My Press

My Etching Press

One of the largest projects that I have attempted to date is the building of my etching press. I had a smaller Blick press, but found it to be rather limiting. I wanted something that had a bed of at LEAST 24 inches wide. But, I also was on a budget- I didn't want to spend $5k plus for a press. So, I decided to build my own! Based on Doug Forsyth's plans, this is what I built-

The bed is 24" x 18"- And the press is wide enough to accommodate a 26" wide piece of paper. The rollers themselves are 24" x 8".
I wanted something that was lighter weight and more portable than the original plans would have allowed- They call for steel construction, but I opted to use 6061 aluminum instead. I also bolted mine together, rather than welding, so I can disassemble it for easy transportation. Here are some shots of the fabrication/assembly process-

	Side rails, drilled and machined
Drilling some aluminum frame parts
	Machining some steel parts on my Vertical Mill
Some of the steel parts, after machining and welding
	Test assembly of one of the sides
Test fitting the rollers
	Fully assembled & ready to 'tune'
And, How she looks sitting in my studio

And now- The moment of truth. Does it work? I'll have to pull a print to find out! Luckily, I have a block ready to go :)

	Ok- The block is inked, paper in place, and blankets down... This is a 'temporary' bed until I get the real one made!
	Pulling the blanket off for the first time. Well, It LOOKS nicely embossed! But- Did it print well?
	YES! It did. Phew. That was a bit of a releif!

Actually, I am pretty impressed by how well it works- Equal to most of the commercial presses that I have used- And a FRACTION of the cost! I still need to 'tweek' things a little here and there- But overall, I am HAPPY with how things turned out!