Easel for Postcard Paper(6x4 inches)

[pentaxuser]

My first thoughts on this were a Paterson easel like the one for 7x5.Can anyone confirm that Paterson used to make such an easel? In my browsing on e-bay I thought that I had seen one at 6x4 many months ago but it could have been my imagination and there's no mention of Paterson easels on the Paterson website at all and needless to say no sign of this size of easel on e-bay now.

I have seen a Paterson 10x8 and I have recently got a 7x5. It was the 7x5 that has made me want a similar one for Postcard paper. I have some Ilford Postcard paper and find the very thin borders from the Paterson 5x7 to be ideal for postcard paper.

My large (14x17) adjustable LPL easel might do the job but the borders I need on Postcard paper are so small that I feel the arm that grips the paper would have so little to grip that I'd end up with out of true borders.

Apart from the wondering if any such easel exists, the second cloud on the horizon is that Postcard paper is 10 x15cm which isn't quite 6x4 inches. However the Ilford fact sheet equates 6x4 with 10x15cm and if Paterson or others made an easel for any 6x4 paper then Postcard paper would fit such an easel or so it would seem.

So.
1. Can anyone confirm that a 6x4 Paterson easel does exist?
2. Does anyone know of a source where it might be obtained? Or
3. Anyone know of another similar easel with thin borders?

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[Steve Smith]

I have the paterson 5x7 and the 10x8. I have not seen a 6x4 though.

I did think about making one once. I have a CNC router at work which makes these things quite simple. It would be in three pieces: A base plate, an intermediate plate with a cutout to take the paper and a top plate to hold the paper down and create the border. It would all assemble on 1/8" pins rather than be hinged like the Patersons.

If I ever get round to it, I can just as easily make two instead of one.

Hmmm. Perhaps it's something to do tomorrow!


Steve.

 

[Jeff Bannow]

I've been looking for something similar myself. No luck so far though.

 

[ic-racer]

This speed easel is "post card" size. Don't know if it matches the exact size of you paper.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Mike Wilde]

diy aligner

masonite backboard.

black matte board, cut to two L shapes as the edges to hold paper in place.

Leave a gap between the opposing L's to aloow you to grab the paper by the corner.

Cut the matte board with a stiff stright edge and sharp knife, to whatever angle needed to hold down any flex found in the paper.

Contact cement for a permamnet fix, or gaffers tape to get the thing running in a hurry.

 

[gordrob]

I have not been able to find a 4x6 easel either so i have had to use my 11x14 easel masked down for the postcard paper. It gives me a border of 3/16 of an inch.
Gord

 

[pentaxuser]

Thanks all for the ideas so far. It looks as if a Paterson 6x4 was a figment of my imagination. Pity. I have just tried my easel and the good news is that at minimum border size it does hold the paper OK but the bad news is that the min border is 1/8th inch which is larger than the Paterson easel provides and at 6x4 postcard size looks a little unbalanced.

Steve nice idea you have. It had struck me that someone with access to good machinery especially a precision NC machine or a computer controlled laser cutter of the type that cuts plastic could do it but unfortunately that's not me. Neither in terms of the money nor the engineering brain! Maybe Paterson never bothered because 6x4 prints weren't popular enough for the home darkroom worker. Still you'd have thought that having devised the 7x5 easel it might have been worth a short run of 6x4s to see if they sold enough for a profit.

Mike I couldn't quite envisage how you get the very small border with your idea. I am not particularly spatially gifted so maybe just be having difficulty following your idea.

ic-racer. I had a look and it doesn't seem to be quite the right size for 10x15cm postcard paper.

I have had a sudden thought. I think that the Versamask as sold by Robert Vonk does 6x4 including an insert for a black keyline. Unfortunately at a considerable price as they say.

pentaxuser

 

[Steve Smith]

Steve nice idea you have. It had struck me that someone with access to good machinery especially a precision NC machine or a computer controlled laser cutter of the type that cuts plastic could do it but unfortunately that's not me.

We have a laser cutter as well!

Guess what I might be doing tomorrow!


Steve.

 

[pentaxuser]

We have a laser cutter as well!

Guess what I might be doing tomorrow!


Steve.

Steve Let me know how you get on. If it looks to be a go proposition then let me know what you'd want to produce a second model before you make your fortune on e-bay as "the easel maker" or "ChippendaleSteve"

Thanks

"There's money in them thar easels."

pentaxuser

 

[Mike Wilde]

a sketch of my diy thoughts

sketch attached

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I use a Suander's borderless easel for post cards. The post card paper I have is Ilford, sized at 10 x 15 cm -- 3 7/8 x 5 7/8".

I also use post-card stickers for attaching to the back of 4x6 mini-lab prints: they stiffen the print and provide a writing surface.