An easy and reliable way to re-mesh screen frames.

First, I apologize about how long this video is. It took longer to do this and video it than I thought it would. But, if you'll follow it through, you can re-mesh screens easily and get great tension on them with professional results.

Second, this method is not for a large-volume frame re-meshing business. If you're re-meshing frames for a living, buy a professional pneumatic unit. This is intended for those (shops and individuals) who need to re-mesh a frame either to save the time of outsourcing the work (damaged mesh) or who don't have the space or money to stock dozens of different screens in the various mesh counts and would like to re-mesh frames, when needed, to provide the necessary mesh-count and frame count for a job.

There are many options when it comes to meshing your own screen frames. Most of them involve purchasing special equipment. Some of them rely on special mesh pieces which must be purchased from the same company. These methods focus on generating income for some company, not yours. This method will cost you about $80 in materials (not including the work surface).

With this method you can re-mesh a frame for about $3.00 each (about equal parts mesh cost and adhesive cost) and it will take you about 10 minutes to do each one when you start. After a little practice, I expect finish times to approach 5 minutes or less, if the frame is prepared ahead of time. Frame preparation is easy, just remove the old mesh (the ones I've done usually peel off once I get a corner started), rub down the frame with acetone (lacquer thinner may work better), lightly sand with a 180 grit paper and a wood block, then wipe down once more with acetone (or lacquer thinner).

I finally settled on using DAP RapidFuse glue which I purchased at Lowe's. If purchased in the 4 ounce size, the cost is the same as purchasing the mesh adhesives sold by some screen printing supply places (per ounce), but is only 4 ounces, not 16, so you won't have to worry about it going bad if you don't use it very often. The adhesive can be placed in a freezer to keep it from setting up (I've had some in the freezer for weeks at this point with no evidence that it's changed characteristics).

The RapidFuse indicates that it does not need an activator to cure and that it cures in 30 minutes. I'm not going to wait 30 minutes for it to set. I used an activator. The commercially-produced Titebond CA Instant Bond Activator worked well but at $10 for 2 ounces is more money than it's worth. Research activators for cyanoacrylate glue and you'll find that water or rubbing alcohol are used. Addition of a substance to raise the pH is sometimes done. I have used plain, reverse-osmosis water on a test patch successfully. I would like to try the alcohol as it has water in it plus some of the liquid is (of course) alcohol and will evaporate more quickly. Apply with a pump sprayer. I found some small bottles (maybe 2 ounces) at CVS for about $1.99 which work very well.

The safety concerns here are these: 1) The RapidFuse and the Titebond Instant Bond glues seem to be much more aggressive than the regular cyanoacrylate (Super Glue) products I've used on other projects. I accidently got some on my finger and, just screwing around, touched my thumb to see what would happen. It took me about 4 minutes of soaking in acetone and working my digits to get them apart. I've done the same with Super Glue and had no trouble working my fingers apart without acetone. Be careful with this stuff. 2) The fumes are tough to take and plentiful. I would very much recommend that you have adequate ventilation when using the solvent (acetone or lacquer thinner) and the glue. Some type of nitrile gloves would be highly recommended, too.

I'm not selling anything here and I'm not compensated by anyone; this information is intended solely to help others.