I have had several emails from people wondering why they cannot get a deep impression on their table top press. Even with a tremendous amount of packing, you still might not get the desired impression depth. I love my Chandler and Price Pilot but sometimes larger plates, especially photopolymer, will not give me a deep impression. The reason for this is the size (and the fact its manual doesn’t help either). Smaller presses impart a lower PSI than a larger and/or motorized press.
However, I have found that my Poco Proof Press which is also a manual press, make a very deep impression.
This impression was made by a magnesium plate and pressed on 220# Crane Lettra paper. If you take a look at the post Christmas in October, you can see the difference in impression depth between the Pilot and Poco.
Ok, so I know I just bought a C&P pilot but while checking out www.briarpress.org, (I can’t help it, this website is addicting) I found someone less than a half mile away from my apartment selling a Poco proof press. What are the chances that someone near me was selling a letterpress? Of course, I had to buy it. The Poco No 2 printing area is alot larger than the pilot so I thought this would be a great second press for me. The size is 18 x 25 so its managable to have in my apartment. The Poco weighs about 406lbs (without the cabinet) so between my boyfriend and my brother they were able to move it (disassembled of course!). Wow did that save me alot of money by not having to hire movers!
The Poco press was made to do “proofs” and according to www.fiveroses.org “not at all suited to careful impression, precision registration, or runs of more than a few copies”. Wanting to learn more about this press I did a google search and found a man by the name of Neil Giroux who uses this press to do precision multi color work. I emailed Neil to see how he did it. He actually engineered a frisket that was able to make a perfect registration. Wanting to help me, he sent me pictures of how the frisket looks and told me I can even stop to see it in person. Goes to show you how helpful and generous the letterpress community is. Everyone I have come across in the letterpress community has been more than willing to give advice.
Below are the pictures Neil sent me to help me with the Poco registration. Check them out!
Cranking the closed form through.
Makeshift roller bearers, set type high, to allow even ink distribution by brayer.
Setting work on “other side” of press.
Notice the hook on the ceiling. No detail left untouched!
