Project Readiness Package.

The Cary Graphic Arts Collection, located in the Wallace Memorial Library at RIT, is home to a unique collection of printed works, wood and metal typefaces and engravings, and printing presses. The Arthur M. Lowenthal Memorial Room houses several historic manual presses, from tabletop hand presses for small jobs to large floor-standing presses.

Within the printing community, there is significant hobbyist interest in hand-operated tabletop presses, which are used for small personal printing runs, such as wedding invitations. These devices are self-inking, meaning that each time a new piece of paper or cardstock is inserted and the mechanism is actuated, the type is inked and then pressed into the paper. The most critical parameters on the presses are (1) evenness of the printing (i.e., uniform pressure across the printed area) and (2) repeatability of printing, so that if an artist wanted to print several impressions of different colors on a single sheet of paper, the alignment would be maintained across all printings.

These devices are not manufactured any more, although some companies do still provide parts for presses that they manufactured in the past, and the hobby printing community would benefit from a design that could be built or assembled for home use. As a result of increased demand, some of the used machines (which would have been given away for free in the recent past) are selling for as much as $1500 and more depending on press size and rarity.

For a full bill of materials to make this press at home, click here.

A complete drawing package to machine all the parts can be found here.

Finally, the full instructions for how to assemble all the parts can be found here.

Project Name

Hand-Operated Table-Top Printing Press

Project Number

P15510

Project Family

project family (if relevant)

Start Term

2014

End Term

2015

Faculty Guide

Art North, email

Primary Customer

Amelia Hugill-Fontanel, email

Sponsor (financial support)

Cary Graphic Arts Collection, Wallace Memorial Library at RIT

Steve Galbraith, email

Photo Gallery

Planning & Execution

Gate Reviews

Problem Definition

Systems Design

Detailed Design

Build, Test, Document

Publications & Presentations