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Studio Notes: Hydraulic Presscontributed by Luis Casco-Arias [casco@us.ibm.com] Car Jack Printing PressYou can build a printing press out of wood, pipe clamps and a car jack. First find a piece of 2”x12” that is big enough for your print block and paper. Get two ¾” pipes (large enough for the car jack and the print blocks) and use 2 clamps on each. The bottom part will hold the base 2”x12” wood plank. The top clamps will hold 2 pieces of 2”x4”. Effectively this builds a strong cage or frame around the car jack and the print block. You may also want to fill in the space below the base with another piece of wood to stabilize the whole assembly, specially since the clamps protrude beyond the base bottom . Once the frame is set, get a wood base that is larger than the paper to be printed and flat enough to hold the print block and the registration borders. Place this base on top of a piece of cardboard of the same size (this will counteract any differences in direction or pressure). The printing block will go on top of this registration base. Then the paper is placed based on the registration marks. Then, I like to put a piece of hard cardboard on top of the paper and the print pattern. On top of that, a thick sturdy piece of flat MDF, Plywood, or metal at least as large as the print. You can also put several other pieces of wood on top of this to distribute the weight around, before you place the car jack on top. Look at the pictures below for details. I built this as fast and easy as I could. It seems sturdy enough and results are good for the type of art print that I want. If you need more precision, you may want to build the cage out of metal bars. Printing processFirst you have to ensure that each piece of material you will put under the car jack is lined up properly. I mark lines that cross the center of each piece through its length and width so that I can repeat the alignment fast. Usually the bottom cardboard and registration base stay in place during the print run. I make sure the printing block is clean by using a tooth brush. If the block has left over ink from previous printing, this process also removes any wet ink that overflows into the grooves. I then spread the ink over a flat glass surface with the brayer, until an uniform film is laid down. Sometimes, if working with water based ink, put less than a drop of water on the ink if it is getting too dry. Then I roll the brayer over the print block horizontally and vertically until the block is cover with a uniform thin film of ink. Check against the light for empty spots. If the ink glass gets too full, scrape it with a blade, so that the ink is rolled out more uniformly. Then I place the printing block on the registration base. The registration base has been set with a couple of registration marks (at top two corners) that help to position the paper on top of the block consistently.
I get a piece of moistened paper. This paper is previously moistened by lightly applying water with a sponge or a spray bottle to the back of the paper, and then clamping them between two boards for at least 2 hours. The paper is moistened but not wet. The piece of paper is placed at the registration marks and slowly lowered over the inked block. Then I smooth the paper over the inked block until it sticks to it. The next step is to put the hard cardboard centered over the paper. Subsequently, put the sturdy flat board on top of that, and then the rest of the wood block spacers and car jack.
I set the car jack so it touches against the top bars. From there I turn about 10 half turns of the car jack knob (I use a Toyota 4Runner car jack). That seems to be enough pressure, but you can experiment with your car jack.
Next I wait for at least 30 seconds for the ink to settle, and then release the pressure, and remove all components until I get to the paper. Then I smooth the paper with my hands specially on the corners, before I slowly lift it from one side. Lastly, I set the printed paper to dry in a secure place for a day.
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