Oooh, neat! Nice behind-the-scenes look here - heh, you know he's had that machine for quite a while, look how well worn the sucker is! Reliable press I hope.

I Find it interesting to see how machines work so I like seeing this too :3

ancient looking printing press, looks like he's had it forever and a day. Cool behind the scenes look

give me one of these and i shall make found sculpture :D

Takes more time to set up, but once you get it ready it's probably more efficient than a modern copy machine.

depends. Offset presses are a messy endeavor, and once you make the plates and don't get cancer from that process alone, you have to watch it constantly. It does depend on the size of the job though. Very large jobs will become more efficient than a copier, but alot of shops today use fairly fancy copiers for short run jobs, send out to offset for huge quantities. but the initial investment and skill to run a offset is higher.

I dunno why I felt the need to explain that. But there. :p

the plate making process is photographic in nature i think you overstate the risks to almost hyperbolic levels. having worked in a print shop i can tell you these days most ink os now Soy based and clean up is a lot more eco friendly
--Rick

I last worked in a printshop in 1995. There was a rather toxic nature to the plate making process, the owner was rather worried about the EPA and his methods of disposal down the city drain. I'm glad that they have cleaned it up! I really felt for our pressman. :p

that looks like an old A.B.Dick 360 offset press.
i got my first job in a print shop by rebuilding one
fun times
--Rick

"...Ka-chunk! Ka-chunk! Ka-chunk!...."

I am curious what model press that is and when it was made...then again I'm a nerd.

that looks like an old A.B.Dick 360 offset press. to me
--Rick

What is this wizardry?

Don't where a tie near that thing, it looks unsafe.

wow that takes me back, how i miss those sounds

Powerhouse ought to be playing on infinite loop while the machine prints. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfDq.....qIWE&t=96s

Ha! Damned fine!

That's something awesome.

Wow....
Its been a long time since I've seen one of those.

My father had a briefly lived greeting/postcard business during the CB craze of the early 70s.
He had a buddy that had keys to the print shop he worked for.

I remember snooping around the print shop as a kid late at night when we showed up to print stuff "off the books".


-Badger-

yes noisy little thing aren't they? but I always enjoyed your Comics. Yours and J.p Morgan

yeah used to run offest presses like that, they were aold when I was using and this better than the modetn machines

Oooh, neat!

Guess I'm a nerd, awesome!

If you're going to print subversive literature, this is definitely the way to go. : )

Nice way to go if you modify it for rigid sheet, or even plastic and semconductor inks, print your own 4% efficint solar panels. 8)

Very cool! :)

This image not only brings back a very VERY fond memory, but probably represents the moment in my life where I made a career decision......probably a bad career decision.

Back in high school I had no idea what I wanted to do for a living. That was until I took "Graphic Communications" which was mostly just print work and darkroom stuff.

There, I learned all about offset lithographic presses and the ones we had in high school were much like the one pictured above.
That was a fun class and I loved the hands on experience and creativeness of the work. Creating something on print just seemed so .....lasting.


Somehow at the same time, someone hinted to the idea that everything would one day be digital. So I never pursued the print world.
Instead I turned to web development, programming and database design. Oddly enough, for the past 3 years I've worked at a marketing agency that does almost ALL print work.
The web work that I do is only just a supplement the print work that the company already does. And I'm not near as creative as I use to be, back when I did print work.

If only I could reset the clock and try it again. I wonder if I'd be half as crazy as I am today.


Thanks for the thought provoking photograph.

Speaking of presses, I have an old book that has a really interesting typo: An "m" is upside down. No, really. Any idea what could cause that?

The typesetter put in the "M" upside down, seems to be the painfully obvious answer.

O, that is a very old and beat up MULTILITH offset printing press.

WOW an Old B&W Offset Press