Technically speaking, there is nothing for me to say. Oh maybe just one thing - to get me back into the fray: Steve, I must say I totally disagree with your assessment of under screen cleaners. I have had nothing but excellent results using the dry, vacuum, wet, vaccuum programmable capability on our DEK's for over two years. | | How's that for a hard hitting return? Steve, I had to single you out for the way you roasted that advertising pig scumbag, etc. etc. etc. etc. Jeez, I'm stuck, but my underscreen cleaner works just fine even though it's attached to a 1/4 million dollar machine. | | Hell, you asked for it. I'm baaack. | | Moonman
Hey ya' Moonman!
Glad to see you back. But geeze, why did ya' hafta start pickin' on me? (GRIN) Anyhoo, 'bout them roll type screen cleaners. Lemme' expand on that a little more. The screen printers I was using back at the time when I was working for Smart Modular Technolgies were DEK's...I've been a DEK user for years.
In fact, at another company who's no longer around (Comptronix) we had bought the 3rd or 4th DEK-265 ever sold in the US. That was back before DEK and Universal teamed up. Back then, the roll type stencil cleaner was just that, a roll of cleaning paper, a tube in which to wet a section of the paper, and a rubber squeegee which held the paper against the back of the stencil. No fancy smancy vacuum sucking squeegee like they put on them now. Those DO work, provided they're operated like they're intended and with the correct materials (paper, solvents, ect.) that are supposed to used...more on that later. Ya'll can get a chuckle 'bout what I had to deal with.
Now, where I work, and you know I'm at a start-up, we don't have the kind of money for those whiz-bang printers ya'll have. I just got me a lil' ol MPM SPM-AV...(sniff, sniff...you guys got all the fun toys!). Don't get me wrong, my lil' ol' SPM can print a tatoo on a gnats butt, but she ain't got no fancy smancy sucking squeegee stencil cleaner, just a roll o' paper...and it won't clean my fine pitch apertures. I still gotta' do that manually.
But back to the problems I had with my DEK at Smart Modular...that's where I had all the gold finger problems. I don't work there anymore, so I don't care about what I'm about to say (I've never been one with a lot of tact, I say what I feel and it's always the truth)...and things may have changed since I was there, but this what things were like when I was there.
You would think that a company that is as successfull and makes the kind of money that Smart does, there wouldn't be any problems about buying the consumables and whatnot that you needed on the production floor. Not so, for instance the paper used in the DEK cleaners...that was TOO expensive. Had to find something cheaper.
In order for the vacuum to work the way that it should, the paper must be of a specific weave density in order for the vacuum pressure to flow through the paper and suck the paste onto it. But do you think the buyers know that? Or even take the time to ask me? Hell no. Not only that, but they didn't even buy the right width.
There was one time they bought paper that was too narrow and I just happened to be helping out the operators with changing over a line, and I pull the old stencil out to put the new job stencil in, and I notice that there's water dripping from the bottom of the old stencil. I look inside the printer and see all this water all over!
The moistening tube was acting like a sprinkler squirting water all over the place because there was no paper over the openings as the buyers bought the wrong sized paper! I was really suprized that the water didn't wind-up getting inside the electronics and frying the printer! We were lucky! All to save a few dollars on the paper...sheesh!
Sometimes the operators would even reuse the paper after the roll had run out. They would take the roll from used side and put it right back on the printer...bet ya can guess what happened then huh? They would do this because they were too lazy to walk back to the stockroom and get a new roll. They ran 3-shifts there and I couldn't stay there 24-hours a day to look over their shoulders to make sure they did their jobs right. But even if they had enough initative to go back and get some new paper, they would have the wrong paper anyway, was like on Star Trek, the Kobiyashi Maru scenario, the "no-win scenario".
So you can figure out why I'm not employed there anymore. Felt like all I was doing was getting paid to get my butt-kicked. But that's life in a memory company...quick and dirty...whatever it takes even if it's wrong.
Sorry 'bout going on like this...but maybe ya'll can learn something from my mistakes. Use the correct paper, and make sure you have it available for your operators. But I still say that just regular ol' roll type paper cleaners are only good for 50-mil...
-Steve Gregory-
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