how to clean screen printing screens?

After finishing printing, the screen must be cleaned, and this is for several reasons – first of all, in some cases, we will want to use the screen to repeat the same printing job later, so it is better to clean the network before storing it. The second thing is that without cleaning the net, paint may dry on the net and thus interfere with the reuse of the net and even clog the holes used to transfer the ink (this is especially important when using water-based ink because it dries in the air).
Another reason for cleaning the screen is because we want to use the screen to print new graphics, so we have to remove the remaining paint and emulsion from above the screen, or we want to print in a different color than what we have used so far, so we should remove as much paint residue as possible so as not to contaminate the new color with the old one.
Screen cleaning steps:

1. Cleaning the remaining paint with a dry cloth – this way we prevent unnecessary dirt in the next step…
2. Use of chemicals or a special material for cleaning paint – the printing houses use a paint remover to clean the remaining paint from the screen, by spraying the material on the screen and wiping with a cloth. If you chose to experiment with printing at home, Tiner 21 can also do the job.
3. After cleaning the paint, you can wash off the chemical residues with a strong stream of water and let the net dry before storing.
4. If we want to erase the grid completely in order to prepare it for printing new graphics, we must use a special material that removes the emulsion. In order to do this, we will wet the screen with water, spray the material generously on top of the emulsion and let the material work. In many cases, printers prefer to build a box in which they immerse the screens and let them be for some time in the water mixed with the emulsion remover in order to facilitate cleaning.
5. After the emulsion starts to soften, you can wash the net with a strong stream of water and remove the whole thing. It should be noted that all emulsion residues are cleaned (it is better to check this by placing the screen in front of the light) because emulsion residues may create a defect in future printing.