Full Metal Press

I know I did good, but I'm still a bit sad over it.

2010-01-04T16:07:00.000-08:00

This is a photo we took of a Golding letterpress. This one is a #21 Art-series Jobber press. It has a print size of 15"x21". It weighs 3,200 lbs. It stands at least six feet tall with the goose-neck and fountain on it. If you like antique machines this one is really amazing. If you like old printing machines this is a great find. We received a call from a friend to tell me this press was going to be scrapped. Through the generosity of my employer we were able to move it from where it was to his building until it's fate could be decided. That's the good thing we did. We saved what today is probably a rare and hard to find printing press that's over 100 year old. There really is no reason to scrap this press. It was in a print shop. It is still in working order save a few small imperfections. They could have easily still used it for numbering, scoring or even die cutting if need be.

The sad part is we don't get to keep it. Oh we wanted to. We even could have. No one is forcing us to give it away. It just seems like a little to much of a project to move it to the studio and restore it. Not to mention we already have the #7 jobber that's being restored, plus the Little Giant cylinder press, which is still outside wrapped in plastic. We've not done any printing aside from our Christmas card, which was a last minute decision, since we started restoring the #7. If we took this press on it could easily be another year where the studio was in chaos and a mess from cleaning and painting. I mean granted this is about the finest platen press ever made by Golding, it looks cool as anything just sitting there and is amazing to watch run. But it would take up a TON of space in the studio that could be used for shelving, or work space or couches or something. So we're giving it away. It's going to a shop in Brooklyn. I'm hoping for visitation rights at least though.

In the end what matters is it didn't go to scrap. Even though we're sad it won't be part of our studio's list of old and cool doo dads.

Making Connections

2009-10-31T21:29:00.000-07:00

Assembly is moving right along. With the two springs in place the scary stuff is pretty much out of the way. We cleaned up some more parts. Three of which didn't require any painting really, but a lot of surfaces to be polished. One of the shafts goes through the platen. It's offset on it's center and works with the throw-off handle to move the platen between being on impression and off impression. The second shaft actually sort of floats between the platen and the lower arms. Two connecting rods go toward the center and connect to the arms underneath, two larger connecting rods go to the shaft in the platen. There's room on the end of the shaft for two more connecting rods that will go to the third shaft at the back of the press. We call these dog-bones because, well, they look like over sized cartoon dog-bones. We can't put those on until the harps, or roller keepers, are ready to go on as they go outside of those on the third shaft. The press can no longer be turned over until the dog-bones are on either. As it turns out the dog-bones keep the second shaft in the proper alignment as the platen opens and closes. Without them the shaft just moves up and down instead of pushing the platen closed.

Get sprung! part 2

2009-10-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

Round 2 with the springs. This one is similar to the platen spring. It's the same length and diamiter, and feels to have about the same compression strength. This one pushed on the arms at the front of the press though. One of the arms on the front rides on the cap for the spring, the other is connected to the main crank shaft by a connecting rod. We thought the trick here would be to swing the arms up, compressing the spring, then hold it in place while we bolt in the connecting rod. As it turned out that was to difficult to do. So we attached the connecting rod to the arm, then to the main shaft.

Using the same method as the platen spring, we inserted a drift pin into a hole in the bottom of the shaft. We spun the spring on the shaft letting the twist ride on the pin and compress the spring until it was short enough to install. This one had to be compressed considerably more than the platen spring to get it in. Now I'm wondering if these two springs working together do actually supply some amount of force when the platen closes. I'm still not convinced though. From what we've read in the Golding catalog you can find online, it's the geometry of the arms that provide the force. The springs are just providing positive pressure on the parts to be sure everything stays tight and doesn't clatter around.

Because of the level of cleaning we give all the parts to this press there is NO oil in it at all. These presses don't have bearings or bushings like we think of today. There is no grease in this press at all, ever. A bearing on this machine is two very closely machined surfaces. Those surface need to ride on a film of oil in order not to grind against one another and either fuse together or destroy each other. As such we have been running a drill bit into every oil hole we find to be sure it's free of debris and polishing every bearing surface until it shines. When the parts are put back together we coat the surfaces with oil. Then we drip some oil into the oil holes until they fill up. We spin the press over several times, then refill the holes. We do this until oil just starts to drip out the edges of the bearings. Sometimes though, those holes can be kind of hard to find again. . .

