make ready

You can use tympan paper for makeready sheets, or any hard machine rolled paper (for “hard packing”) - though you should start out with a layer of press board under everything.

Adhesive? What for? Doesn’t your press have tympan bales?

Makeready: On my Handpress, (Albion) I use from silk paper to anything which gives me the needed pressure.
Adhesive: A glue stick is fast and effective, sometimes a bit of spit works too.

Platen Press / Cylinder Press: a Proof printed and the offending part cut out and glued to the inner tympan.

i use all kinds of things for packing, usually 2 or 3 sheets of copy paper along with a sheet of pressboard, press board on top of the 20 lb copy paper gves you a hard packing, copy paper on top of pressboard gives you a softer packing. Cut down a file folder and use that in place of press board, i use a thin offset blanket under the top sheet for some things, also use a thin fiberglass board made for foil stamping in place of the press board. For makeready i use scotch tape, sometimes i will tape a thin sheet of coated stock behind the form. this is stuff you learn from trial and error over the years, too much packing can damage your press so you need to be careful.

Thank you for all of your suggestions! “Press board,” can be just a file folder….but what is it if it isn’t a file folder? In other words, if I were going to buy it/find it, would there be a brand, a place a type?

I’ve been using a stack of paper similar to file folder material for the packing, but I will try putting copy paper under one piece to see if I get a better impression.

Yes, I have bales for the tympan, but the book I mentioned says to use glue to make the make ready. dickg, do you use tape and then place the taped paper under your packing? How far under? So, if I understand what you’re saying, you use scotch tape and cut away or add, whatever you need in certain areas of your impression, then add that sheet to your packing?

Thank you!

The old real pressboard was mahogany in color and had a hard finish. Some old file folders were made from the same material. A flimsy manila file folder is not the same. You may be able to purchase press board, but I don’t know where. Go to your office supply place and see the substantial file folders. They are made from paper fiber, have a hard finish and are often green or blue in color. They work the same as your old mahogany press board.
Unless you are doing spot makeready to correct for a weak portion of the form, one does not use adhesive or tape for the normal packing. I use just a light spritz of spray adhesive.

I was correct, but not clear.
I use the light spritz of spray adhesive only for any spot makeready. The piece with adhesive should be stuck to the spot-up sheet under the tympan sheet, but today is often stuck on top of the tympan sheet.

You can buy pressboard, the red kind, from NA Graphics at this url.
http://order.nagraph.com/tympan-press-packing.html
-Mike

Petroleum jelly also works for putting down makeready, especially when spotting in bits of tissue or whatnot.

Yes, you’d need some sort of adhesive to do a proper makeready. Most common was: Sphinx Makeready Paste, the pint jar with the blue label. (I’m sure all of ye old timers remember the pressman having a clump of that on top of his left hand, kind of between his thumb and index finger that kind’a looked like…yuck!) Other alternatives were: grease, oil, or spit. In this day and age we might use a glue stick, LePages glue, gummed paper, self-adhesive stock, Scotch tape.
For a proper definition of makeready and everything, but everything, you’ve ever wanted to know about MAKEREADY but were afraid to ask…
http://www.hevanet.com/ashiogi/makeready.htm

Yes, you’d need some sort of adhesive to do a proper makeready. Most common was: Sphinx Makeready Paste, the pint jar with the blue label. (I’m sure all of ye old timers remember the pressman having a clump of that on top of his left hand, kind of between his thumb and index finger that kind’a looked like…yuck!) Other alternatives were: grease, oil, or spit. In this day and age we might use a glue stick, LePages glue, gummed paper, self-adhesive stock, Scotch tape.
For a proper definition of makeready and everything, but everything, you’ve ever wanted to know about MAKEREADY but were afraid to ask…
http://www.hevanet.com/ashiogi/makeready.htm

There is another thing to keep in mind if you are printing with type which you are trying to preserve, and going for a conventional “kiss” impression: soft packing will wear the type faster.

I go with one or two sheets of pressboard, and one or two sheets of copy paper on top of the pressboard, under the tympan. If I need more impression, I put a sheet or two of copy paper under the pressboard. If I need more roller pressure on the type, I take a sheet out from the platen packing and put it behind the form (the chase).

The closest thing I’ve found to traditional makeready paste is fish glue (from the pigment maker Kremers). It doesn’t make packing swell or pucker, very important. Spit etc. can work on platens, but a cylinder overlay must not slip so a real adhesive is needed. Glue sticks work too.
A few years ago I found a whole carton of Sphinx paste tubes. It was exciting until it turned out that the contents were nonadhesive after 30 years.

Thank you all so much!