Her fingers are still swollen but not as bad as this. The knuckles are very very bruised though. She can bend them okay so we're hoping nothing is broken or damaged.
We're both relieved to know that getting your fingers caught between the paper and the image isn't as bad as we imagined: flattened fingers or pieces missing! But we were using the aluminum base and polymer plates and not metal type. Ughhhhh.... I feel woozy just thinking about what *could* have happened.
Well, it was bound to happen eventually, right? We've had the machine for 3 years...
Talk about close call! No postcard project is worth that (for the record, I procrastinated my contribution to death, too!).
ReplyDeleteAshley -
ReplyDeleteI sure am sorry to hear about what happened to your friend. But I am writing to tell you that I most strongly disagree with the phrase "It was not bound to happen.".
No. I'm certain it was NOT "bound to happen", and it should never have happened - and I sincerely hope that it never happens to you or any of your LoL friends.
More than that - it didn't happen. Seriously. I know I wasn't there to see, but I do know these presses quite well and assure you that there is no way that fingers could survive being crushed between the platen and the form under full impression.
They may have touched the form - and been imprinted, but I cannot imagine how the press could close on a hand placed where paper is supposed to be - and not be flattened, crushed and wind up utterly destroyed.
I don't know what press you have, but the only way I could see this happening is if the press were off impression. Otherwise the hand would be mush. I have see a loose piece of furniture - hard-wood furniture - reduced to sawdust in a moment - in an 8x12 C&P - and a press casting snapped at the same time. No way a hand could survive the tons of pressure of a running platen press.
And please don't let anyone else think they can survive such an incident. These things are dangerous and we must be careful - extremely careful - using them.
I teach hand-feeding on a treadle-operated Pearl and on a motorized 10x15 C&P, among other presses here in my shop.
I began hand-feeding my first 8x12 C&P in 1964 - when I was 14 years old - at 30 impressions per minute - fixed speed - and I still feed a 10x15 by hand at 20-25 ipm and (knock on wood) have never smashed my hand in the press.
The difference is that I had the benefit of some cranky old printers (like me today) - and a high-school print shop teacher who seemed very mean to me at the time - and would yell quite loudly to "use the throw-off!! That's what it's there for!"
What I tell my students is to:
1) stand up straight - never lean into the press. If you keep your back straight, and don't lean into the press, it is physically impossible to get your hand into that most dangerous position - between the platen and the form.
2) If a sheet mis-feeds, do NOT reach in and try to reposition it. Instead, "USE THE THROW-OFF LEVER". Take the press off impression, lean back, reposition the sheet or card when the platen is fully open, then pull the impression throw-off lever back to the print position and print the card.
Another thing I teach my students is to "skip feed" -
1) take the press off impression (use the throw-off lever)
2) insert your card or sheet
3) pull the throw-off lever back and let your card print.
4) immediately throw it back off impression, wait one cycle, then remove the card.
This way you can print at 10 ipm - safely.
Remember, these presses were motorized for production in 1900 - when speed was essential and hand-feeders would run their presses at 25-30 ipm or more. These days, if you produce 10 pieces per minute, you're doing great.
Be careful and please, please, please - don't *ever* let this happen again.
- Grumpy Old Printer Al ;)