Proper Boxcar Base for my Kelsey

Hello,

I recently bought a Kelsey Excelsior 6x10 and I want to buy a Boxcar base. I was curious if anyone could tell me the proper size base to buy to maximize the printing area of my 6x10 chase?

Thanks so much!

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The largest base that your press will accommodate is the 5x8.5 base, but it might make sense to go a little smaller. Boxcar has a good page about base suggestions here:
https://www.boxcarpress.com/letterpress-base-and-plates/

DGM

Considering a Kelsey chase lets you get away with using chase irons and screws in place of quoins, and the chases are actually larger by .25 then stated, you can probably go as far as 6x10 for your plate. But, that would pretty much preclude you from using conventional gauge pins, in leu of paper guides.

For my 5x8 chase I settled on 4x7 (cut down from the stock 4.5x7.5), as a balancing act. I can still rely on gauge pins for the larger forms, but am forced to utilize alternative options on smaller ones.

Thank you. I was looking into using chase irons instead of quoins. I saw that boxcar has a 6x9” base and thought about getting that, but I guess I was just paranoid about buying it without seeking some advise first.

Should I use something like the Henry Gage Pins that Boxcar offers? Unless anyone has suggestions for better gauge pins?

Thanks again! I really appreciate the help.

Ivan, I’ve got a set of the low profile Megill’s Flexible Gauge Pins that Alan Runfeldt sells on Excelsior Press for use with photopolymer bases. They’re my standard gauge pins now whether I’m using photopolymer or not. They have a nice, wide surface for the paper to bear against, they’re very, very low, and they affix very well to the tympan with nothing more than a couple of slits. They’re excellent for most work and basically useable forever, being made of spring steel. I’ve not used the Henry Compressible Pins but I’m guessing the foam has a pretty limited lifespan.

The only time I’ve had trouble with the Megill’s Flexibles was feeding poorly converted envelopes that had a bit of warp to them. The Flexibles were low enough that I had a real hard time getting the stock set properly. Since I was printing from metal I switched to traditional Megill’s Spring Tongue Pins and had no problem.

Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN