Here are our general guidelines for choosing between a deep relief or standard Boxcar Base:

For presses with cylinder inking systems, such as a Vandercook or a Heidelberg Windmill, where press adjustments for rollers are fairly easy to make, we suggest a Standard Boxcar Base (.875” thick).

For platen presses with rollers that run on rails and an ink disk system, such as Chandler and Prices, Goldings, Kluges, etc., where press adjustments for correct roller height takes longer, may have more steps, and can be a little trickier, we often suggest a deep relief base. Why? Many of the platen presses have rollers that are set too low and need quite a bit of taping on the rails to bring them up to type high. So if roller height is not correctly set, the rollers can hit the base or ink the standard base. The deep relief base is a thinner base (.853” thick) and while adjusting rollers and preparing makeready, the rollers usually won’t ink or hit this base.

Of course, there are exceptions to every guideline. If you are an experienced printer with skills in roller height adjustment, a standard base will be just fine for you. If you are already printing on a press with a standard boxcar base and are outfitting a new press, it is certainly easier to use (and remember) the same base and plates for all jobs. Roller height adjustment is the key to good printing regardless of press so this is valuable to learn regardless of your choice of Boxcar Base.

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Posted in: General Printing with the Boxcar Base