There's an oil hole in that connecting rod, as well as two on the casting on the right side of the press. One at the top of the U of the main shaft, and one above it for the secondary shaft. Once you've got the oil back into the bearings though you can definitely feel the difference in the resistance when turning over the press.

Get sprung!

2009-10-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

Now that the platen is back together it won't just stay there all on it's own. We cleaned up the end caps and the spring that push on the pawl at the bottom of the main body of the platen. If we understand things correctly this spring doesn't provide the impressional force for the press. The linkage of arms connected to the main shaft are what do it. This makes sense because this spring is not nearly as strong as we suspected. We were ALMOST able to compress it enough by hand to get it hooked back onto the pawl. This isn't the original spring to the press either. The one we took out of the press had a crack in it and eventually broke even before we started cleaning it. We were fortunate enough to get a replacement spring from the same folks that sold us the ink distributor. We also found something interesting out. The shaft the spring rides on has a built in compression feature. Towards the bottom of the shaft there's a hole that looks like you would put a pin through it. We know we didn't take a pin out of it, and one couldn't stay in there as the shaft slides through a hole in the casting and a pin would stop that from happening. What we found was we were able to put a drift pin in the hole, then spin the spring up the shaft until it was short enough to reach under the platen pawl. we then turned the spring in the opposite direction until as much tension was off the drift pin as we could get, then we pulled the pin out. It turned out to be a pretty simple operation in the end. Though had we known about this we would have oiled the shaft first to make the spring easier to turn.

Reassembling the platen

2009-10-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

The next parts ready to go back on are probably the second heaviest parts, the fly wheel being the heavies at 108 lbs. The platen to this press is in two parts. The main body of the platen which provides the impressional force and the face of the platen that the typhen and packing go onto. The two are held together by two large bolts that pass through the main body and screw into the face. You can see the holes in the photos above. The face and body ride on a set of half round "rockers" and a set of wedges. The rockers, seen in the top photo, provide a piviot for the wedged and rest in the main body. The four wedges, seen in the bottom photo, support the face of the platen and provide the adjustment for squaring the platen to the form of the press.

Ink Distributor

2009-09-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

The first item to go back on the press is actually a part we didn't take off the press. Golding offered as an option for most of their jobber presses, and as standard equipment on the art series, what they called an ink distributor. Essentially it's a second ink disk below the bed of the press. After the form rollers pass over the form they run across the large curved piece in the photo. Once the press is inked this would carry just enough ink to fill in what was taken off the rollers by the form and provide a uniform coating on the rollers as they pass back up to the ink disk. The funny L shaped part in the left of the photo is a mechanism that moves the distributor left and right as the rollers pass over it as well reducing any amount of ghosting. We bought these parts from a member of the letpress mailing list. They were in good shape and we disassembled everything that would come apart and sanded it all down well. The parts were just rusty, most of that light, and weren't grimy or greasy at all. We replaced what we could, nuts, bolts, springs and pins. We wanted to insert a bushing in the distributor where the rod passes through the casting to push it left and right. We couldn't find one that had both the correct inside and outside diameter and figured it's something we can always do later. When we assembled it we had to grind and space the control arm out from the body as it was binding against the casting. It moves well once it was all oiled up, but there's a little slop in the rod and the hole in the casting. With a bushing we think it'd get more travel left and right. You have to watch it close in this video to see it move.

Moving day

2009-09-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

Time to go!
Sorry still no photos of the press painted, I thought I took them but can't find them now. I also forgot to take photos of the skids I mounted to the back of the press for moving into the basement. Basically it's just two 4x4s bolted to the frame where the motor bolts. They're screwed to the skids on the bottom and a 2x4 connects them at the top. Since these presses are top heavy I thought it best to lay the press down on it's back. Also since it has to go down a set of stairs this way when it gets to the bottom it'll be easier to right it back onto it's feet. Once it was ready to go the first thing we did was strap it to an engine hoist. We lifted it just slightly, then rocked it back enough to get a wedge under the front of the bottom sleds. We continued to lift, tilt and push the wedges in until it got to the point that it didn't want to fall back forward. From there we had to let it down, push the hoist back, let it down, push etc. unti it was finally on the ground.

