-
All responses Most smiled responses
-
The "factory approved" way is to use the holes that go through the sides of the bottom of the main casting. You can put solid bars or very heavy metal pipes through the main casting, extending the bars out beyond the press on both the drive side and the non-drive side. You can then support the press on these bars by building up blocks underneath their ends. You can then inch the press up with a pry bar on each corner, slipping in more blocks underneath the bars, one corner at a time. I've also heard of printers using a bottle jack and jack stands to quickly lift and support these bars. Putting a drip pan under the press only requires you lift the press an inch or so off the ground, but you need to make sure that bars are long enough to allow clearance for the drip pan.
I have (cheated and) used a forklift before, by hoisting the press from above with nylon straps. I believe I wrapped these straps underneath the bed of the press and around the toggle, out the back hatch. I then looped the straps over the forks, which were just above the press. This was a quick and dirty solution but it also required a forklift (and the dangling Windmill was not all that easy to control). -
There are so many options for paper, because letterpress is very flexible and can print on many different substrates. I've never printed on veneer but was happy with the effect of Gmund Savanna. There are three main types of paper that you'll want to consider for letterpress:
1) Machinemade paper. This is commercial paper produced on high-speed Fourdrinier paper machines. This is the most economical type of paper, and is made by many mills from many different types of fibers (for instance, post-consumer recycled pulp, cotton pulp, or wood pulp). The paper texture and appearance is very consistent (and indeed looks machine-made). Crane Lettra and Mohawk Superfine are my favorite machinemade papers for letterpress.
2) Handmade paper. Letterpress was traditionally printed on handmade paper, so the two go together like a chase and a bed. Each sheet is pulled from a vat of pulp by hand, and has a beautiful irregularity and a natural appearance. Handmade papers are expensive, but the craft is worth supporting (much like letterpress), so look into the unique papers at St. Armands, Twinrocker, and Porridge Paper.
http://www.st-armand.com/
http://twinrocker.com/
http://www.porridgepapers.com/
3) Mouldmade paper. This describes a type of paper made on a cylindrical mould papermaking machine, which makes the paper more slowly than a Fourdrinier. These machines are (to the best of my knowledge) only run commercially in Europe, and produce a soft, natural-looking sheet. Mouldmade sheets are frequently made for fine arts prints and fine press books. They are not as expensive as handmade papers but have a more dignified appearance than machinemade sheets. Right now, my favorite mouldmade sheets are Magnani Revere and Hahnemuhle Copperplate papers. -
Take heart that many printers work out of similar basements, and I've never heard of a printer blowing up their basement by washing their press. I too worked in my basement at one point, and residential exposure to fumes was my biggest concern. I used California Wash because it had a high flash point and its odor was not objectionable. It cut the ink well and could be watered down to further reduce the amount of solvent needed.
-
If I were forced to pick JUST ONE press for myself, I'd say a Heidelberg Cylinder. But it all depends on what you envision yourself printing. The Windmill is ideal for small-format work (like social stationery or wedding invitations) and is probably the most versatile job press. If you need to print a larger sheet or have a lot of ink coverage, then the Windmill won't work as well as a Vandercook. The Vandercook can handle large-format work (like broadsides, art prints, bookwork) but it's a pain for long runs. I say the Heidelberg Cylinder because it has the best inking system, gives the most even impression, and has a very large format. It's much harder to set up than either the Windmill or the Vandercook and is not nearly as easy to use. Actually, it would be a terrible press for a beginner. So you see...there is not one perfect press, which is one of several reasons that few letterpress printers are able to contain themselves to one! I think you really want one Windmill and one Vandercook.
