ink scale recommendations
Can anyone recommend a reliable and precise ink scale for weighing Pantone inks (for mixing)? I’m looking at triple beam balances and electronic scales, just not sure what approach to take with this.
This scale seems to be reasonably priced:
http://www.gwjcompany.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=67_576&...
Also, do any of you premix a larger amount than needed and store for future use? If so, how do you store? I recall reading that someone stores in syringes. Any ideas?
Sorry, just haven’t found any solid answers in the archives here.
Thanks.
Joshua
Here’s a photo of mine.
Rich
Front Room Press
Milford, NJ
http://frontroompress.com
http://frontroompress.blogspot.com
beam scale.jpg
Rich, I shouldn’t read your posts with a mouthful of tea. This is beautiful!
Joshua, if you subscribe to the Letpress list there are also a few discussions over there about storing premixed ink. Was it possibly tubes and not syringes that you heard about?
Also, I don’t think that mixing precise formulas that were intended for offset printing will provide the same effect when used for letterpress. I’m probably a slouch about this, but I’ve just used the Pantone formulas as a starting point. I put roughly equal-sized dabs of ink on the slab, one dab for each indicated Pantone part, somewhat rounded off, of necessity. Then I make draw-downs with my — ahem — finger on the intended paper, eyeball the result, and make adjustments until it looks real close. Then I run a trial print on the intended paper and make any necessary further adjustments. The more you do this, the better you get. I think it’s one of those may-the-force-be-with-you processes.
Barbara
That’s a brilliant reply Rich! And for Joshua, try to mix inks the old fashioned way, forget about Pantone and scales. Unless you’re running a commercial printing plant, the best way is to get to know the basics of mixing inks. With a few cans of ink (yellow, magenta and cyan, plus transparent and opaque white) you can make up nearly every colour. Use your eyes and your thumb (to stipple or dabble some onto a piece of paper that you’re going to print on) and judge. Be creative!
IMG_0922.jpg
Joshua,
I have always used Pelouze scales, usually a dual read with a 25lb capacity. The larger scale has a bigger platform which is handy, and you don’t have to mess with adding weights. You can find them in most cooking stores and online. Plus, you can use it to weigh small packages when necessary.
Paul
Thanks for your responses! Rich, I’m guessing that’s not a Pelouze scale? :) I’ll explore both the scale and dab approaches to see what works best. I’m sure each will be good for the other side of my brain.
Thanks again.
Joshua
pro-Pantone
Hi! How high a resolution do you usually use for measuring out inks. I find that 1 gram resolution is a bit high for mixing inks for just one run. Do most of you just mix up larger amounts or do you have a more accurate scale? I found this one that I might get:
Ohaus TAJ602 Gold Scale Multi-functional jewelry scale with 100th gram resolution 600 gram capacity x 0.01 gram resolution
They have it here:
http://www.oldwillknottscales.com/ohaus-taj602.aspx
taj-gold-large.jpg
Trying to mix inks with less than a 1 gram resolution can be very trying (mixing grays for example). Even on a O’hause triple beam, you’ll be down to using the grains scale to get the mix. The newer digital scales have a lot going for them in that regard.
Remember that whatever Pantone color you mix, you’ll probably have to cut the mix with mixing white to get the color from printing too dark, as the ink film laid down by letterpress is far greater than that created in offset printing.
Please see my comment below. I posted two comments by mistake and don’t know how to delete this one.
A digital kitchen scale comes to mind……..probably locally available or available on line, and low cost. They may or may not be suitable, but it may be worth evaluating whether they can be used for the purpose under discussion here.