Printing w/o easel

In article .com,
"Steven Woody" wrote:

Just go out and get an adjustable easel. Forget about sticky stuff and
wet paper under the enlarger light. There are also some quite nice fixed
format easels that are perfectly squared. Why make things complicated?


reason 1: good quality easels are too expensive to afford.
reason 2: i in most time use 120 film, hence the print is exactly
square to which there is no quick easel will fit.

-
woody

I agree with Mike, there probably are enough used easels that you could
get a decent one on Ebay. Or you could fairly easily build a vacuum
easel and use a standard vacuum cleaner to hold paper down if borderless
prints work for you.
--
George W. Bush is the President Quayle we never had.

On 2ÔÂ16ÈÕ, ÏÂÎç8ʱ14·Ö, Gregory Blank wrote:
In article .com,
"Steven Woody" wrote:

Just go out and get an adjustable easel. Forget about sticky stuff and
wet paper under the enlarger light. There are also some quite nice fixed
format easels that are perfectly squared. Why make things complicated?

reason 1: good quality easels are too expensive to afford.
reason 2: i in most time use 120 film, hence the print is exactly
square to which there is no quick easel will fit.

-
woody

I agree with Mike, there probably are enough used easels that you could
get a decent one on Ebay. Or you could fairly easily build a vacuum
easel and use a standard vacuum cleaner to hold paper down if borderless
prints work for you.
--
George W. Bush is the President Quayle we never had.

would you please teach me how to use a vacuum cleaner to build a
vacuum easel? i get absolutly no idea.

thanks.

-
woody

In article .com,
"Steven Woody" wrote:


would you please teach me how to use a vacuum cleaner to build a
vacuum easel? i get absolutly no idea.

The vacuum cleaner gets hooked to the easel, your not using it to build the easel.
--
George W. Bush is the President Quayle we never had.

Steven Woody spake thus:

On 2ÔÂ16ÈÕ, ÏÂÎç8ʱ14·Ö, Gregory Blank wrote:

In article .com,
"Steven Woody" wrote:

Just go out and get an adjustable easel. Forget about sticky stuff and
wet paper under the enlarger light. There are also some quite nice fixed
format easels that are perfectly squared. Why make things complicated?

reason 1: good quality easels are too expensive to afford.
reason 2: i in most time use 120 film, hence the print is exactly
square to which there is no quick easel will fit.

I agree with Mike, there probably are enough used easels that you could
get a decent one on Ebay. Or you could fairly easily build a vacuum
easel and use a standard vacuum cleaner to hold paper down if borderless
prints work for you.

would you please teach me how to use a vacuum cleaner to build a
vacuum easel? i get absolutly no idea.

Sure. But first of all you have to tell us why the posts suddenly switch
to the "large print edition" whenever you reply.

OK: to make a vacuum easel, you basically build a hollow box connected
to the vacuum cleaner. The box will be shallow, with a connection to the
vacuum-cleaner hose. The top of the box--where you put the paper to be
exposed--will have a grid pattern of very small holes drilled in it.
When you connect it to the vacuum cleaner and turn it on, air will be
sucked in through the little holes. Put a piece of paper on the top and
it will be held flat to the top by the suction.

Simple. I know this works, by the way, because I once built a similar
device to hold film in a process camera. I drilled holes about 1/8" in
diameter on a grid spaced 1/2". It worked great.


--
Don't talk to me, those of you who must need to be slammed in the
forehead with a maul before you'll GET IT that Wikipedia is a
time-wasting, totality of CRAP...don't talk to me, don't keep bleating
like naifs, that we should somehow waste MORE of our lives writing a
variorum text that would be put up on that site.

It is a WASTE OF TIME.