-
Oooh, I'm not very good at appraising table-top presses, but that's one of the nicest table-top presses ever made. If you're interested in selling, then I may just be interested in buying! harold ~at~ boxcarpress.com (drool)
-
That's easy: http://www.nagraph.com
-
That's easy: http://www.nagraph.com
-
We actually have one in the works--a short video about the quirks of setting up and operating a Heidelberg Windmill. This film unfortunately has been in editing for a few years now. It's a shame that we haven't had the time to complete this film, but there's only so much one can accomplish in a day. Someday soon, once I finish the voiceovers, I hope to have this film avaiable on our website alongside our other letterpress videos ( http://www.boxcarpress.com/community/letterpress-training-video.html )
-
You can either buy a corner rounder like this:
http://www.lasscowizer.com/corner_cutters.php
Or you can lock the press back up with a die like this:
http://www.hannanpak.com/tooling/dies/custom/index.php
The die-cut piece will have smoother, more perfectly rounded corners, but you'll need a new die for every new size that you run. If you're only ever running A-2 cards, then this is the solution I'd recommmend. Most cities have a diemaker that can make type-high 2-point cutting rule dies like the ones shown above. These are typically laser-cut from an EPS file (or similar) and are locked up in the press like any other letterpress form. To keep the die from damaging your press, you'll have to wrap your cylinder or your platen with a die-cutting jacket:
http://www.barplate.com/steel-diecutting-jackets.aspx
Die-cutting might be overkill, though. Most printers use a corner rounding machine because it can accommodate any size piece and it's very quick. With proper setup and operation, the corner rounder can work well enough in most cases. -
asked by Raun
If your platen isn't square top-to-bottom, then you don't have the right amount of packing on the platen. If the bottom part of the form prints/cuts/perfs too heavily, as in your case, you have too much packing. Take some out and then increase the impression with the impression control knob instead. You'll see the platen come into square at a certain point. If you have too little packing, then the platen will hit to hard on the top--the opposite problem--and you need to increase the packing material and decrease the impression on the impression control knob.
See page 49 in the Heidelberg 10x15 Manual here:
http://www.boxcarpress.com/community/flywheel.html
In any case, you should remove whatever packing you have and see if that helps. I'm not sure why you'd have this problem with only 3 points of packing, but maybe because you're using a die-cutting jacket? I don't know the thickness of your chip--you might not be able to get an even impression top-to-bottom on board thicker than 0.050". -
Not sure, but I think the answer to your problem is a Stouffer gauge: http://www.boxcarpress.com/photopolymer-supplies/stouffer-gauge.html
Start with 3 minutes then step up. Instructions are on this page, too.
Because Nuarcs are point light sources and because their light source is very far away (compared to commercial photopolymer platemakers), you might have very long (even 20 minute) exposures in order to hold details on the plate. You'll probably only be able to expose smaller plates, because the angle of the light at the extremities of your vacuum frame will make the plate relief lean to the center of the machine--remember you're exposing in 3D with photopolymer plates!
You might want to try Boxcar Press's platemaking service to see what a plate can look like when processed on the right equipment: https://boxcarpress.com/platemaking/login.do
Or, if you anticipate needing your own platemaker, we can help you there too:
http://www.boxcarpress.com/photopolymer-supplies/platemakers.html -
Yes, this brayer is terrific for rubber- or oil- based inks. Nitrile rubber not only prints well but is also very compatible with a wide range of press washes and solvents.
Despite the name, rubber based inks actually use oil as their vehicle. In the case of Van Son Rubber Base Plus, for instance, each can is 20% to 30% vegetable oil (soy and linseed) by volume, depending on the pigment. There is more in common with oil-based and rubber-based inks than the names would imply.
I'm think you're referring to this article:
http://boxcarpress.com/us/blog/2009/11/24/l-letterpress-printing-techniques-from-boxcar-press/
...which recommends this brayer:
http://www.imcclains.com/catalog/brayers/japanese28durometer.html -
Small quantities of most printing papers are often hard to find. Since we order a pallet of coaster stock at a time, I'm not that sure where you cold find small quantities of coaster stock. I'm also not sure what you consider a small quantity. The best I could find was this supplier, who has a 1,000 quantity minimum for cut coaster stock: http://www.katzamericas.com/products_blanks.asp
-
We can print any quantity, but there are substantial setup costs to any custom letterpress order. You'd probably want to order at least 50 of each piece in order for the cost of each one to be reasonable. I believe this is true across the board with letterpress companies, considering the amount of materials and labor we all have to put in just to get the press ready to print the first one.
