AN OBDURATE SCREEN PRINTER

Hey Ho, you can't win them all. The client was unable to maintain consistent quality for a new contract.

Some detail has been altered to maintain the anonymity of the client.

The frantic phone call demanded an immediate response. “Can you help, we have to get a job out and we can’t maintain quality, we need you here tomorrow.” After some frantic rescheduling and a late night drive I arrived at 08.00 the next day. Met by the sharply dressed MD it was explained to me the sophistication of their production facility, particularly the multi-colour line they had been using for several months. Open plan offices tasteful office furniture all indicated a company outside the normal mould of the traditional screen printer.

Across to production where there was a very impressive multi-colour press. Clean, well lit, standard operating procedures available to view along with fault finding charts. Good, they appear to have things under control so why the problem. A harassed printer explained how they had real problems they were losing the dot as the print moved through the press and they couldn’t match samples they had produced previously. The ink was a low build UV curing system. Just running a fingernail across the cured print it was clear that the ink build was too high. “What mesh are you using?” “Don’t know” was the reply. Oops!

Off to the stencil department. The mesh they were using was a 140/34/PW and the stencil thickness was 7 yes seven microns. “Why?” “That’s what we always use.” Was the reply. Printing with this mesh and that stencil build on a non-absorbent surface would create an ink build that would have served as an ideal layout for a pinball machine. No wonder they were losing highlights. The printer was a genius to put down any ink after the first two colours.

I took the MD aside and told him they should use a finer mesh at least 150/34/PW, probably finer and a stencil build of less than 4 microns. “But we have always used 140/34/PW and we did for the trials on this job.” “Have you always had problems?” “Well…yes.” “Then change the mesh and reduce the stencil build.” “But I spent a fortune on the multi-colour machine and I should get lots of work for it. This is a big client and we have to reproduce the sample. We must use 140 mesh.” To seek confirmation I asked to see the technical data sheet for the ink. They didn’t have one. I phoned the supplier, they confirmed 150/34/PW.

A discussion with the MD and fellow directors then followed. I explained about the issues of ink build and how to make a stencil using the correct mesh. Even giving the option of sticking with the 140 mesh for this job, reducing the stencil thickness and reducing the Rz with additional face coats on the dried emulsion. All to no avail they wanted me to resolve the problem using the stencils they were producing. It was not possible.

I don’t know if they ever resolved the problem. My bill was paid with some reluctance 3 months later. As far as I am aware they are still in business for how long will depend on the depth of the owners’ pockets. Hey ho it must be nice to be that rich!

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