From here we laid skids across the small lawn from the driveway to the stairs leading into the basement. We used a come-a-long and a pry bar and simply dragged the press on the skids. It actually didn't take much to move it. We were able to spin it on the skids easy enough and only needed the pry bar to make the transition from one skid to the next. At one point we didn't even use the come-a-long we just pushed it across the skids. The next big challenge was making the tilt down the stairs. We secured the top of the press to one of the posts for the deck that was behind the hatchway. From there we'd let out a little slack, push the press forward until it was tight and repeat. It worked out that once the weight of the press was over the stairs the cable kept it from crashing down and it would only drop as the slack was let out of the cable. Once it was at the same angle as the stairs it then slid down until the backs of the bottom sleds were touching the floor.

Now we had a problem we didn't really expect. The angle of the stairs wasn't enough to put the center of the presses weight forward so it would stand up on it's own like we had hoped. It was very close though. What we ended up doing was to have two people pulling on the top of the press from the front while we let slack out of the cable from behind. Once it got to the point where the weight of the press was keeping the cable taught we just kept going until the press was upright. Once it was on the painted, smooth, concrete floor it was very easy to just push it over to where it was going. We removed the skids from the back, then taking the skids off the bottom was the opposite process of putting them on. A little touch up of the paint and it's ready for assembly.

2009-08-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Back to press restoration. . . .
After some consideration I decided more needed to be removed from the press to get it properly cleaned and repainted. I was able to get the two main springs out and the platen off. I tried getting the lower arms on the front off, but the long shaft was just taking to much to get through the castings and I didn't want to break anything so I left it. Same with the Gears and shafts. I just felt like it was going to take too much force to take them apart.

From here everything was sanded either by hand or with sanding discs on a drill for the larger flatter areas. All the parts that are to remain unpainted were taped off, olled paper was inserted into the bearing spaces where shafts go. The whole thing was wiped down with lacquer thinner to remove any oil. Then several coats of primer for rusty metal were applied. I went through more than four spray cans worth which amounted to approximately two coats inside and out. Areas that I thought needed more protection got a little extra. After that I sprayed on several coats of gloss black. After the first two I hand sanded as much as I could with a fine grit paper. I don't know why but I can't find any photos of it after it was painted. Sorry.

Wedding Invitations

2009-08-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

My oldest brother's wedding is coming up and he's asked me to do the wedding invitation for them. I worked out the design and type selection with his wife to be. She wanted to keep it simple and clean looking. I had her look online at all kinds of wedding invitations and clip art and decide what she really likes. She picked out the heart theme and wanted a font that looked more like handwriting than calligraphy for a more personal feel. I printed all the art in metallic silver and the text in a custom mixed teal. The stock is all Crane's Lettra florescent white. The invitation and rsvp card are 110#. The outer envelope is an A8, the inner and A7 and the reply an A2.

and of course we put those spiffy new drying racks to good use while we printed these.

Side project

2009-08-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

I've got a printing project coming up. A wedding invitation package for my older brother. A nice little distraction from job hunting, part time work and restoring the golding. Before I can get printing though I've decided I need to actually assemble the wood I use for drying racks into something that looks more like racks and less like lincoln logs.

We counted everything out and decided 6 slats for every two rails would be the right spacing for most the printing we do. A quick trip to the hardware store for some staples to fit out $2 Chinese stapler and we'd be all set to build these things. Right away we were let down by cheap foreign tools though. The stapler didn't have the power to drive the staples through the slats and into the rails.

Another trip to the hardware store to get the kind of staples you pound in with a hammer and we were good to go. After much pounding, which every 11 year old boy loves, we had one rack all put together.

and after a couple of hours of more pounding, a few bent staples, and possible a smashed thumbnail or two we had a whole set of racks done. Here's the gratuitous style shot of them. . .

and of course the way they'll really get used. . .