We'd be happy to quote smaller quantities, though you might get sticker shock because of the costs involved in getting the press ready to print. Then again, maybe we can figure out how to make the project more economical if you could share exactly what you're looking for. If you'd like us to price a job, contact printing {at} boxcarpress.com for your custom letterpress quote. -
Hard or very hard, depending on how much you want to strip it down. The most you'd probably want to manage is to remove the front table from the main casting. I've done this before to fit a Windmill through a narrow door, although this is quite a task too. It requires removing the clutch, the flywheel (whose bolts at the main casting are difficult to access and remove) and also all the feed and delivery mechanisms (in this order). Figure on a few hours at least. Once you locate the three main bolts that attach the flywheel to the main casting, you're off and running. Remember than many parts both bolted AND pinned into place. Keep everything labeled so you can put it back in the right spot. The main advantage taking off the front table is that it can fit through a narrower door--it's not like the flywheel, the front table, or especially the main casting are light enough for one person to carry afterwards. You'll still need rigging equipment to move these parts around.
Should you want to strip the press down any further, you're in a world of misery. Heidelberg made these letterpresses to run hundreds of years without being dismantled (as anyone who's tried to remove an inaccessible, impossibly stuck taper pin will tell you). I mean, did they really have to pound in those taper pins so much? These are not presses that were made to be repaired or disassembled. Prepare yourself to drill out and replace many of these taper pins, because they often will not budge. I've used gear pullers, broken dozens of pin punches, machined jigs, used torches, gone through containers of Liquid Wrench...and I can't say any one of these methods worked very well when removing taper pins. You'll spend a lot of time drilling out (and cursing) German steel. -
asked by laurenekay
Me? I started by printing my future wife's poetry while at school for printmaking in Minnesota. After some summer internships at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and a college class called "From Gutenberg to Gates," I was hooked. My first job out of college involved hand-binding fine press letterpress books at the Campbell Logan Bindery. Afterhours, I volunteered at MCBA and moonlighted (ie worked for free) at Lunalux, an early practitioner of letterpress stationery. Then I found a Vandercook #3 for $100 available in Milwaukee...and the rest is kind of a blur!
I see you're in NYC, which helps if you're interested in letterpress. There are lots of letterpress printers and several teaching facilities which you can visit to get involved. Here are a few NYC resources to help you understand the process before you weigh yourself down with your own press:
* Center for Book Arts http://www.centerforbookarts.org/
* Studio on the Square http://studiosq.tripod.com/
* Make Workshop with Sesame Letterpress http://www.makeworkshop.com/content/classes/classes_letterpress.htm
* The Arm Letterpress Workshops http://www.thearmnyc.com/information/printing_workshops
* Cooper Union Continuing Education http://cooperunion.augusoft.net/index.cfm?method=ClassListing.ClassListingDisplay&int_category_id=2&int_sub_category_id=19
...I'm sure there are many more in NYC. But I'd highly recommend attending a class to get a feel for the process and learning the ropes. It's a lot easier getting started with your own press if you have a mentor and some experience! -
-
I love sharing everything I can about letterpress...but I've usually been pretty mum about our edge painting techniques. I can recommend (wholeheartedly) Harry Otto in Chicago for edge painting services: http://www.ottoprinting.com/border.html
Good luck! -
I honestly don't know the authoritative answer to this question, because our shop focuses on printing from photopolymer plates. With my own wood type, I've always used odorless mineral spirits for cleaning--I would imagine this is what most contemporary printers are using for wood type. You may want to visit the discussion pages at http://www.briarpress.org/ to find out what other printers are using.
-
Here's our page devoted to file preparation for letterpress: http://www.boxcarpress.com/letterpress/designing-for-letterpress.html
You're generally right about large floods of color. We have a few offset presses in our shop to help us handle that sort of artwork easily. Large letterpress solids usually looks mottled on uncoated papers, and it's often hard to tell that there's any bite into the paper. We're usually able to handle solid areas of 4x6 or smaller without blinking.
Going larger than that isn't impossible, though it isn't easy. We always try to accommodate designs with large solids, because we have a hard time saying "no"! You can see an example of a nice solid we ran on our Heidelberg 13x18 Windmill here:
http://boxcarpress.com/us/blog/2010/01/11/letterpress-save-the-dates-the-pink-orange/
...and and even bigger solid that we put on our Heidelberg 17x23 KSBA here:
http://boxcarpress.com/us/blog/2008/08/27/fashion-week-invitation/
It's a good idea to get in touch with us early in the design process so that we can let you know how your design decisions might affect our printing (and your costs).
-
Loading...
Boxcar Press’s Bio
Boxcar Press
Letterpress for the 21st Century
