Many screen printers still use racks which is an outdated drying system requiring lot of precious space, when cost and space saving solutions like wicket dryers are available in the market. Grafica is one of them.
Wicket dryer is a very useful tool for quickly drying jobs printed with solvent-based inks, which require longer drying time. Wicket dryer, which is also called as online drying system, simultaneously stacks at printing speeds of above 2,000 sheets per hour and highly economical operation when attached to a fully automatic screen printing system such as a cylinder press or a flatbed machine.
The other way of drying the printed sheets is by using conveyor-based hot air dryer. But that is expensive because it uses energy much more than the wicket dryer.
Useful and practical
Wicket dryers are useful and practical for heat sensitive substrates, which are mainly used for printing ceramic decals, automative decals, labels and stickers.
A persistent problem associated with screen printing is smearing of newly printed stock. Immediate stacking is undesirable for several reasons. A slight shifting of stock during the stacking process or when the stock is moved from storage results in smearing of the ink. Premature stacking of un-dried printed stock can result in sheets sticking to one another. Excessive drying time is unviable for most smaller operators, who have limited plant space.
Artificial dryers consume large amount of energy, which adds up to the cost. The wicket dryer is therefore, the useful and practical tool to dry printed stock as tried and tested by many screen printers engaged in automotive decals, ceramic transfers, wedding cards, industrial printing
A wicket dryer comprises a plurality of rows of wickets, each row supporting a separate piece of stock, which are mounted at spaced intervals along the upper and lower surfaces of a dryer frame for travel.
Wicket dryer, which can be fitted to an automatic screen printing line, operates at fairly low and is fitted with efficient air flow and extended ambient cooling fans and besides ensuring perfect dimension stability it also delivers registration accuracy.
The major advantage of a wicket dryer, in addition to it being a low-cost equipment, is its easy operations and efficient use of plant space and labour cost.
Grafica's wicket dryer
Bhargav Mistry is the managing director at Grafica Flextronica and Dhirubhai Mistry Institute for print education research and training (DMI). Grafica Flextronica is the manufacturer of screen printing machines and allied equipment that include wicket dryer.
