Uneven borders on prints

[Cybertrash]

I'm having this issue where I never seem to be able to get even borders on my prints. I have a Saunders 4-bladed easel that I hear should be fairly good (looks like this) and it has scores for various print sizes (such as 10x15, 13x18, 24x30 etc). However, these scores don't really line up with the rulers on the easel (I set the rulers to 10x15, but if I slide the paper into the 10x15 score it won't match up with the rulers). This can be fixed by messing about with the rulers a bit (moving ruler pairs up or down an equal distance), but no matter what I do the borders don't seem to be even anyway. Not only am I getting slightly crooked borders (despite the rulers looking like they're straight), but the borders on each side of the photo can be of different sizes.

Do you have any tips for getting even borders on your prints? Is there a special technique, or should I just throw my easel out and get a better one?

 

[MattKing]

With respect to sizes, is there any chance your easel is set up for non-metric sizes (5"x7", 8"x10", 11"x14")?

For mine, if I am using 8"x10" paper, I move the easel arms so that the scale indicator are opposite 7.75 on the short sides and 9.75 on the long sides, and then insert the paper into the channel that matches its side.

The borders are usually at least close to what I need. If they are uneven, it is usually because I haven't inserted the paper into the channel correctly.

The rulers have some play in them. Some times one end binds a bit while the other moves to where it is supposed to be. It is usually apparent when that has happened, but I find that a set square is a useful addition for checking if they need straightening.

 

[ROL]

I don't think the markings on the Saunders were ever intended to be as precise as you seem to want them to be. They certainly aren't on mine. Probably no more than to within a sixteenth of an inch. You can always check the actual dimensions and square of the blades with a carpenter's square. Inexactness in printing is generally not an issue for me as prints are trimmed to final size during mounting anyway – and they are still probably no more accurate than a sixteenth of an inch.

 

[Bob Marvin]

Just draw the size borders you want on a piece of spoiled enlarging paper, or plain cardboard, and use those marks to line up the blades of your easel.

 

[tkamiya]

I have the same easel but in smaller size.

Here's what I do:

Take a sheet of photo paper of the intended size. On it, I mark the border with a thin permanent marker. Move the blades to line up and tape the blades together with pieces of masking tape. Sometimes I tape on TOP side of the blades and sometimes UNDER the blades. Sometimes both. My easels are in good shape but those blades are NEVER exactly at right angle to each other and they do wobble a bit. So using template and taping blades helps me get accurate and even borders.

I have several templates like this for different paper sizes. I use masking tape or blue painter's tape. Latter seem to be easier to handle, so it's my preference.

I hope this is helpful.

By the way.... my final prints are often dry mounted. So I cut borders off. In those cases, those border errors become irrelevant.....

 

[mwdake]

One thing to remember with these easels...

When you slide the paper in to the slot make sure you slide it all the way to the left in the slot otherwise the right and left borders will be uneven.

 

[darkosaric]

I have 2 blade easel - and for every print and size I measure and duct tape connection of two blades. Also every camera/lens combination gives little different negative size - Leica will give some parts of millimeters bigger negatives than nikon - and when making 30x40cm prints - I need to measure separately for every negative. So I would suggest 2 blade easels with duct tape.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I have the same problem with the same easel. When I make a print that has perfect borders and it's an out take, I save the dried print as a template. I put the print in the easel and position the blades on the image. Make sure you slide the print and paper left on the slot every time. If you're doing a body of work, it's a handy referrence.

 

[chip j]

leica neg

I have 2 blade easel - and for every print and size I measure and duct tape connection of two blades. Also every camera/lens combination gives little different negative size - Leica will give some parts of millimeters bigger negatives than nikon - and when making 30x40cm prints - I need to measure separately for every negative. So I would suggest 2 blade easels with duct tape.

Leica negs will have square corners, too, not rounded like Nikon's.

 

[pentaxuser]

All the replies worry me a little. I had always thought that 4 bladed Saunders were designed in such a fashion that borders were both parallel and easily calibrated.

Can I take it that those who talk of duct tape etc do not have either Saunders 4 blade or RRB 2 blade easels. The selling point of the latter is that because the blades run of rails and have pre-cut divisions at quarter inch intervals then the problems produced by the kind of easels where the end of the blades are not on a rail do not arise.

I had been considering a Beard 2 blade easel but if I have to use "Heath-Robinson" methods described here then I may as well stick with my Paterson fixed easels

Can others comment on the Beard easels and how accurate they are?

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[Alex Muir]

I use a 2 blade Beard and it's pretty accurate (without taping the blades).
Alex

 

[grahamp]

I have two Saunders 4-blades easels, and older 11x14 model and a newer 20x16 version.

Do not adjust the sizes with the arms on the base - lift them up. Otherwise there is friction binding, and the free ends of the arms get displaced. This is a manufacturer's instruction.

The measurements are not that precise - the scales are actually half-size, and the markings are a touch too thick for accuracy in order to make them visible under safelight.

I use white low-tack masking tape on the base of my easels when I need a precise measurement, or if I need to use the easel offset from the optical centre of the enlarger. The paper locating slots only work for a few standard sizes, too.

I usually leave more than a quarter inch border on my prints - sometimes several inches - to allow for trimming and handling damage, but the easels are usually close enough that I can't see any significant error.

The only easels I have had trouble with are two-blade LPL ones. I don't use them very often, unless I need to get the easel right up to the column or the side support on the older Beseler. Then I use a set square on the free ends and tape the arms together.

 

[ic-racer]

it has scores for various print sizes (such as 10x15, 13x18, 24x30 etc)

You can check the horizontal number scale by placing a piece of paper in the easel, snug left in the slot, and then bringing the left blade to the edge of the paper. For an 8x10 piece of paper the scale should read exactly at the "10". Do the same for the bottom of the paper; the vertical scale should read right at the "8". The larger Saunders easels have an adjustment for the paper slot. Otherwise if the scale is off, you might have to document how much correction is needed and apply this when setting the blades.

 

[AgX]

My easels are in good shape but those blades are NEVER exactly at right angle to each other and they do wobble a bit.

There are easels where one can adjust the right angles, as all by Dunco.

 

[jvo]

to "square" my 4 blades i took a carpenter square and a piece of 8x10 paper. i drew a smaller rectangle within it. 1st line is one inch in from the side and parallel to that side. the other 3 lines are one inch in from the edge and at a 90 degree angle to it.

i then adjusted the blades (using the adjustment screws on the "bottom" of the blades) to that square so that the opposite blades would each be parallel and at a clean 90 degree angle. in performing this process occasionally, i've accumulated patterns for all the paper/print sizes and usually use those to adjust to the size print/image i want and focus my negative.

jvo