Ewwwwwww

2009-07-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

So now that I've got all this time, the first order of business is to get the "gunk" off the press. A couple of cans of foaming grease remover should do it. . . .

EWWW look at that gunk! Nasty stuff. A few more applications, rinses and a bit of scrubbing and it was all just a memory.

Turns out the press was repainted at some point. Rather sloppily at that. Some of the original paint is worn completely off as well, mostly around the bottom of the main casting. Now for some sanding and painting.

One of the statistics. . .

2009-07-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

For some it's unhappy news, for some it's a new beginning, for some it brings dread and fear, for others relief and a new outlook. For me becoming unemployed is a first experience. In almost 20 years of printing I have managed to never be without a job, and sometimes even hold two. Sitting home going on the third week now with no place I have to be by 8 am is a very odd feeling. I'm over the fear of being pennies, at least for the next 23 weeks. Unemployment benefits, though much less than I was earning, seems to be enough for us to "scrap" by one for a while at least.

You would think, with no commitment each day aside from scouring the job boards for a new position, I'd be working away in the studio. Organizing, setting type, filling out lists of projects I want to accomplish. Possibly even trying to turn my passion for these old bits of heavy metal into some sort of commercial effort. Strangely enough the first two weeks I didn't know what to do with myself. Oh there were forms to fill out, calls to make, emails to send. Finding a new position is all about networking so they say, so every one I know, and even those I don't, by now have heard I'm out of work. After that first hour or two of each day is done though, I found myself not wanting to do much of anything else. I watched a bunch of movies, surfed the interwebs some, even a little bit, a very little bit, of house work. I think now, going into my third week, I needed to just decompress some? It's rare that I take more than an afternoon to hang around and do, well, nothing. So I think with the added stress of being one of the many out there that have found themselves without a job, my mind just sort of said "enough" and stopped.

All that is over now. I've got this streaming list of things I know I want to, and things I need to get done while I do have the extra time. I do need to get that stream out of my head and onto something I can actually organize and see accomplishments to. I've done the first on the list though, and it was a big one. I removed my presses from the old shop and got them home. I can't afford a rigger so they only got as far as the end of Full Metal Press' driveway though. The ATF Little Giant is tightly wrapped up under many layers of stretch wrap and will get a nice heavy tarp over it tied up tight. This press will remain here for probably a rather long time until I can afford professionals to move it into the studio. The Goldding that we previous stripped of all it's delicate parts will now get a good scrubbing and depending on it's condition a new coat of shiny black paint. This one I should have all set and into the studio before the leaves start to fall.

All ready to come home

2009-06-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to the local home improvement mega store today to pick up a wonderful piece of lumber. We were lucky enough to find a board that is 4" x 6" which I feel will help keep the press much more stable and upright when moving. The downside is the only length they had was 12' long. Little more than the two 36" pieces we really need. It's OK though, we'll use the left over 6' of 4" x 6" as one of the uprights when it goes into the basement. Another good note, I took another measurement of the press all stripped down. Turns out from the end of the flywheel shaft to the boss on the main gear is about 30". This mean it WILL fit through the basement doorway front to back. That means the uprights that will support the press as it descends the stairs can be placed on the back, out of harms way from the gears or the edge of the platen. It will also be much easier and safer to brace them against the motor bosses and the large casting at the top where the harp axle goes.

The press as it sat after dismanteling. From here we need to tip is over ever so carefully and insert the sleds or skids under the feet and run lag bolts through the feet.

Not being to brave we lifted the press only enough to get a 2x4
under one set of feet. We were afraid of it then slipping off the
board so we lag bolted it to this board temporarily.

The first skid is in place.

Both skids are now in place and bolted through the feet. The ends of the skids were cut to allow the whole deal to get up onto steel bars to roll it across the floor easily. Now all there is to do is call a truck to haul it to the studio.

