I need your questions!

Hello all! 

 

I’ll be giving a demonstration on tabletop presses at the conference next week, and would love your input! So tell me–what would you like to see? What’s been nagging you? What areas or topics do you think I should cover?

 

Thanks, and I look forward to meeting you on Saturday!

Kelly

May Day Studio

 

Oh gosh, I literally have a running list going in my studio of things I wanted to ask at this panel. As a presslady working exclusively on a Pilot, I’m looking forward to it so much!

I think I would cover leveling the platen. From past (frustrating) experience, I know it is a huge deal and makes such an enormous difference in every aspect of the printing process. But, I’d also suggest covering more over looked things like how high the press should be mounted to avoid arm strain, cleaning techniques and packing tips.

Personally, I want to know why my rollers act up. I have to manually roll them every 5 prints or so in order to get good ink coverage, and they don’t ink up all the way to the edge when I first put the ink on the disc. I have to hold the arm down and roll them on the disc with my hands in order to get full coverage. Any idea why this happens?  

Also, I have a lot of trouble getting an even impression when I have a larger area to print (even after leveling out the platen with this really handy tool that’s a lot like an roller gauge). I bought some great old 2″ Hamilton type, but have yet to get a good print out of it. I know it’s not the type because I used it on a friend’s proofing press and the print came out perfectly, but when I try it on the Pilot, it’s blotchy and dissapointing. I don’t know if this has to do with the small size of the platen or not, but if it’s something other tabletop printers have trouble with, it would be nice to hear some solutions.

 

Sorry for the absolute barrage of comments. I just got excited that you were asking! Can’t wait to meet you next week! 

 

Samantha

Hand Deliver Press (.com)

Thanks, Samantha!  I’ve only got 45-minute sessions, so there’s so much to cover–but this is a good start.

 

Keep your questions coming!

Kelly

Kelly – I have a Kelsey 5×8, and so does Asheville BookWorks. Let me know if it would be helpful to have these two set up for your demo.

The limitations of smaller presses- in the classes I’ve taught people are expecting to print full chases of type or cuts with a deep impression. How to get the best print by working with the press’s abilities!

Quick thought Samantha- you might want to make sure that the springs on your roller arms are well greased and there’s no grit or dirt stuck in there- it sounds like the roller arms are not sliding properly. You might need to take out the pins holding the springs (if you’re comfortable doing it) and give all the pieces a good cleaning, grease them well, and re-assemble. The rods that hold the rollers need to slide easily to bring the trucks in contact with the rails, which is what keeps the rollers rolling instead of sliding. I did this with all of my presses and there was so much crap stuck in the springs that it prevented a smooth movement.

 

 

Thanks Jessica, and Val!

 

I’m bringing my own 5×8 (so I’m familiar with it’s setup) and will definitely be talking about limitations and abilities!

 

Cheers,

Kelly

Val,

I looked at the springs, and aside from some grease, they look fine to me. No gunk at all. But thank you so much for the suggestion! Perhaps I’ll see you in Asheville and we can figure it out!

 

Samantha

Do you have pictures you can bring/post? I’m sure we can figure it out with the collective power of our awesome brains!

Great idea! I’ll take some tonight!

I have no personal experience with this as I am currently awaiting my “starter kit” for my new little 3×5 Kelsey. But I ran across these things called roller bearers which sound like they might be just the thing you need for your ink coverage problems based on your description. I found them at http://excelsiorpress.org/reference/presswork/smallpresswork.html

Will someone be filming this to put up online? This seems like this information would be a great topic to cover for the greater good on the LOLP website since there are a lot of tabletop press owners, myself included, that wont be able to attend to the conference.

Hmm. That certainly looks promising! I’ll get some info at the conference and look into it a bit more once I’m home. 

 

Thank you!

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