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Hello - not sure if your saw this:
http://www.briarpress.org/30488

Incidentally, are you by any chance in the South of the UK? I’m in Hove, Sussex and getting back into letterpress, having had Adanas since I was in my teens (now unused and in my garage - not me, the Adanas) And on a whim I’ve just bought a Heidelberg 10x15 platen. Just as a hobby really. I’d love some help/advice and looking at your posts it looks like a similar situation.

Anyway, just a thought…

Kevin.

They are not magnetic ! but then you can use double sided on your steel backed till you run out and just revert to alloy backs in future !

Hove” actually “, i have not forgotten to come over to speak with you have had a hectic patch as everyone loves me sooooooooo much ! May wont end before i get to come round , i pass the end of your road half a dozen time s this week and will get that cup of tea yet !

Ah, I didn’t read that bit, I’ve given a bit of a red herring then…

Incidentally, are the magnetic bases much of an advantage over non-magnetic? I suppose you can use them as a regular base too if not using steel backed plates.

Indeed you can young man the adhesive may take the height up a wee bit but you compensate on the packing on the platen unless you use an auto vic with its brilliance of parralell approach .
Parallel …..

Kevhagger
Yes, magnetic bases have a great deal of advantage over non-magnetic. Ignore the hype and read the technical literature.

Peter
I never, ever, understand what you are talking about. Type height and press packing cannot be compromised or substituted one for the other. Ever. Unless you really are not all that concerned with the end result. What the hell are you talking about?

Gerald
http://BielerPress.blogspot.com

Gerald.
The end result of using an ali backed photopolymer stuck down on a magnet is altered by the thickness of the adhesive , with this heavy impression printing the difference is at most a thou .a tissue out of the packing wont be drastic .
I know you observe proper impression but even then we have all had to run a job with a tissue spat in as a quick fix .

I use both types for bases in my work. I prefer the magnetic base as you don’t have the extra adhesive layers under the plate, which, believe it or not tends to cushion the plate a bit and sometimes I end up with air pockets under the plate whuich need to be dealt with when using adhesive.

Both bases have one problem I have learned to deal with over the years. That is fine adjustment of the image placement once the plate is applied to the base. You would think it would be easy enough to pull up one side and shift the plate, but both the adhesive and the magnetic hold tight enough that you must remove all but a corner before you can make a twist to correct the placement — and then I generally over-correct or the plate slides and another axis is out of adjustment.

My solution to this is using miniature register quoins on all sides of the base, tweaking them in and out a bit, then using a standard quoin to lock in the adjustment. I have a couple different brands, but the easiest, if you can find them are the Rouse Register quoins which have a base and a threaded piece with holes around the perimeter for a pin wrench to adjust them. I have seen these come up for sale on eBay several times lately.

You can also just use standard small chunks of leading in the corners of the base, balancing the lockup by placing the same amount of spacing on the diagonally opposite corner before re-tightening the quoin.

This fine adjustment becomes necessary when doing projects on a small scale like miniature books where a couple points out of square can be very noticeable, or in color register work where colors must fit each other precisely.

I also use honeycomb base for some applications, and you simply adjust one side or corner, then tighten the other side. This can be done quite precisely.

I know that I, personally, cannot pickup and laydown a plate in the same or slightly adjusted position with any great degree of accuracy. How do others make such adjustments with adhesive backed or magnetic bases. Inquiring minds would like to know.

John Henry
Cedar Creek Press

Hey Peter

I have a saying, the difference between fine printing and everything else is a thousands of an inch. :—) It’s just a little instructional tidbit.

John

I have developed a knack for laydown for some reason but if I am off for a couple of points or so…

you could try one of these
http://bielerpressvii.blogspot.com/2006/07/registration-tool.html
to pop the steel-backs into position without having to lift them up. I learned this from a student (he used a hammer and screwdriver). You have to be careful. Well, you always have to be careful.

Those quoins that you mentioned can be purchased from Letterpress Things. I like em (a bit tricky). And I like Letterpress Things.
http://www.letterpressthings.com/

I don’t favor polyester-backed plates because (including your comments) they will actually stretch along the base under heavy impression and that will throw your registration off on multi-color runs. I’ve had a number of folks report this to me. And that is a hell of a disappointment.

Gerald
http://BielerPress.blogspot.com