Our first Letterpress video

2009-06-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

Since the work refurbishing the studio is done and the cabinets are all in, there's not much more to do until the press gets moved home. Well aside from organizing and proofing fonts, tossing lino slugs into the hell box, Distributing unopened packages of type. Setting the computer desks back up. Reformatting and setting up workstations and servers. Moving network hardware and adding some more runs to upstairs. Building work tables, shelves and cabinets for cuts and miscellaneous items. Rearranging and adding lights. Fixing the stove pipes and laying new stone in the corner. Ok, ok, there's a ton more we could be doing. But instead I took the time to shoot some video of the auto ejector option on the hohner B with my camera phone. I'm hoping that showing it around the letterpress lists will maybe find someone that's used it before and can let me know if it's set up right or just how well it's supposed to work. So after a few hours of palying around in iMovie we've got a nifty little film of our youngest, Samual, operating the press while I take jerky poor quality video all set to a really cool tune by Jethro Tull. so without further addo. . .

Video of a Hohner Model B Auto Eject option in Action.

2009-06-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

After a few back and forth emails from Mike Anton we're back at it. I used what I had at hand, which is actually a bearing puller. I inverted the "jaws" that are meant to wedge between the case of a machine and the bearing so I had a good flat surface the width of each jaw to pull against the spokes. My fear here is that it's going to put to much strain on the spokes and cause them to snap. It's not like we can run down to the local letterpress store and pick up a new one if that happens so we'll go real slow and careful. In the event that to much pressure has to be applied to the main bolt on the puller we'll take this apart and get some square tube stock and threaded rod and make up our own puller so that we can pull against the beefy inside portion of the hub.

After a couple of turns things were proceeding well. Better than I expected really. There wasn't a lot of resistance at all. No over due stress. Everything was good and straight. It does seem the flywheel is pulling past the key.

Success!! After another couple of turns from the above photo everything loosened up considerably and there was little effort needed to turn the main bolt until it could be taken off by hand. As we progressed we could see the back side of the key firmly affixed in the keyway on the shaft. It is indeed a square key and not a wedge key as I had feared. Once the wheel was fully free of it's bonds our oldest son Kriztaffer held the flywheel steady, which we supported with some 2x4s and a pallet jack from below the entire time by the way. Last thing I wanted was this 108 pound flywheel to come flying off the saft and smashing into the floor or a foot. Once the puller apperatus was removed we took off the 2x4s and placed a skid on the pallet jack. Then I lifted the flywheel from the shaft to the end of the pallet jack, and then lowered it carefully onto the skid. Safe and sound now we turned to the key. A few taps of a punch and hammer and it came loose. Underneath was a lot of penetrating oil and, what I figure, some dried ink. The ink, or whatever it was, may have held the key in place, but it also fits very tightly into the key way on the shaft. Tight enough that I couldn't put it back into the keyway by hand. It does however, after careful inspection, fit rather loose into the keyway on the flywheel.

So with the added exhilaration of getting the flywheel off, with the key and spokes intact, we moved on to the remaining parts that we can remove. The dog bones, or links from the platen to the axle of the roller keepers are very supseptable to being broken when these presses are moved. Also the harps, or roller keepers, are a common item that get broken. Since the dog bones are mounted on shafts at each end it's very important to go slow and keep them as straight as possible. The one on the flywheel side came off with little prying. The one on the right, or gear side of the press however was a bit more of a hassle. Once the first dogbone was off there was nothing holding the harp shaft in place, so we had to use a gear puller. First a little on one end, then a little on the other all the time being sure not to put a lot of "bend'" on the dogbone. With those and the harps off we realized the axle just slides out of the casting. So that came out too. Then turning to the front of the press I figured it wasn't much more to take off the the two axles on the platen and in front of it. Actually the one in front is only connected to the dogbones, to another set of links that go to the axle in the platen and to a send of rods that connect underneath and are driven by one of the large springs. Everything came right off with only a little fighting with the throw off mechanism.

What a difference between where we started and were it is ready to move. Having it so disassembled makes me feel more comfortable that little will get broken when the press is moved onto and off of the truck or trailer. It also allows us better access to more areas of the press for cleaning. The one thing I am really amazed at is just how much gunk this machine is covered in. The only good side to that is it seems to have helped somewhat preserve some of the detailing that these old machines used to get. The pinstriping and emblems, some of which we discovered when cleaning the feet in preparation for bolting it to skids. Nope, they just don't seem to take that sort of pride in making machines any more.These things bordered on show pieces when new much more than just some utilitarian device. The guys making these back in the 18 and 1900's knew how to pay attention to details.

