Sprung Chase?
My chase rocks back and forth on my flat stone. I think this might be causing problems with uneven lockups. I searched here at Briar Press an over at the Letpress archives in hopes of finding an easy solution. Letpress archives say I could try heating up the chase with a blowtorch and bending it back in shape, or “pinging” it, or finding myself a new chase. I’m not sure what they meant by “pinging,” and I’m not very comfortable handling blowtorches, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to find a new one. Can’t I just file down the bottom or something? Any advice is welcome, in the meantime I’ll start looking for a new one. I’d like to have an extra or two anyway. If anyone knows of any homeless 6x9 Sigwalt Ideal No 5 chases…
Thanks, Gilly
By the way, what causes a chase to spring? Is it because I lock it up too tight or is it just something that happens to old metal?
Chases do spring over time, but it should be possible to minimise the effect by fixing adhesive parcel tape to the offending corner(s), unless the effect is very pronounced.
A 6x9 chase is quite small, and as your not printing at high speeds, once locked in position, it should not cause any problems.
I’m thinking geometrically, if a chase is sprung, then the internal walls won’t be squared off with itself which would assist the type and furniture to spring or rise and cause slurring, or uneven impressions and wear, maybe even injure the rollers. Bern Bennett’s comment, above, is fair enough, but I’d go about finding and using a good chase and use the offending one as a “storing” frame or composing frame.
If it is not able to do the job then it probably can’t keep the name of “chase”, just as a printing machine not able to print is not a printing machine but a repository of spare parts.
William Amer, Australia
Compositor and Machine Minder