# Screen printing tape



## stag (Dec 6, 2006)

Hi everyone

What is the safest type of tape to use on screens which doesnt strip away the emulsion and just acts to cover holes, imperfections etc etc?

Cheers all


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## gp1305 (Oct 17, 2007)

For large areas I use 2 inch blue painters tape. It's low tack and residue free. For small areas such as pinholes, I just use scotch tape. Been using both of these for a while no problem!


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## ACC (Apr 23, 2007)

Same here with the blue painters tape. Haven't found anything better.


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## jeffie (Jan 30, 2008)

Hey, we use natural rubber glue type packing tape regular packing tape has acrlic adhesive and will pull off in strips blue painter tape will sometimes bleed into ink....jeff


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## ezilla (Feb 27, 2007)

We use masking tape, blue painter's tape, and when we have it, split face tape. That's the special tape!! Don't leave masking tape on your screens and frames for days, you will have a hard time cleaning it off!


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## pukingdeserthobo (Jun 3, 2008)

gp1305 said:


> For large areas I use 2 inch blue painters tape. It's low tack and residue free. For small areas such as pinholes, I just use scotch tape. Been using both of these for a while no problem!


i use the same here


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## stag (Dec 6, 2006)

Are you referring to this Scotch-Blue? Painter's Tape ?


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## pukingdeserthobo (Jun 3, 2008)

thats the one i use


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## stag (Dec 6, 2006)

Incidently, your using this to cover over areas on the emulsion, not laying the tape for bordering the screen?


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## sg613 (Jul 19, 2007)

I use masking tape from the dollar store. Works great.


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## pukingdeserthobo (Jun 3, 2008)

stag said:


> Incidently, your using this to cover over areas on the emulsion, not laying the tape for bordering the screen?


i use it for everything


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## dheadri (May 24, 2012)

pukingdeserthobo said:


> i use it for everything


I lean to the natural rubber adhesive tape for 2 reason one it is 2.50 a roll for 2inchx110yrds that makes a considerable difference over masking tape costs here which are close to 5 to 8 dollars a roll.The other is it pulls clean from the screen no tape residue left behind and that makes for a easier cleanup. I also use scotch tape for those annoying pin holes but prefer to use block out on them.


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## beanie357 (Mar 27, 2011)

We use pmi quick rip for backs. Has a stripe with no adhesive, so pulling is easiest.
Th uline rubber adhesive tape in thicker mils.Using this less as the pmi tears easier.
For the amount of screens we do (100 plus a day), easy tape use is worth more than a few cents a screen in tape cost.

Plus any tape failure on the floor is worth more than the tape cost.


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## dheadri (May 24, 2012)

I can tell you its not pennies at a 100 screens per day that on just a 5 day work week and 52 weeks a yr using pmi split tape makes your cost for tape per year 12,987.00 dollars. That is based on 23x31 screen size one roll does 20 screens and at 9.99 a roll that is 50.00 per day.
I can tell you my cost per yr for the same size screen with the same production amount is 1,820.00 per yr that is a 11,167.00 dollar per yr difference. The amount of clean up time for the same amount of screen would depend upon what you pay that person my guy make minimum wage.


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## gardenhillemb (Oct 29, 2015)

We use a natural rubber adhesive packing tape from Uline. it's only a couple of dollars per 110' roll and with natural rubber adhesive, it cleans off well and doesn't damage the emulsion. It's also cheaper than blue painters tape.


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