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Thread: Contact Print Equip

  1. #11
    http://www.spiritsofsilver.com tgtaylor's Avatar
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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    I've been making alternative prints from in-camera 5x7 and 8x10 negatives for about 8 years now and use the 8x10 and 11x14 contact printing frames from Bostick & Sullivan. These frames are designed for paper 9x11 and 12x15 which allows for border room around the print if that is what you want. These are excellent quality frames and will last a lifetime justifying their price. The only thing that you will eventually have to replace on them is the glass. Just go to a Home Depo like store and get ordinary picture glass in the correct size. You won't need a vacuum frame for printing with the 8x10 frame. When using the 11x14 frame I place a blank sheet of paper in the sandwich to add more pressure against the glass.

    Consider OP-3 acrylic for mounting.

    Thomas

  2. #12
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    Let's get all options in this thread

    I paid $200 9 years ago for this Time-O-light 8x10 Printer

    It had broken glass, I made a new 1/4" thick one, for safety, it clamps tightly

    It has adjustable diffusion by height with a front knob and a bunch of bulbs inside

    I am sad to report the Time-O-Lite TIMER does not work, I use an inline one

    It must have been made for AZO as it was way too much light for modern paper. I changed to the lowest watt edison base bulbs I could find and still had to add a stack of paper 'filters'. The top is a large thick black 'pillow' which locks with a lever

    I have used it a lot producing short run editions, and for both Print Exchanges I ran

    Very heavy all steel

    Time-O-Light Contact Printer by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
    Tin Can

  3. #13

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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    Quote Originally Posted by Corran View Post
    Thanks for posting this. I had not heard of this, so I looked it up.

    Generic acrylic, including acrylic with a P99 texture, can pass UV-A and UV-B light, but block UV-C. UV-C is very low wavelength and not generally used for alt processes.

    OP-3 acrylic is UV blocking and cuts ALL of the above wavelengths.

    In conclusion, general-purpose acrylic (not sold as UV blocking) should work just fine with alternative process printing. Same goes for glass, as stated. I mentioned P99 acrylic specifically because the texture prevents Newton Rings, which I find troublesome for both traditional and alt processes (and scanning!).
    Good to know some acrylic does work.

  4. #14

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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    Quote Originally Posted by roscoetuff-Skip Mersereau View Post
    John: Thanks! What size would you describe as "really large" ? And.... how common is it that folks inadvertently smash the glass? Fixable?
    I find it depends on how much counter space you have to work with.
    Something that can handle 12x20 is pretty big!
    Broken glass can easily be replaced in a POP frame.
    I haven't broken glass contact printing, however the possibility concerns me.
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  5. #15

    Join Date
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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    Quote Originally Posted by tgtaylor View Post
    I've been making alternative prints from in-camera 5x7 and 8x10 negatives for about 8 years now and use the 8x10 and 11x14 contact printing frames from Bostick & Sullivan. These frames are designed for paper 9x11 and 12x15 which allows for border room around the print if that is what you want. These are excellent quality frames and will last a lifetime justifying their price. The only thing that you will eventually have to replace on them is the glass. Just go to a Home Depo like store and get ordinary picture glass in the correct size. You won't need a vacuum frame for printing with the 8x10 frame. When using the 11x14 frame I place a blank sheet of paper in the sandwich to add more pressure against the glass.

    Consider OP-3 acrylic for mounting.

    Thomas
    When Adolph Gasser's closed in SF I missed out on an old Mahogany contact printer.
    When I first saw it I thought it was a dog coffin!
    I would have liked to have picked it up though as I can see the benefits once you get the individual bulbs "dialed in."
    Fortunately the Printfile proofer is a lot easier for me to store.
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  6. #16

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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    Ha! Back in the early 1980's...there was a company that sold "the absolute best," "revolutionary new design" contact print frames, which featured two (or three, I forget) lengths of what looked like rubber laboratory tubing...which would be stretched across the back and secure by pulling into slots on the other side. The Maine Photographic Workshops (now goes by a different name) must've had a contract with the manufacturer, because suddenly they had loads of these...and everybody it seemed was buying them (including me).

    ...and it was a thing of beauty! Very hefty, yet somehow sleek and modern looking.

    But think about this...a "clamping force" being applied, for the large part - side to side? (Wish I'd a thought of this sooner!) Yup...results were completely uneven, with the edges being sharp, and the center being soft.

    At any rate...if you come across one of these for sale - run the other way!

    Give me those rotating/locking spring steel clamps any day of the week!

  7. #17
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    Found my source, I bought my Time-O-Light from a member that moved out of Chicago

    https://www.largeformatphotography.i...=1#post1005328
    Tin Can

  8. #18

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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    Recently I made an 8x10 contact print frame, measuring 8" x 10", in order to print four 4x5 negatives on one sheet. It would have been handy to have made the print frame large enough to receive a quad 4x5 negative file sleeve: then I could have placed four 4x5 negatives, in sleeve, into the contact print frame without removing the negatives from their sleeve, thus avoiding dust exposure to the negatives. Also avoiding herding 4 negatives onto the slippery photo paper and preserving alignment during glass placement.

  9. #19

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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    Tin Can: That's a honking big piece of hardware, but looks to be in great shape! (some on ebay need some major cleanup) Good find!

    All: I'm seeing mostly woodframes. These are new made items I've found:

    Erik Larsen (LFPF member): https://www.largeformatphotography.i...printing-frame who also makes non-vacuum frames

    Bostwick & Sullivan: https://www.bostick-sullivan.com/cart/52.html

    Paul Sumberg: https://www.contactprintframes.com/

    Photographer's Formulary (Kodak Swing Arm style): http://stores.photoformulary.com/sel...ing-arm-style/

    Freestyle folks: https://www.freestylephoto.biz/14171...14x17-Mahogany

    Edwards Engineered Products for a vacuum frame: http://www.eepjon.com/VaCFrm.html

    And winning the Billy Joel "Pressure" Award for sure to get it done unit probably not available in the States or practical to ship: http://www.co-mag.net/2007/printing-frame/ which is NOT meant to imply I liked that song by the way.

    By the way, none of this answers the question whether it makes sense to buy only one frame and use it for that size and smaller, or whether there are registration issues that you buy into with the oversize for a given paper... which was effectively what I was trying to ask. With digital ink prints, my largest size on a P800 Epson is 16X20 given the 17-inch width. Nice to have when you want it, but I don't always use that size paper. But the variable cost with contact printing from a digital neg is the neg, the paper and the chems. Seems like 16X20 might be pretty costly by the time you assess what you're doing and possibly run through a couple of prints trying to get what you r-e-a-l-l-y want. Next size down seems a lot more common (11X14)... and maybe it would be better to think in those terms at least for production.

    Much more reading and research to do, but thanks to all of you who've posted!!!
    Last edited by roscoetuff-Skip Mersereau; 28-Feb-2021 at 12:00.

  10. #20
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: Contact Print Equip

    Unfortunately for me I gave away what I now want

    I HAD a Postcard Contact printer, it had outrigger reels to hold film OR paper to speed up one by one contact prints

    Adjustable from 35mm to 4" wide

    I will soon do it another way
    Tin Can

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