Heat press machine for flattening fibre prints

[GregY]

Wow! Now you can do Fiber Based paper!

But the funny thing is, I never use heat. I just take advantage of it being a press. Leave the prints in it for a week or so.

Bill I let my prints dry on screens then 2min @ in the drymount press @200...... I can't imagine tying my press up for a week at a time.

 

[Bill Burk]

Bill I let my prints dry on screens then 2min @ in the drymount press @200...... I can't imagine tying my press up for a week at a time.

I can fit about five prints in the press between mat boards and slips of thin flexible stock that keeps them from sticking. That's a weekend's work. If they are there one, or two weeks doesn't matter. If I am ambitious like last go-around, the prints that aren't in the press go into a stack of screen-dried prints between a couple "applebox" type wooden frames (under a stack of more prints).

I can go a few weeks between printing sessions, and during the week I might put them in the press. But as mentioned, I haven't turned it on in a long time.

Flatness for me is relative. I never achieve the flatness of resin coated prints. But it's always good enough.

I suppose if I needed a true flat, I could take one of the near-flat prints and heat up the press and put it in.

Now silk-screen printing t-shirts is a different story. They need the heat. You've got what it takes to setup shop.

 

[dcy]

Wow! Now you can do Fiber Based paper!

Yeah! Definitely. I am looking forward to trying FB paper once my current paper stack gets a little lower.

But the funny thing is, I never use heat. I just take advantage of it being a press. Leave the prints in it for a week or so.

A week?! I don't have that kind of patience.

 

[dcy]

Bill I let my prints dry on screens then 2min @ in the drymount press @200...... I can't imagine tying my press up for a week at a time.

°C
When you say @200, is that 200°C or °F?

I don't have a good sense of how hot I can make the press before I damage the paper. John Finch recommended 90°C or which is close to 200°F, so I'm using that as a starting point.

 

[dcy]

I can go a few weeks between printing sessions, and during the week I might put them in the press. But as mentioned, I haven't turned it on in a long time.

On an unrelated note, reading this makes me feel better about also taking weeks between print sessions. Even right now, when I'm actively experimenting with darkroom printing, I might end up printing every other weekend. Glad to know that week+ gaps between printing sessions is normal.

 

[GregY]

°C
When you say @200, is that 200°C or °F?

I don't have a good sense of how hot I can make the press before I damage the paper. John Finch recommended 90°C or which is close to 200°F, so I'm using that as a starting point.

200F......

 

[Bill Burk]

On an unrelated note, reading this makes me feel better about also taking weeks between print sessions. Even right now, when I'm actively experimenting with darkroom printing, I might end up printing every other weekend. Glad to know that week+ gaps between printing sessions is normal.

Life is long and darkroom chemicals and paper never age. The good stuff anyway. You might find some garage sale Kodak polycontrast paper that won't work at all, and once in a while a batch of vintage paper has so much fog you can't use it (but you could always fix it and reuse it for cyanotype). But a lot of the old paper I pick up here and there is just as good as new.

 

[Don_ih]

I don't have a good sense of how hot I can make the press before I damage the paper.

451F
and it burns.

 

[GregY]

Life is long and darkroom chemicals and paper never age. The good stuff anyway. You might find some garage sale Kodak polycontrast paper that won't work at all, and once in a while a batch of vintage paper has so much fog you can't use it (but you could always fix it and reuse it for cyanotype). But a lot of the old paper I pick up here and there is just as good as new.

" paper never age"..... ?
That's true of Azo, but I've got lots of fogged old paper given to me which is unusable....

 

[Bill Burk]

" paper never age"..... ?
That's true of Azo, but I've got lots of fogged old paper given to me which is useless.....

Add Kodak Kodabromide, Ilford Galerie to the list of good stuff.

I've had one or two boxes that I have marked "fogged" and one or two that I marked slight fog. But I've really, really been lucky that I like a paper that has a tendency for long life.

 

[GregY]

Add Kodak Kodabromide, Ilford Galerie to the list of good stuff.

I've had one or two boxes that I have marked "fogged" and one or two that I marked slight fog. But I've really, really been lucky that I like a paper that has a tendency for long life.

You've had better luck than I have, Bill.
I had hopes....but 2 full boxes (!) of completely fogged Forte ....and some Kodak Elite.....
a gift from an estate of a well-known Banff photographer....Roy Andersen

 

[Don_ih]

You've had better luck than I have. I had hopes....but 2 full boxes (!) of completely fogged Forte ....and some Kodak Elite.....
a gift from an estate from a well-known Banff photographer.

He's had better luck than me. Any grade of Kodabromide less than grade 5 has been fogged to some extent. Kodak Elite is incapable of generating decent contrast now, even if it looks unfogged. The most consistently acceptable older papers I have have been Medalist and Ektalure. Oh, other than Agfa papers. The older the Agfa paper, it seems, the less likely it is to be useless.

 

[Bill Burk]

If it helps to know, it's Single Weight Kodabromide F

I really loved the Agfa BN119 but worried that it's bad now, so you say it's likely to be good?

 

[Don_ih]

The Agfa Multicontrast seem to all be kinda grey now. The older graded Afga papers that I have are all usable - but I have a limited variety.

Higher grades seem to do better than lower grades, no matter who made them.

Going back to flatness, one of the difficulties using older paper is how badly the edge curls. Also, the emulsion can sometimes crack when you try to flatten it.