Dismanteling our new letterpress

2009-05-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

Now that all the cabinets are in place, and all the job case full of type are moved, all there is to do now is take apart all the fragile parts of the press so it can be crated and moved. We had high hopes for the day. We knew the key for the flywheel would be the most trouble so we planned on removing that first. Having checked it out previously we knew there was a lip for a puller to grab onto, though it seemed small and rounded. To help with this I figured using a cold chisel to cut a groove behind the lip would give a gear puller something more to grab onto, as well as the vibration should knock it loose from anything sticking it firm. As it turned out, no amount of groove, edge, lip or recess was going to help because the standard gear puller we had was not the right type for removing a key. Not to fear. Lots of penetrating fluid, tapping, prying and pulling and it should come loose. Can you tell we've never really done this before. If not, then I'll tell you no less then four hours later the best plan we had was to give up and ask for advice. I called my friend John Barrett from Letterpress things. He suggested we contact Mike Anton, the Golding Guru, from St. Louis about it. He was easy enough to find with a listing on brairpress.org and other sites. We shot him off an email and figuring it could be at least a day before we heard from him we moved onto other parts. We went to work on removing the next most difficult, or at least heavist part. The motor. I was astounded at how loose all the bolts were and surprised tha the motor hadn't come flying off the press already. I was also happy to find out the motor mounts were wood, although heavily encased in grease, oil and grime. The downside is the box that makes up the motor mount is a rather convoluted thing. Something we're going to have to rethink once it's cleaned up and in the studio. Once that mess was off, including the metal tube wrapped around the press going to the front with the on/off switch, I moved to the Ink disk and ink fountain holder at the top. That came right off with no problem. We then took off the arms that the feed and delivery tables mount to. Then being a bit adventurous and hoping to gain some extra room since when I measured the press has to go through the studio doorway sideways, we removed the bar that connects the harps, or roller keepers, to each other. These came off as easily as everything else. Seems all the oil coating this press is at least making that easy. There was one unexpected event. Once unbolted the harp on the flywheel side dropped suddenly. It only spun around on it's axle, but it was surprising enough that I got my hand in the way and squished my finger some. The harp on the gear side of the press remained in place though, a result of the link from the harp to the gear which is what actually supplies the up and down motion to the ink rollers as they pass over the ink disk and chase. Unfortunatly here we got another not so nice surprise. When the bolt finally cam out of the harp, the link dropped to the concrete floor with a heart stopping clang. Fortunately no toes were in the way and the link survied with no cracks or breaks. We took this as an omen though and once the bottom bolt was out of the link we packed up the truck and headed for home.

Our press gets some friends

2007-12-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about the print shop I work for is they've been around since 1916. Back then all printing was done with letterpress. The second greatest thing about the shop is they still have quite a bit of letterpress items and still to this day print with them. Though mostly it's scoring, numbering and some die cutting. So I spent most of the week talking with the owners, well more like begging, pleading and exalting the benefits of freeing up space. (I'm seeing a pattern starting here. . . ) in an attempt to get a small cabinet of type cases and some other goodies I could really use to get our printing adventures under way. What they generously decided was anything they weren't currently using to do their own letterpress work was mine for the taking as well as the cabinet provided if they needed anything from it I'd promptly bring it in. This is awesome! Not only do a get a whole bunch of type faces, but composing sticks, solvent cans, ink, knives, furniture, pretty much everything someone would need to start a studio. I was good. I didn't go off the deep end and take just anything not nailed down. I only took what my little one press shop would need to get going. I rummaged around and managed to gather up about a box full of supplies. Rags, cord, planer, composing sticks, type brush, tympan, ink. The usual stuff.

I was fortunate to find buried behind a large cabinet of type a fairly full case of furniture. No one even knew it was back there and they certainly didn't need it as they have huge imposing stone full of furniture.

This is the cabinet they agreed to let me have. It was in the pressman's way after all. It's just the right height and size to put the press onto and at least a little more solid than the home made table. Plus it's full of type, mostly fancy wedding fonts, and some numbering machines and tools.

