Rubylith

[wetgravy]

Alright, I need some help on this one. A customer gave me a roll of rubylith from his (now former) screen shop with some screens, figured I could use them. Only thing, I can't remember how to use rubylith ... it's been about 10 years and I used it twice both on litho's. I'm going to test to see if it's the blockout or the exposure mask tonight (I can work with blockout ... do it with green film all the time).

Here is my question. If it's the mask, what side sits against the screen that faces the expose unit (clear or ruby side)? Should I provide a layer of acetate between the rubylith and screen? I know the ruby is light safe, but does ghosting occur? Compared to most HP vinyls, is the pressure less to cut? hmm ... I think that is it ... but my mind is rather caffeine free at the moment.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

You cut the Ruby side... Apply the Ruby side to screen , think about it does that make sense it needs to stick to screen.

 

[CrabbyOldGuy]

Clear side to the light, ruby to the stencil. And yes, you will need less pressure to cut than cutting vinyl. Any acetate you put in between the ruby and the stencil will cause some undercutting of light which will soften your image somewhat. We use it all the time. By the way, the ruby will be mask not blockout. Make sure your emulsion is dry before exposing though, I have seen emulsion pull the ruby off the backing sheet in fine detail areas.

 

[Pat Whatley]

think about it does that make sense it needs to stick to screen.

Ruby is supposed to stick to screens? You mean I've been doing it wrong all these years?

 

[John Butto]

indirect films

Years ago when doing screenprinting and I would use rubylith on occasion it did not matter if it was emulsion up or down since the two plates of glass which were used to hold the indirect film (Autotype) and the positive together was so close and tight that undercutting was not a problem and also used a direct light source and that also helps in stopping undercutting. Also as they say it is very thin so back off the pressure on the plotter.

 

[eye4color]

all I know is that crap is flammable! While I was in school and we had to cut and weed 1000 script characters out of that stuff. I visited my buddy who was in the same class one night and he had a huge ball of that stuff (weeded) on his drafting table. We started talking and he lit a Marlboro and accidentally touched the stuff with the lit cig and it went up in a huge ball of flame! This was the late 80s and it singed his Magnum PI mustache and McGyver mullet combo nearly off that fat head of his! His whole house smelled of burnt hair and ruby for days...

 

[wetgravy]

Clear side to the light, ruby to the stencil. And yes, you will need less pressure to cut than cutting vinyl. Any acetate you put in between the ruby and the stencil will cause some undercutting of light which will soften your image somewhat. We use it all the time. By the way, the ruby will be mask not blockout. Make sure your emulsion is dry before exposing though, I have seen emulsion pull the ruby off the backing sheet in fine detail areas.

Awesome, thanks. And I've seen a film before that was a blockout that was almost a dead ringer for rubylith. Also found a pink and blue film as well, made for coarse screens though.

Turns out it's mask, so goal on that. ... Huge roll too ... 54" by almost 40 feet I think. That is enough ruby for about 5 years.

 

[d fleming]

orange/amberlyth, water base
green/ambercut, solvent base
blue/ bluepoly, photostencil, need hydrogen peroxide to activate and washout with warm water
been using emulsion so long I might be wrong on the names but not the use. ruby to stencil for rubylith, do a test cut a few grams less than you would cut hp vinyl.

 

[John L]

This was the late 80s and it singed his Magnum PI mustache and McGyver mullet combo nearly off that fat head of his! His whole house smelled of burnt hair and ruby for days...

I bet you peed your OP's, laughing.

 

[Marlene]

all I know is that crap is flammable! While I was in school and we had to cut and weed 1000 script characters out of that stuff. I visited my buddy who was in the same class one night and he had a huge ball of that stuff (weeded) on his drafting table. We started talking and he lit a Marlboro and accidentally touched the stuff with the lit cig and it went up in a huge ball of flame! This was the late 80s and it singed his Magnum PI mustache and McGyver mullet combo nearly off that fat head of his! His whole house smelled of burnt hair and ruby for days...

years ago when I used to make positives for screens with Ruby I saved up a ball of it as I weeded the material and thought I'd make a cool Christmas deco by heating it up with a blow dryer...bad move! it smoked so bad we had to close down the shop to air it out!

 

[CrabbyOldGuy]

Our cleaning guy used to use scrap ruby to start trash fires back in the days when you could burn trash. My boss decided that he would use some to relight his woodburning stove one morning. After he shoved a large ball of ruby into the back of the stove where the coals were, it pretty much blew up. Blew the top off the stove and half of the stove pipe off the wall. Some engineers are really not that smart.