3D Printed Etching Press

Published on 15 Apr 2022. Written by Bheru Singh

About the project

Printmaking has been around for 500 years. It has being used for illustrating books, printing banknotes, and duplicating famous paintings. Today, printmaking is known for its distinct look and is used by artists around the world, but lots of people don’t have access to printmaking due to the high costs of a press.

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Etching presses for intaglio printing are especially hard to find due to the high amount of pressure that’s needed.

There are differnet types of printing techniques.One of them is relief printing, in which the raised surfaces of the stamp or plate are covered with ink while the grooves remain un-inked.

With intaglio printing it’s the exact opposite: We carve scratches and grooves into a plate and fill them with ink. Then we remove the ink from the surface, so that it remains only in the grooves. The paper is then compressed into the grooves to pick up the ink.

PLA or ABS material can be used. Advantage of PLA over ABS is that it overcomes the problem of warping which is very important in strenth, orientation and profile of the printed component

There are totally 10 parts. The turquoise and orange parts are printed lying down. The side pieces are special, because they have an interlocking part in the middle so they are printed in place which needs to be able to slide up and down later.

FInish the printed models then put a screws to each side piece and through its hex nut. Make sure it hits the moving part in the middle and is not moving around too much so that you will be able to change the pressure that is applied to the printing bed.

Put the rollers in between the two side pieces and connect everything with the little bow tie-shaped connectors.Apply Vaseline between the pieces to make them run really smoothly.Push the roller pin into the lower roller and add the handle.

Attach the press to the wooden board which makes printing easier and you don’t need to hold the press down while turning the handle. Before you etch your plate, prepare the paper that you’ll print. It is important to use paper that can soak up the ink from the scratches on the plate.

Prepare the image you would like print. Use the drypoint needle to make deep scratches into the inner layer of the carton i.e the plastic/aluminum layer. The paper backing underneath will later soak up ink and transfer it onto your print paper.

Ink the plate and wipe the unwanted ink. Place the plate on the bed and place the wet paper on the plate. Pass the bed through roller and the press paper is ready with the image which has to be printed.

Kit required to develop 3D Printed Etching Press:

• Filament
• 3D Printing
• Copy Paper

Technologies you will learn by working on 3D Printed Etching Press:

• 3D Printing
• Etching
• Press Printing

Any Questions?