Showing posts with label equipment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equipment. Show all posts
Saturday, March 26, 2011
studio toys
i decided it was finally time to order a couple of things for tama press....
sewing frame: i did a restoration of a giant book a few months back and didn't have a sewing frame. so i constructed one out of cardboard boxes and other stuff i had laying around. no good. so i decided it was time to get a real frame. plus, i've been itching to try some new bindings.
awl guide: i punch a lot of holes in paper by hand. and sometimes, they aren't straight. and boy, does that irritate me. this awl guide takes care of that frustration. plus, it'll beat using an old phone book as my guide.
book press: i've been making books for a few years now, and haven't had the luxury of a book press. instead, i've been using old yearbooks as my weights (at least i'm using them for something). this press is pretty multi-functional and only weights 10 pounds. i'm pretty excited about using it.
corner rounder: i'm going to round the corners of every piece of paper i come into contact with. seriously. paper corners too pointy for you? i'll round them. i have wanted one of these little guys for YEARS. i got the lightweight model, since i think it'll cover my current needs.
hopefully i'll receive everything next week. then i will play with my new toys and definitely not get any homework done.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
paper cutter suckiness
i received the stack paper cutter i ordered a while back (and wrote about it here) and was SO excited to get it open & in use. i imagined stacks of perfectly cut paper & book board just waiting to be made into books. i saw images of the blade cutting through 10 sheets of book board like butter. tons of ideas floated around in my head - new books i could make with trimmed, flat edges. and then reality kicked me.
first off, i thought the cutter would come assembled, due to the many reviews i read online. umm NOT! so we (meaning bfff) pieced it together fairly easily, following the rather minimal instruction sheet. then we had to square the measuring piece up to the blade (pain in the ass). so it was square & done & we left it alone for a couple days.
well i realized that some other adjustments needed to be made - measuring piece had to be moved so that it would cut 2" and not 2.5". then the cutting wasn't so good. in fact, it sucked. book board was a huge hassle. i couldn't get enough leverage to cut through the board. bfff adjusted the blade so it was more level. cutting still sucked. the board edges were mangled. the clamp had to be locked down so tight that it left ruts in whatever i was cutting. and even so, the stack still moved. a lot.
fed up with the number of adjustments & the fact that this machine wasn't performing up to my expectations, i called the company and laid it out for them. basically, the rep made it sound like operator error, that i needed to make more adjustments, and finally, he reluctantly gave me a return authorization number. i had ordered a refurbished cutter but they actually sent me a brand new one because they were out of the refurbished ones - not that it mattered. SO disappointing. and frustrating. and irritating because i now have to pay an asinine amount of money to ship this stupid piece of crap back to the company that they WILL NOT REIMBURSE ME FOR.
lesson learned: order from a trusted company, be wary of amazon reviews, and get free shipping.
first off, i thought the cutter would come assembled, due to the many reviews i read online. umm NOT! so we (meaning bfff) pieced it together fairly easily, following the rather minimal instruction sheet. then we had to square the measuring piece up to the blade (pain in the ass). so it was square & done & we left it alone for a couple days.
well i realized that some other adjustments needed to be made - measuring piece had to be moved so that it would cut 2" and not 2.5". then the cutting wasn't so good. in fact, it sucked. book board was a huge hassle. i couldn't get enough leverage to cut through the board. bfff adjusted the blade so it was more level. cutting still sucked. the board edges were mangled. the clamp had to be locked down so tight that it left ruts in whatever i was cutting. and even so, the stack still moved. a lot.
fed up with the number of adjustments & the fact that this machine wasn't performing up to my expectations, i called the company and laid it out for them. basically, the rep made it sound like operator error, that i needed to make more adjustments, and finally, he reluctantly gave me a return authorization number. i had ordered a refurbished cutter but they actually sent me a brand new one because they were out of the refurbished ones - not that it mattered. SO disappointing. and frustrating. and irritating because i now have to pay an asinine amount of money to ship this stupid piece of crap back to the company that they WILL NOT REIMBURSE ME FOR.
lesson learned: order from a trusted company, be wary of amazon reviews, and get free shipping.
Friday, January 22, 2010
paper cutter awesomeness
i finally ordered a super cool stack paper cutter. i have a guillotine cutter that is super awesome too - i heart my kutrimmer. however, i wanted to get something else that will cut stacks of paper, specifically for the insides of my books and possibly some stacks of book board. that would save me SO much time, plus be a bit more accurate since there isn't a curve in the cutting blade. it'll be mailed out tomorrow and take about 12 days to get here...i can't wait!
here's a pic of the 50 pound beast:
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