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Drying racks

eddie

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How often do you change the fiberglass screens on your drying racks? Or, how (and how often) do you clean them?
I did some printing, the other day, and after the prints dried, I noticed little stains. They are either little "dots" or have a slight "X" look to them. The only thing I can think of is screen contamination. The spots do look as if they'd match up to contact points on the screens.
 
If its fiberglass screen, just give it a good wash down with a mild detergent, then a hot water rinse.
 
Some of us like to use a dilute chlorine bleach solution and then a good rinse. The chlorine will neutralize any traces of fixer that might be on the screens. I take my screens outside on a nice summer day and do the job with a sponge, bucket and the garden hose. I've never changed the fiberglass screen material.

Another aside: I dry my prints face up on the screens. It seems that toned prints sometimes will get screen marks on then when dried face down even if the screens are clean. Better safe than sorry.

Best,

Doremus Scudder
www.DoremusScudder.com
 
Ah the old "face up, face down" discussion

I was taught early on to dry face down ... drying face up produces wicked curl. I have, however, gotten screen marks on my images drying face down. So I finally decided if I was going to deal with curl anyhow, I'd just line dry my prints which I do now.

I mean face down has some curl too, but drying face up just drove me crazy ... I've had some papers curl to the point where the ends were almost touching each other. For me, line drying is about the same curl as drying face down.

Yes I know humidity and climate affects all this .. but in general

When I used to have screens, I'd clean them at least once a month ... it was just a habit, no real reason for that time frame.
 
I never changed mine. Been using them for over 20 years. Just be thorough in washing your prints before drying. If you're careless in washing your print, you'll contaminate your next batch of prints when you dry them.
 
I mitigate the curling problem drying face-up somewhat by placing the drying screens rather close to each other. I have a built-in screen frame that holds the screens about 2 inches apart. I also sometimes manually stack the screens with one-inch spacers. The curling corners hit the screen above and this limits the curling. I store the prints in boxes which helps flatten them further.

My admonition to dry face-up was to keep from ruining a print with screen marks. better a little curl than that ;-)

Best,

Doremus Scudder
www.DoremusScudder.com
 
patterson print racks

i've used screens never had a problem... then tried these plastic print racks from patterson... now it's all i use. right from the print washer into the racks - no squeegee or photo flo. they hold the print on and angle so water drips to the bottom. usually i dry them overnight.

in the morning they have a little curl, but store them in boxes before mounting and they flatten nicely. this have worked in northern climes and southern climes...

i use only fiber base paper and have had no problem with the prints or racks in over 15 years.... am i missing something?
 

One of these doo-hickeys?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/40096-REG/Paterson_PTP258_RC_Rapid_Drying_Rack.html
 
I used to dry face down on screens, then started noticing screen marks on some prints. I finally realized that certain papers, like Foma 131 were susceptible to marks, while others such as MGIV were not. I guess that some papers have a softer emulsion when wet and are more easily damaged. So I got rid of all of my screens and went back to line drying. Problem solved.
 
I clean mine with a power washer on low pressure. High pressure will almost guarantee you'll be chasing the screens down the block...

Ash
 
I used to use screens, made myself with 1x2 inch wood strips, but I hinged them together, like a book, screen to screen. Then you can put them face up, and the top screen prevents alot of the curl.
Now, though, I'm in the hanging school, on a line, back to back, corner clipped top and bottom to each other, no worries about cleanliness. Slight edge curl, or buckle can be taken out with pressure.
There is a whole thread (sticky, at the top of this forum) about the methods of drying - you might find it interesting to read.
 
The key to clean, fiberglass-screen dried prints is to rinse the prints in a small amount of distilled water just prior to final squeegee and then final horizontal placement on your drying screen, always face up. When the final rinse water is free of minerals, you will never see any water-residue drying marks when dried face-up on fiberglass screens. But no matter how pure your final rinse water prior to squeegee, drying face-down on fiberglass screens is almost a guarantee for random mesh-marks on the actual print surface. For what it is worth, I replace all my fiberglass screen drying racks after one year of use, since no matter how clean you can keep your fiberglass screen, the mesh begins to deteriorate. But I never dry prints face-down on fiberglass mesh.
 
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