- Harlan Ellison, writing on the "talk page" of his Wikipedia article
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Harlan_Ellison)

On 2ÔÂ17ÈÕ, ÉÏÎç3ʱ11·Ö, David Nebenzahl wrote:
Steven Woody spake thus:



On 2ÔÂ16ÈÕ, ÏÂÎç8ʱ14·Ö, Gregory Blank wrote:

In article .com,
"Steven Woody" wrote:

Just go out and get an adjustable easel. Forget about sticky stuff and
wet paper under the enlarger light. There are also some quite nice fixed
format easels that are perfectly squared. Why make things complicated?

reason 1: good quality easels are too expensive to afford.
reason 2: i in most time use 120 film, hence the print is exactly
square to which there is no quick easel will fit.

I agree with Mike, there probably are enough used easels that you could
get a decent one on Ebay. Or you could fairly easily build a vacuum
easel and use a standard vacuum cleaner to hold paper down if borderless
prints work for you.

would you please teach me how to use a vacuum cleaner to build a
vacuum easel? i get absolutly no idea.

Sure. But first of all you have to tell us why the posts suddenly switch
to the "large print edition" whenever you reply.

OK: to make a vacuum easel, you basically build a hollow box connected
to the vacuum cleaner. The box will be shallow, with a connection to the
vacuum-cleaner hose. The top of the box--where you put the paper to be
exposed--will have a grid pattern of very small holes drilled in it.
When you connect it to the vacuum cleaner and turn it on, air will be
sucked in through the little holes. Put a piece of paper on the top and
it will be held flat to the top by the suction.


thanks! i understand.

Simple. I know this works, by the way, because I once built a similar
device to hold film in a process camera. I drilled holes about 1/8" in
diameter on a grid spaced 1/2". It worked great.

--
Don't talk to me, those of you who must need to be slammed in the
forehead with a maul before you'll GET IT that Wikipedia is a
time-wasting, totality of CRAP...don't talk to me, don't keep bleating
like naifs, that we should somehow waste MORE of our lives writing a
variorum text that would be put up on that site.

It is a WASTE OF TIME.

- Harlan Ellison, writing on the "talk page" of his Wikipedia article
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Harlan_Ellison)

Gregory Blank wrote:

wrote:
Wet paper will lie flat
of it's own accord.

Who wants to work with wet Paper?
--

Not a matter of wanting to work with wet paper.
If paper came out of the box or envelope FLAT that
would be fine. A well dampened sheet will lie FLAT
with NO assistance. Think pancake.
Processing single-tray means no additional are
are needed. After a soak of a couple of minutes
sponge dry and place on the pre-positioned
support. Dan

spake thus:

Gregory Blank wrote:

wrote:

Wet paper will lie flat
of it's own accord.

Who wants to work with wet Paper?

Not a matter of wanting to work with wet paper.
If paper came out of the box or envelope FLAT that
would be fine. A well dampened sheet will lie FLAT
with NO assistance. Think pancake.

That'w what *easels* are for, you silly goose. To hold the paper flat.

What is it with you? Everything that most other people use--enlarging
easels (with *dry* paper--what a concept!), multiple-tray processing--is
somehow a crutch, a violation of your religious faith in the One True
Way of processing? Sheesh.


--
Don't talk to me, those of you who must need to be slammed in the
forehead with a maul before you'll GET IT that Wikipedia is a
time-wasting, totality of CRAP...don't talk to me, don't keep bleating
like naifs, that we should somehow waste MORE of our lives writing a
variorum text that would be put up on that site.

It is a WASTE OF TIME.

- Harlan Ellison, writing on the "talk page" of his Wikipedia article
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Harlan_Ellison)

"Steven Woody" wrote in message
oups.com...
On 2?17?, ??3?11?, David Nebenzahl wrote:
Steven Woody spake thus:



On 2?16?, ??8?14?, Gregory Blank wrote:

In article .com,
"Steven Woody" wrote:

Just go out and get an adjustable easel. Forget about sticky stuff and
wet paper under the enlarger light. There are also some quite nice
fixed
format easels that are perfectly squared. Why make things complicated?

reason 1: good quality easels are too expensive to afford.
reason 2: i in most time use 120 film, hence the print is exactly
square to which there is no quick easel will fit.