See those cut out on the edges of the cases. Those are there so you can easily pull out each case as needed. The down side is it lets tons of dust and offset powder into the cases. These will certainly need to be cleaned out. Some are so bad you can't even see that there's type in the compartments.

Homeward bound

2007-11-24T12:14:00.000-08:00

We set out with our old worn out minivan to pick up the letterpress. It was found buried under a bag of styrofoam peanuts and card board boxes. Sitting on a rickety little home made table, brilliant hammered metal green and more then a bit dusty. We blew it off, choked and sneezed on the resulting dust storm. Contemplated it's appearance and construction. Poked at the rollers to see how hard or soft they'd become over the years. We were very surprised when they were actually soft and springy and not hard as solid stone like we'd expected. We pulled the lever slowly watching carefully that our action wasn't about to rent some old piece of cast iron from it's proper place. Everything worked as one would expect, even the the singing little clang of the ink disk pawl ratcheting on the mechanism to forward the disk for new ink. A sound most likely not made from this beast for a few decades at least. My friend from work told me what they used to use it for. Showed me some of the plates they would use to make the molds, and even a few old molds made on the press that were laying around it. He said he remembers something being broken, but couldn't remember what it was and since it seemed to operate properly we agreed he was more than generous to let us take the press. This press really is a beast for being a small table top press. While I can mange to carry it on my own, though being very awkward to hold onto. It's is a task that is certainly better left to two, or even three fairly strong people. Something we found out after the wife and myself muscled it out of the stamp shop to the van. We took the little homemade table as well and some boxes of this and that, that my friend was sure belonged with the press. As a gesture of thanks we cleaned up tidied up the void left by the press. Upon rearranging the boxes and bags of peanuts we discovered there were two Hamilton type cabinets also buried in the shop. I proceeded to beg, plead and offer favored never possibly redeemable for the cabinets. Since my friends brother was not there at the time he would have to ask him and get back to us. With high hopes and convinced our arguments of feeing up space in the stamp shop we happily trucked our new green treasure back home where we did a repeat of the press carrying dance to get it into out basement family room soon to turn print shop.

Once is was home and well dusted, boxes sorted through and thoroughly "scoped" out it was discovered what the broken part was. Honer had an option called an "auto eject" which is supposed to facilitate with removing the printed sheet from the platen. It does this through the use of a pivoting rocker arm with a bearing that rides on a cam of sorts when the lever is pulled. That rocker arm is broken in two. For now that's not a big deal. It'll be a neat thing to play with in the future but it doesn't impede our ability to print currently so we'll set it aside and look into ways of fixing it in the future. Our bigger task at the moment is getting all the little things we'll need to go with it to actually put ink on paper. . . like ink!! We'll need type and a composing stick and some other things too so the search begins. . . . .

The Beginning...

2007-11-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

Well not really THE beginning. That started earlier in November when a coworker heard me talking about wanting an old hand operated lever platen press to fool around with. I wanted to connect and keep a reminder of where the art of printing had started. Especially since printing is no longer so much an art anymore with all the automation and digitalization. It turned out that this generous coworker had a circa 1970s Honer B collecting dust in his families rubber stamp business. Many decades ago letterpresses were used not only for printing ink on paper, but also for making molds to pour hot rubber into for stamps. Like printing however the trade has evolved and the press and type was no longer needed or used. The press, type and a few other items they had were mine for the taking. A very very generous offer and gift that will never be forgotten. We transported it all to our home, set it up, cleaned it off and so that was the real beginning.

This beginning, though a little late, is the start of the blog for the private press we are now operating. Full Metal Press as we have deemed it through a family vote. Blogs seem very popular among the letterpress community around the Internet, so it seemed the most appropriate and simplest way to create a website to go with our little private press. Like many others operating letterpresses for fun and profit, this is a great way to easily share that which we learn, create, discovery, acquire and even sometimes print. Being this beginning is later than the actual beginning of things though, your going to see a whole lot of posts made to try and catch up on all that's happened to our little print shop the past year and half. None of it was recorded as it happened, so we're left to speculating about the actual dates when things took place. I don't imagine there will really be a whole lot, though we all know how story telling can go once one gets started. . . .