INKING THE BASE?! and griper problem
Hello! I have 2 issues so far…
OKay, so I am starting to work with my C&P (10x15, Old style, w/ treadle).
I put the 9x12 boxcar base in the chase with photopolymer plate.. and then when the rollers pass by, they ink everything, covering nearly all of the base as well.
The second problem is that the paper grippers hit the base, preventing the paper from getting inked. I moved them over, but now the paper sticks to the plate because it’s not being held down by the grippers.
What am I doing wrong??? How can I fix this?
Thank you, thank you, thank you in advance!!!
Erin
Hello,
Move your grippers outside of the base area and run a piece of of tape or an elastic between them to catch your paper. Make sure they are running through non-image areas of the print. If there are no horizontal non-image areas you will need to print a larger sheet and run these across your top and bottom margins.
It is very important that your grippers not contact your base. The undercut between your base and your platen is less than the thickness of the grippers, so when the press closes all of its impression strength is going to work to crunch something—this will either be your very expensive base, or the bearings of your press. You don’t want to wreck either of those things.
If your base is being inked your rollers are running much too low and you need to either raise your rails or enlarge your roller trucks with tape. This has been discussed at length on the forums, please use the search function to see the advice that has been given in the past.
paul
I think the grippers are too thick and must clear the base or you could damage the base or the press. Run a rubber band across the grippers, this should help pull the paper from the type. When your rollers ink the base either your rails are worn or the roller trucks are too small, i would tape the trucks with electricians tape, most people will tell you to tape the rails, but i’ve always taped the trucks. Good Luck Dick G.
If the ink is only being deposited on “half” the base, that will give you an indication (even without a roller gage) which side needs to be taped to provide the correct ink roller position.
Unless you are routinely going to print a very large image, that large base is always going to give you challenges. You may be able to center the base on the long dimension and get your grippers all the way out and miss the base. The alternative would be to get some skinny grippers made. Moving the conventional gripper all the way out on the left side will likely put it right on top of the side gauge pin and smash it.
Give very serious consideration to returning the base to Boxcar and having it cut in two to provide two 6 x 9 pieces.
If you are going to run a cut (we old guys say cut — you say plate) large enough to require more than 6 x 9, you just put the two halves together.
THANK YOU! I really appreciate the advice. I would be lost without the help from everyone on here!
I had boxcar cut my base in half and it was very inexpensive. You do lose about 1/2 pica of surface area though, but that’s hardly anything on your size of base, or at all. The edges are not sharp and it fits perfectly together.
It takes a while to get the trucks taped up to exactly the right height. I suggest doing this with images on both sides of the base so that as you build them up, you an see if one side needs to be built up more/less than the other, as was the case with my Pilot.
Good luck!
Emily
www.scribblesketchpress.com