Extending current digital art and design space with custom analogue printing tools: Designing, Fabricating and Testing the XT-Press — a DIY Cylinder Proof Press by Pedro Amado

We are currently experiencing a letterpress revival. An international trend that has become more evident in the past two decades. As a technological process and craft-based activity, letterpress printing is an empowering and pedagogical process with multiple benefits not only for Art & Design education but also for literature authors and general citizens. As this technology was offset from professional practices by the current digital technologies, material, printing equipment, and expert know-how have slowly been disappearing. Thus it has been increasingly difficult for students, designers, and artists alike to explore and learn this process. The role of schools and associations is paramount to maintaining and promoting its legacy. As well as to integrate this practice into current activities. But as material becomes increasingly scarce and expensive, or in order to provide this experience to individuals or students at home, we have to find alternatives to explore this process and technologies into current traditional, or hybrid practices. The aim of this exposition is to present the research and development process of a simple and affordable cylinder-proof press that can be fabricated by individuals at home or in educational environments. This exhibition presents a sample of relevant projects and initiatives that aim to revitalize this practice. But it mainly focuses on presenting a critical description of a sample of proof presses being developed since 2018 and used throughout the international community. It then presents the development of the custom-designed press with graphic and editorial designers as their main target audience. We have employed a research-driven process of iterative design, prototyping, testing, analysis, and refinement of the concept. It has been organized in a five-person team composed of professors, researchers, and post-graduate students in three phases As a result, the first iteration of the cylinder-proof press has been developed and tested. As a result, the printer schematics have been designed and are being made available for community members to download and build Currently, the first iteration has been developed and the first prints have been tested. We have found out several technical issues that are correlated with the aesthetic output. But more importantly, during these first tests, technical issues must be addressed in order to allow for a less hindered printer handling process. Issues such as roller calibration for ink distribution, roller rails improvement that has to be balanced and evaluated according to the difficulty and complexity of building it. As a result of building a press with colleagues and students, we expect that this model can be explored (built and modified). We will build additional units and run test workshops in an academic environment soon and expect these presses and printing processes to be hybrid integrated into the current digital workflow of students. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a shared activity — the fabrication and exploration of the XT-Press — to promote cultural interactions with the general community. In turn, this will empower the participants in a shared act to promote cultural heritage and identity equality — be it gender, race, age, or literacy — in an intergenerational approach. FBAUP

The XT-Press was built in MDF wood and PVC pipes from a process that can be divided into 3 phases, namely: parts research and fabrication, press assembly and test printing and press refining

Two types of bearings were coupled. Some to fit the printing cylinder and the ink rollers and others that serve to direct the print-head movement, these are external to the piece.

In addition, two Xcm wide parts of a PVC pipe with Xcm diameter, and other Xcm wide part of a Xcm diameter tube were used. The two tubes of the same diameter were used as ink rollers. The larger diameter tube was used to build the printing cylinder of the “provisional cylinder proof press”.

Bearings, screws, nuts and parts made from 3D printing were also needed to build the press parts. These materials were purchased in a bricolage/construction materials warehouse. Preference was given to the most standard sizes — eg. the diameter of the threaded rods to fit / compatible with the bearings.

From these materials, the main parts were built. The printing base was assembled from the MDF pieces that were glued and screwed. The gutters, through which the ink rollers and the printing cylinder move, were also built with MDF. From 19mm MDF thick pieces glued together, the gutter was built in two levels for the back and forth movements of the cylinders. One of the levels is linear and the other has elevation and slope sections.

The print-head started from the MDF parts where holes were made to fit the bearings from hand-held and bench drills.

Parts research and fabrication

For phase 1, one MDF plate were used. They were pre-cut in the store in X parts. These were cut into X pieces to form the structure of the printing base, the gutters belonging to them and also the support for the cylinders. For that, It was necessary to use a table-top saw to cut the fine pieces for the rails. It is worth noting that this process can be accomplished with simpler and more affordable tools, aided by fablabs and even made from 3D printing.

The printing cylinder and ink rollers, in turn, in addition to starting from PVC tubes, also received iron rods inside which 6 round pieces made in 3D printing with the same diameter as the inner part of the PVC tubes were placed. These parts were designed to support the PVC tubes, since the material is slightly malleable. In lack of specialized cutting tools, eg. a laser cutter, these parts were produced on an Elegoo Mars FDM 3d Printer with ABS plastic filament.

Next, the gutters were attached to the printing base with glue and then screwed down.

An important issue to be aware of is the precision of the assembly of the gutters — in a DYI / home environment one has to take into account some deviation in the drilled holes. Hence the gutters have to be assembled after the printhead is complete. Their position is defined by the inner bearings on each islet.

Finally, the print-head was connected to the printing base from the fit between the bearings and the gutters.

Press assembly

With the parts, phase 2, press assembly, began. Starting with the printing base, which underlay the width of the XT-Press, the print-heads were mounted. The printing cylinder and the ink rollers were fitted to the print-head with the bearings.

It was further noted that the screws holding the inner bearings of the print-head islets support had a very high head— which had no tolerance in the normal and raised position of the gutters while shifting their position. Thus, they were trimmed with an angle grinder (stone grinding wheel) until the heads were flat.

With that, the printing cylinder and ink rollers were again connected to the print-head and fitted to the printing base. In order to test the functioning of the XT-Press, some compositions were made with types of wood, as shown in the images below.

Test printing and press refining

With the press assembly, some inconsistencies were noticed that were corrected in phase 3, test printing and press refining.

First, it was seen that the gutters were slightly low. With that, the ink rollers touched the printing base, which was not foreseen by the project. Therefore, to correct the height, 3 layers of cardboard 1mm thick were used. The layers were glued at the level of the gutter with elevation and slope with glue and were finished with tape for the best movement of the bearings.

From the impressions it was possible to highlight considerations about improvements to be considered in the construction of a new XT-Press. The ink rollers, which here were made with tubes of the same diameter, will have a better use of ink if they are of slightly different sizes.

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