Contact printing frame

[gth]

In one of my "acquisitions" I got a contact printing frame. It's steel plate with a hinged lid of 3/16 in glass. Inside (below glass) is covered with 1/4 in foam.

It's made by "Delta 1/CPM". External dimensions 12x11.5 useful area 10x10 in at least.

So is this simple contraption any good for it's purpose?

Any need to get the fancy woodwork frame with split backs and flat springs etc?

I would use it for standard silver printing.

I guess what comes to mind...... will the foam back and plate glass provide enough flatness & pressure for quality 8x10 contact prints or is this device more of a proofing frame.

[gth]

OOPS! The company still exists!

http://www.cpmdelta1.com

They have a lot of darkroom fitting equipment, sinks, water control. Some studio equipment. You guys probably all know about them!

Stainless steel film clips $12 for ten!

The device I have they call a "proofer".

Still would be interesting if anyone has used it for 8x10 printing.

[N Dhananjay]

The fancy wooden contact printing frame that you refer to has a split back and is typically used with printing out processes where you can open one half from the back without upsetting the negative-paper registration to check on the image. For regular silver printing, it is less than ideal. The proofer you have will work fine as long as there is sufficient pressure in the locking mechanism and you go to some trouble to keep surfaces clean. Another commonly used option is a vacuum frame. Alistair Inglis makes a contact printer that can incorporate stops/pin registration and uses powerful magnets for pressure and seems pretty nice. Cheers, DJ

[cowanw]

It is an excellant piece of kit for contact printing; after all a 1/4 inch of glass will certainly keep things together. Just not for registering multiple layers of masks. I Use it and love it. Worth every penny over the wooden ones for the ease of use.