Base, Brushes & Chase

I took the little (weighs what feels like about 75 lbs) electric motor to Scotty's Electric Motor Repair last Friday and the good news is that the two brushes are spent - so we're going to order new ones and there's a good chance that this alone will bring our motor back to the land of the living. Cost: probably about $65 (don't tell Kathy as she's got a mental tally running on every little expenditure). If you're wondering what a brush for an electric motor looks like - here's a picture.

electric motor brush

chase (inside dimensions) measuring 8" x 12"

Had a terrifically fun conversation with Patti and Fritz today at NA Graphics in Silverton, Colorado. I called them to confirm that they could provide trucks for my ink rollers, grippers for the platen, quoins and quoin key for the chase and to discuss 'furniture' which is the odd combination of hardwood sticks that are used as shims basically. The quoins and furniture are the pieces one uses to lock up your base in the chase. They had them all and it turns out Fritz knows well the Chandler & Price 8 x 12 press (he has one there in the shop). This I think, is the beginning of a 'beautiful friendship'.

Next up - the base I ordered from BoxCar Press arrived in the mail today. This is a gorgeous chunk of aluminum with scribed lines for more precisely indexing/aligning your photopolymer plates. And by the way, turns out solid aluminum aint that light.

6" x 9" aluminum 'base'

So, that's it for today. We're inching closer to 'press time'. Need to get some ink in the house and produce art for my first printed piece (a little Chinook Letterpress card I think) in Adobe Illustrator and get it off to the plate maker (BoxCar Press in Syracuse). When that comes back I should be ready to roll the presses (or the flywheel at least). Stay tuned. [And Christine - "yahoo on the last treatment - you rock and roll".]

Motor Rehab

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		This little beaut is headed to the Electric Motor Repair shop Monday for a little R&R. About all I know (which is pitiful little) about electric motors is that there are such things as brushes and armatures and windings that might be improved with some rehab. Failing that, we can look for a replacement motor.

Cover Story

Thanks to the sewing skills of our daughter Liz (and her trusty serger) the press got a nice canvas dust cover this weekend. This protection was necessary only because the press shares a space with a table saw and miter/chop saw and I think letterpress and sawdust don't go together.

dust cover

letterpress fans - Lucy and Kathy

Old School

Been looking over my press the last day or two. One of the little gem features that I find intriguing is the counter. Click on these to get a closer view.

This little mechanical counter is just so, so analog - it's incredibly cool and such a refreshing contrast to the 'all digital - all the time', world we live in today. 1905 must have been a great time to be alive. It was pre-WWI, a young physicist named Albert Einstein presented his Special Theory of Relativity, President Teddy Roosevelt was inaugurated for a second term and published Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter.  Yes, wow!