Speed easel

ann

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one of my students needs a 16x20 speed easel.

Any ideas on finding one? I have checked the usual suspects with no luck

We had one but it disappeared years ago and frankly the school can’t afford to buy a 4 bladed easel that size so please don’t suggest that as an option. We also have several borderless ones but with fiber paper they are very tricky to use and our 4 bladed easels are for 11x14 sized paper

Thanks
 

MattKing

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Ann,
I find that a two bladed 16" x 20" easel (like Rick A's first link) works well for me.
A bit of removable tape plus a removable magnet at the intersection of the two movable blades helps with keeping the borders square and the paper flat.
The 4 bladed versions are much better in a production setting, but what student can afford 16" x 20" in a production setting!
 
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ann

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Have one of those. But it doe#nt do a good=job with fiber. Fine with rc

Thanks
 

Rick A

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I have a home made vacuum easel for anything 11x14 up to 20x24, I've always been disappointed with normal easels for larger paper, especially fiber, not laying flat enough.
 

eddie

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MattKing said:
A bit of removable tape plus a removable magnet at the intersection of the two movable blades helps with keeping the borders square and the paper flat.
Click to expand...
Matt- I use hockey pucks on the intersection of the blades. Figured our northern friends did, too.
 

jim appleyard

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Try eBay. I sold all my easels on eBay several years ago for next to nothing.
 

MattKing

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eddie said:
Matt- I use hockey pucks on the intersection of the blades. Figured our northern friends did, too.
Click to expand...
As a resident of a part of Canada where palm trees grow, I'm afraid that I don't have any hockey pucks at hand .
There are lots of people around here that play hockey indoors, so I'm sure I could find one.
 

cmacd123

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MattKing said:
I'm afraid that I don't have any hockey pucks at hand .
There are lots of people around here that play hockey indoors, so I'm sure I could find one.
Click to expand...

they are 1.49 each at Canadian Tire; Product #083-0032-6 but they also have a bucket of 12 for $CDN16.99. if your local store does not hav ethem in stock, I am sure they can get some on their next order.
 

Steve Goldstein

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I have several single-size easels of the sort pointed out by Pieter in post #4. They are pretty solid and the larger ones have a lock to hold flat against paper curl. Like a Speed Ez-El, the borders are fixed and narrow. They tend to give a slight halo effect around the edges where glancing light reflects off the relatively thick frame and hits the photo paper. One of these days I'll track down some self-adhesive telescope flocking paper and see if I can reduce this effect.

Be careful with Speed Ez-Els as well. I recently purchased an 8x10 in seemingly new condition in the box but quickly found its weak point. The yellow paint is applied after the unit is assembled so the underside of all the slotting that holds the paper is bare metal. A fine layer of rust had built up on this untreated metal and some rubbed off on the first sheet of paper I exposed. I spent a lot of time cleaning it up with very fine sandpaper and dry paper towel, but I know the problem will recur since I couldn't think of a practical way to treat it. I'm hoping that new rust will develop slowly in my relatively low-humidity house.
 

fdonadio

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Rick A said:
I have a home made vacuum easel for anything 11x14 up to 20x24, I've always been disappointed with normal easels for larger paper, especially fiber, not laying flat enough.
Click to expand...

Homemade vacuum easel? Care to share details on how to get one made? I would love to make one myself.

Thanks!
Flavio
 

AgX

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Reading this thread I am still curious to learn what a speed easel is.

(The links, as far as accessible, did not make me wiser.)
 

MattKing

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AgX

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Thank you.

-) is it really more speedy than lifting up the frame of a standard easel?
-) if one slides in the paper at one side, how then one would achieve a covered border at this side too?
 

MattKing

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AgX said:
Thank you.

-) is it really more speedy than lifting up the frame of a standard easel?
-) if one slides in the paper at one side, how then one would achieve a covered border at this side too?
Click to expand...
Yes. The paper can only go in one way, in one location, and it is easy to tell by feel that the paper is in all the way.
There is a covered border strip where one slides the paper in - the paper slides into a slot between that cover and the base.
They are particularly good for colour printing, because one can tell easily by feel that the paper is where it belongs.
 

AgX

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But with a classic easel one just pushes the paper into the upper left corner. With some models the paper then is caught there, with others ones has has to keep it staying there while closing.

And with a good classic easel the border edges are sharp as the blades are in contact with the paper, I am not shure about the flanges of the grooves in the speed model.
 
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David Brown

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Ann: hope you’ve found one. You did have one years ago, because I bought it from you!
 

David Brown

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AgX: One really had to have used one to appreciate both their advantages and limitations. There were (I’m guessing) thousands made and used. They were almost indestructible and were marginally faster. If one worked in a production environment or a situation such as a news media darkroom, they worked very well. I still use one when making quick proof prints. Once into making final prints, though, out comes the big 4 blade.
 
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ann

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David Brown said:
Ann: hope you’ve found one. You did have one years ago, because I bought it from you!
Click to expand...
David

Yes I have. I knew I had one but didn’t remember who bought it

I have+a student who is printing 16x20 images and using a 4…bladed easel works fine with rc but fiber is very tricky and frankly we can’t afford $880
For one that will allow printing that size and also the work station isn’t big enough for 20x24.

Thanks for checking

Ann
 
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