Washout brush

Hi everyone. Does anyone have a machine for the manufacture of polymer plates? I want to order the manufacture of a washing brush at local brush-making factory and planing to make a washing machine myself as its design is quite simple. I’m wondering what are the parameters of the wash brush such as bristle (pitch) step, bristle length and approximate diameter of the tuft of bristles, the amplitude and trajectory of the brushes (or the polymer plate) in the washing process and if possible can someone send me photos?

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Hi Fram, I’ve been using a horse hair shoe shine brush for several years with nice results.
Bruce

i spose so now that i think it, but,,,, i had no idea a brush had that many parts. with names.

I think there was someone not long ago on here who did the same thing you want to do, make a washout machine. If you could locate that person with a search on this list you might be able to get details about construction issues, etc. You also might just order a replacement brush from one of the machine manufacturers which would be easier and cheaper maybe then having a one-off brush created at a brush factory.
Bruce

Pack in the 60s or so Heidelberg sold a Polyment plate set up which had a circular washing out bath about three feet across, with sidewalls maybe 8 inches high. The bed was domed, perhaps an inch and a half to its centre and that was covered with a pile velvet material. The whole was flooded , with the wash-out solvent to just cover the top of the dome, and one placed the exposed plate ( the porous nylon based material was supplied by BASF) on a carrier bloc, face down , with a handle on the back. One swished the thing face down on the velvet for maybe four-five minutes (its a long time ago, the memory fades, ) with frequent stops to inspect the depth achieved. When done simply wash with water and dry. Any amateur could do this stage A problem was disposal of exhausted solvent - now syrupy, and you couldn’t pour it down the drain. Trust this is helpful

I have talked to a guy who uses a painting “speedbrush” for cleanup. You can buy them in quite large sizes so maybe they’d do the trick.

May I suggest a Boxcar Brush - this is a hand brush size is 4x8 and uses soft bristles at .75. tall. Cost is $30 bucks. A machine washing brush is a waste of money- I have one but for pure plastic polymer plates - not metal back - use a ultra-sonic unit to clean the plate. Your bare hands make a better washout unit. The ultra-sonic unit is not for metal back polymer plates for letterpress. Use the Boxcar Brush and a convection oven to finish the plate for letterpress. There are a lot of post here at Briar Press on this topic…

Meanwhile…Do you have a polymer exposure unit for the plate? This is where it can get very expensive. A $30 Boxcar is the cheap part. A polymer plate maker can cost upwards of a thousand bucks. I mentioned one here on Briar Press several months ago for $400 bucks - it went fast.

Here is a moment for discussion about photo-polymer plates. I use a Ludlow UV exposure unit. It has the exposure tray as well as a vacuum tray for making the film for exposing the polymer plate material. I just spent $400 updating with new UV Tubes at $22.00 each and rebuilding the vacuum pump and new paint - looks really new! I like it! Nice machine. Looking over Ebay I see a nice Kuai K-996A for $750 bucks. An Anderson-Vreeland for $3150.00 and my all time favorite a Kelleigh 1215 for $2500. I have a Kelleigh - it has a drum and brush washout section - but you know what? I still got two good hands!