/screen-printing/t21420.html#post130848


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## orangemiddle

InkedApparel said:


> I use a 1/1 meaning 1 coat on the shirt side and 1 coat on the squeegee side!
> 
> 
> 
> I dry overnight , but a few hours in a low humid enviorment.
> 
> 
> 
> I burn for 30 minutes using a 500 watt halogen 16 inches of screen ....... and yes you can over expose...with all that said.....
> 
> different emulsions have different burn time and dry times..do a few test burns to see what amount of time you need for your emulsion....and get a 21 step test strip to calculate burn time ...
> 
> Inked


 I purchased a screen printing kit from an Arts and Crafts shop brought it home and got a little discourage because the instructions weren't clear the instructions were sort of vague, so I goolged " How to screen print" and found a few helpful youtube vids and became quite confident that I can do this. I'm what you call a person that learns visually and not by reading books or thick instruction manuals, my confidence grew to the point where I felt like I needed to build a light box. The light box came out exceptionally well visually. I followed the instructions that came with the screen printing kit and got nowhere fast, the youtube videos got me into the direction where I wanted to go and I almost succeeded but I think I'm not letting the light box expose the image long enough. The light box I built is about 23 inches by 24 inches and about 6 inches deep. I'm using a 500 watt halogen work light affixed to the center off the box and the glass is supported by 4 18 inch wood posts, now I coated both sides of the screen about 2 thin smooth coats on each side and let the screen dry in a dark room overnight with a fan, I then tried to expose my image, I let the light penetrate for about 10-12 minutes and then tried to wash out the unexposed image but it didnt work..this was my second attempt.. I dont know what I'm doing wrong can someone help?


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## orangemiddle

I'm exposing from the bottom up, I built a light box that is 23x24x6, I'm using a 500 watt halogen work light secured to the bottom of the box. I cut out the bottom of the box so that the housing of the light source is about 80% through the bottom and only about an inch is physically inside the light box, I used 24 inch clear plexi-glass and quickly found out that it was a mistake, the plexi-glass melted and so did my transparency image, the whole thing ruined the screen, I then place 4 1x1 18 inch long pieces of wood 1 on each corner and raised the the platform and replaced the plexi-glass with real glass I used one of my storm windows for the glass. I tried again I let the emulsion dry for a few hours and placed the screen on top of the glass and used a black sweatshirt I had laying around and placed that in the ink side of the screen and covered that with a box and weighed it down with a gallon of paint. I let the light do it's thing for about 9 minutes and that kinda work but when I went to wash out the letters it kinda over washed out and the whole image wash ruined I used cold water to wash out because my hose is outside and could not hook it up inside therefor I could not use warm water.. I tried again and 86th the sweater and this time I recoated over what was already there and let the emulsion dry over night. I let the light box do it's thing again for 12 minutes but the emulsion didn't wash out at all. Can someone please help out.. with all the specs about the light box can some one help me out


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## InkedApparel

ok...first things first.....

the light box you built sounds good ..except the 500 watt halogen will not work with it..reason being ..its to close to the glass..and the heat is giving you problems......try putting the light above your screen..about 18 - 24 inches away...coat the screen 1/1 and burn for 18 minutes..also put a fan on it while you are burning.

let me know if it works out.

Inked


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