How To Clean An Arena Digital Screen
Cleaning and maintaining your Arena screen burn is less involved than the process required for traditional mesh screens. All you will need to clean ink from the image area on our screens are microfiber cloths, ink removal cards and a non citrus based screen opener specific to Plastisol ink or Water-based inks.
We recommend Arena Screen Wash and AlbaChem Screen Clean for all plastisol inks and AlbaChem Water Based Screen Opener for water-based and discharge inks.
Whatever brand of screen opener you use, NEVER USE A CITRUS BASED SCREEN CLEANER. Citrus based cleaners are too acidic for the screens and will only erode the emulsion in the fibers.
Begin by removing all the excess ink surrounding the print area with the ink removal card. For water-based inks, make sure to "print out" as much of the excess ink as possible and pull the excess ink off the image to the bottom of the frame. Reclaim and save as much of the ink as you can by scooping it back into the ink container.
Spray AlbaChem Water Based Cleaner on a microfiber cloth and begin wiping clean the print side of the screen. Repeat this process with the ink side of the screen making sure ALL excess ink is completely cleared from the image area. You might have to repeat this process 3 or 4 times. Once the image area is thoroughly clean, you will still notice a halo effect around the image area but this is normal. Never use a paper towel with AlbaChem to clean the screen. Paper towels are simply not absorbent enough.
For plastisol inks, first scrape off and reclaim as much of the excess ink as possible. Use a microfiber cloth, or as a last resort, a dry paper towel. You can spray Arena Screen Wash or Clear Screen directly onto the screen surface to create a thin even layer. Start with the print side and begin cleaning the remaining ink from the image area. Then repeat the process on the ink side. Plastisol Ink is the only ink that can be left on the screen long term.
For both Water based and Plastisol inks, there will never be a need to use a single drop of water when cleaning the mesh. In fact, using water or a damp cloth on plastisol or water based inks will only work to smear the ink without a meaningful result.
Never attempt to clean the screen with a shower head or the traditional washout booth. The pressure from the spray will annihilate the mesh and your screen will be unusable.
One important note:
When using water based inks, it is important that you flood the image area if you are needing to take a break during a print run. If you do not flood the image, water based ink will begin permanently setting into the mesh and your screen will be unusable. Flooding the image will buy you a couple of hours of downtime without damaging the mesh.