I agree with Mike, there probably are enough used easels that you could
get a decent one on Ebay. Or you could fairly easily build a vacuum
easel and use a standard vacuum cleaner to hold paper down if borderless
prints work for you.

would you please teach me how to use a vacuum cleaner to build a
vacuum easel? i get absolutly no idea.

Sure. But first of all you have to tell us why the posts suddenly switch
to the "large print edition" whenever you reply.

OK: to make a vacuum easel, you basically build a hollow box connected
to the vacuum cleaner. The box will be shallow, with a connection to the
vacuum-cleaner hose. The top of the box--where you put the paper to be
exposed--will have a grid pattern of very small holes drilled in it.
When you connect it to the vacuum cleaner and turn it on, air will be
sucked in through the little holes. Put a piece of paper on the top and
it will be held flat to the top by the suction.


thanks! i understand.

Simple. I know this works, by the way, because I once built a similar
device to hold film in a process camera. I drilled holes about 1/8" in
diameter on a grid spaced 1/2". It worked great.


By the time this posts, the eBay auction will be ended, but check out item
#170080278419, saunders enlarging easel. I've been using the 16x20 version
of this for many years, and I find it to work great.

Not so bad with Dan's single tray method (and I've used
single tray for years for larger prints-mostly a matter of
space). I suppose if you had some very curly paper the wet
paper trick has merit. Also tried the under glass trick,
didn't care for it.

I suppose you could even put your paper positioning marks in
your tray and make a jig to position the tray under the
enlarger. Also has potential for re-exposure tricks like
Sabattier (pseudo solarization).

darkroommike

wrote:
Gregory Blank wrote:
wrote:
Wet paper will lie flat
of it's own accord.
Who wants to work with wet Paper?
--

Not a matter of wanting to work with wet paper.
If paper came out of the box or envelope FLAT that
would be fine. A well dampened sheet will lie FLAT
with NO assistance. Think pancake.
Processing single-tray means no additional are
are needed. After a soak of a couple of minutes
sponge dry and place on the pre-positioned
support. Dan

A vacuum easel is essentially a box. The box has a top of
perforated material, most of the do-it-yourself models I
have seen use a sheet of Masonite "peg-board" which has a
grid of holes drilled 1 inch apart (originally used in a
shop to hang tools). In practice you have to build a "maze"
or plenum under the top from wood to support the top so it
doesn't flex when you switch the vacuum on. Make sure to
cover the holes in your easel not covered by your printing
paper with other paper (or masking tape) so that the vacuum
pulls hard enough to hold the paper flat. Home vacuums will
overheat if your keep them on like this for long periods so
plan on "resting" the vacuum cleaner between prints so you
don't burn out the motor.

Commercial vacuum easels show up on eBay from time to time.
The vacuum pumps are better/stronger the tops are flatter
and use smaller holes.

I often thought if I could get a piece of the material that
air hockey tables are made from I would try making a home
easel.

darkroommike

Steven Woody wrote:
On 2ÔÂ16ÈÕ, ÏÂÎç8ʱ14·Ö, Gregory Blank wrote:
In article .com,
"Steven Woody" wrote:

Just go out and get an adjustable easel. Forget about sticky stuff and
wet paper under the enlarger light. There are also some quite nice fixed
format easels that are perfectly squared. Why make things complicated?
reason 1: good quality easels are too expensive to afford.
reason 2: i in most time use 120 film, hence the print is exactly
square to which there is no quick easel will fit.
-
woody
I agree with Mike, there probably are enough used easels that you could
get a decent one on Ebay. Or you could fairly easily build a vacuum
easel and use a standard vacuum cleaner to hold paper down if borderless
prints work for you.
--
George W. Bush is the President Quayle we never had.

would you please teach me how to use a vacuum cleaner to build a
vacuum easel? i get absolutly no idea.

thanks.

-
woody