Easels - Borderless or...

bvy · Mar 5, 2012

I can't decide what easel I want. I like the borderless look, and previously was using masking tape to tape the paper to my enlarger's baseboard. Tedious at best, but I got a borderless print. I've read that dedicated borderless easels are a pain if the paper is curled at all (and this happens to me sometimes). So I'm looking at one of these now and wonder if it's worth the price:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/260966191487

I realize I'll get borders, but if it holds the paper flat and is relatively fuss free, I guess I'll be happy.

Any thoughts on easels?

tkamiya · Mar 5, 2012

I had several two blade easels and they all shared a common problem. It was really difficult to set the paper in correctly so that fixed portion of the borders are parallel to the edge. All of them had a little adjustable L shaped "tab" to set the corner - that was it. There was nothing to support the long end. The end result was, crocked paper and uneven borders. I gave them away.

I watched the APUG classified closely and picked up a pair of nice 4 blade ones for $50 each. I've been happy since.

On the in-expensive side, I have some fixed hole easels. (the kind it has metal plates with holes on both sides) These aren't adjustable but easy to use, consistent, and inexpensive.

MattKing · Mar 5, 2012

If I want borderless, I just adjust my easels to form a very shallow "well" that the paper can sit into without the blades or edges having to be on top of the paper.

I use a lens aperture that assures a bit of depth of focus, and just rest the (RC) paper in the well.

The paper is flat enough to ensure that the image is sharp.

My last couple of postcard exchanges have been printed this way.

It is important to have an image that allows for a slight amount of "slop" on the edges.

Leigh B · Mar 5, 2012

I use Saunders easels, and have no problem with paper alignment.
The easel has a shallow groove into which the top of the paper slides, holding it square.

I also have a Saunders(???) borderless easel. It has a fixed rail on top and movable rails on each side.
The side rails are angled very slightly inward as you move up, away from the paper.
This angle tries to hold the paper flat, and does a reasonable job, even with fiber.

The main problem with these is that the side rails are natural aluminum, and thus reflective,
so some light from outside the printing area gets bounced back onto the print.
I suppose I could paint them black, but I've not yet done so.

If you use an overmat, nobody can tell whether the original print is bordered or not.

- Leigh

ic-racer · Mar 5, 2012

If you shoot rollfilm and want nice prints that don't need to be matted, get a 4 blade easel.

walbergb · Mar 6, 2012

How important is it for you to have the full-size print without borders? Can't you create a small border and trim it off to make it borderless? You'll end up with a borderless print a bit smaller than the paper you use. +1 for 4-blade easels.

bill@lapetelabs.com · Jul 20, 2012

Hi Leigh, I have the Saunders bordeless and I lightly sanded the side rails and spray painted them matt black! Krylon has a spray that works on plastic, it will stick to anything.

grahamp · Jul 20, 2012

I still have, and sometimes use, a set of Paterson magnetic corners for doing borderless prints. Imagine an 'L' shape, with a half-circle extension on the inner side at the end of each limb of the 'L'. These are ribbed, and grip the paper edge close to the corner. The curved ends allow some variation in position of the clip since the paper corner is kept away from the angle of the 'L'. It should be possible to fabricate something similar.

markbarendt · Jul 20, 2012

I got one of these a couple weeks back. Really works great. Dead Link Removed in expensive too.

Put the negative in the stage, use the back of a trash sheet of paper to set up your paper position, slide a magnet up to one side of the trash sheet then one on top or bottom, remove trash sheet.

When ready to print slide the fresh sheet of paper up to the magnets then remove the magnets, prints perfect borderless.

Leigh B · Jul 21, 2012

bill@lapetelabs.com said:
Hi Leigh, I have the Saunders bordeless and I lightly sanded the side rails and spray painted them matt black! Krylon has a spray that works on plastic, it will stick to anything.

Hi Bill,

That's probably the best way to control the problem. I haven't done anything since I seldom print borderless.

Thanks for the suggestion.

- Leigh

Leigh B · Jul 21, 2012

markbarendt said:
When ready to print slide the fresh sheet of paper up to the magnets then remove the magnets, prints perfect borderless.

What holds the paper flat?

FB paper has a definite curl.

- Leigh

markbarendt · Jul 21, 2012

Leigh B said:
What holds the paper flat?

FB paper has a definite curl.

- Leigh

The magnets have an edge to catch the paper also. Not borderless at that point, but not much to trim to get there.

RedSun · Nov 15, 2012

I was thinking of this too. I have the Saunders standard easel and a few other ones. I used to use fixed size easels since they are easy. But some of the standard sizes are too small for my standard photo frames. So I had to get more print from the borders. I tried a couple of things and all work fine.

I have an old easel that there is a knob used to adjust size of the borders. So I adjusted the borders to be very thin, 1/4 or smaller if you like. I also used a 4 bladed easel (like the Saudners) and set the borders to be thin too.

mopar_guy · Nov 15, 2012

I regularly use a Saunders 11x14 four bladed easel and print with a 1/4 inch border.

For small prints (4x5 or 4x6) I have a Beseler borderless easel. This one has two "bars" that are adjustable and I make these to be about 1/16th inch or 1mm smaller than the long dimension of the paper. this holds the paper flat and gives a borderless print.

RedSun · Nov 15, 2012

Get the paper flat is the biggest priority. For wide paper cut from roll, you'll have to put on the blade to flatten it. 2-blade probably won't do it.

MattKing · Nov 15, 2012

RedSun said:
Get the paper flat is the biggest priority. For wide paper cut from roll, you'll have to put on the blade to flatten it. 2-blade probably won't do it.

Add a couple of strong magnets to the arms of a two bladed easel and you will find that they are much better at keeping paper flat.

adelorenzo · Nov 16, 2012

I tried using some double-sided scotch tape tonight to hold the paper flat on the easel and that worked out well. Six small pieces were enough to hold it down and no problems getting the paper unstuck.

RedSun · Nov 16, 2012

Do you run the risk of damaging the paper?

adelorenzo · Nov 16, 2012

RedSun said:
Do you run the risk of damaging the paper?

I picked up some 3M Scotch 667 double-sided tape from my local office supply store. This type of tape is supposed to be removable and photo-safe and so far no problems at all with the paper. I'm using Ilford MG IV FB so results may vary with other papers I suppose.

bvy · Nov 16, 2012

I've resorted to the same kind of double-sided tape since I started this thread. It works well, but the trick is not to apply too much pressure when placing the paper on the easel; otherwise the tape will come up with the paper.

Easels - Borderless or...

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