Easel for Ilford postcard paper???

[Nicholas Lindan]

With postcard paper, the border in my opinion needs to be very small to look right. The old commercial postcards had it right but their borders were no more than 3mm and possible as little as 2. Unfortunately most easels won't give smaller than about 1/4 inch

Well, you could print with a 1/4" border and then trim the print to get a 2-3mm border.

A 4-blade easel can give a hairline border on 3 sides, meaning you only have to trim one.

And a 4-blade easel can give a hairline border on 4 sides if you don't use the paper locating slot: tape an 'L' shaped paper locating guide to the easel bed.

[pentaxuser]

This question came up a few weeks ago and it prompted me to start making a single size easel for this paper only (I have both the NC cutter and laser cutter at work). As usual with my projects I got half way then stopped. I may give it another go again this week.


Steve.

Looks like you now have three possible interested parties now Steve. Me from the last thread and now two others. Thanks

pentaxuser

[Steve Smith]

Well.... I have to use the CNC router tomorrow so I suppose I could sneak in a few extra pieces!



Steve.

[Pasto]

Thanks to all for the informative replies. I finally printed ONE postcard yesterday (thursday is my darkroom day, I did make other prints as well...). To start things off I decided to go with the simple no border setup. Worked like a charm. The postcard came out very nicely. I'm going to like printing postcards....I think I'll send the first postcard to myself For the first time, in a long time, I used trays to process the postcard paper. I've been using my Jobo for all my printing for several years now. It was very nice to see the image come up in the developer again....

Louie

[youngrichard]

For a simple borderless easel see my post in Darkroom Equipment recently. I think postcards look much better borderless.
Richard

[Tim Gray]

I looked for a couple months and found a 4x6 Speed EZ-EL on Ebay. It's a hair bigger than the Ilford postcard paper, but it works great.

[fschifano]

Lucky you. I've been looking for a 4x6 Speed-Ez-El. though not very dilligently, for a while. I've got 'em in a bunch of different sizes, some very odd for American users. I even have one that does full frame 35 mm on 8x10, but have not even seen one for 4 x 6. I like that size, but I don't like using a 4 bladed easel because the minimum border size is too large without cobbling something together to make it work.

[bowzart]

What's wrong with a good quality four bladed easel and a custom sheet made from one of the cards using a straightedge and a precise pen? That's what I always did when working in commercial labs, and it worked great. I had a collection of sheets for common purposes, and it just took a minute or two to set the blades. Then make a card to make sure, and go.

I prefer the old Albert easel for this sort of thing, but lpl makes one that would be usable, and of course, if you want to spend some buck, why not get a kostiner (if they still make them and if they are small enough - mine's a 20x24, and that would be ridiculous).

[bowzart]

... I like that size, but I don't like using a 4 bladed easel because the minimum border size is too large without cobbling something together to make it work.

Wear one white cotton glove, hold the paper in place while you lower the blades.

Oh, I guess that isn't what you are saying. You have the wrong easel. My Alberts will do that, I wasn't aware that others have that particular limitation.

The Albert easel would be hard to find, but well worth looking for.

[Tim Gray]

Lucky you. I've been looking for a 4x6 Speed-Ez-El. though not very dilligently, for a while. I've got 'em in a bunch of different sizes, some very odd for American users. I even have one that does full frame 35 mm on 8x10, but have not even seen one for 4 x 6. I like that size, but I don't like using a 4 bladed easel because the minimum border size is too large without cobbling something together to make it work.

Yeah I was lucky. I had made a cardboard mask/stop for my 5x7 speed easel previously. It kind of worked.

I want one of those full frame 8x10 speed easels but have never seen one on ebay.

I saw a 4x6 speed easel for sale in the classifieds here a couple weeks ago.