My press bar bent mid-press on a 80-page stack last Saturday

I was in my garage compressing a book block around 9pm and heard a loud pop - the bar bowed out so bad it cracked my MDF pressing boards. Has anyone else had a cheap press fail like that mid-project, or am I just pushing too hard?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_wells16d ago

Wait, the MDF cracked too? That's honestly almost worse than the bar bending. I get that budget presses have issues sometimes, but hearing the boards give out makes me wince. MDF splinters are the absolute worst when you're trying to get a clean finish on the cloth. You'd think for the price they'd at least hold up to a normal book block. I hope your actual book wasn't damaged in all that mess.

dakota47916d ago

I mean... that's wild, I actually just watched a YouTube video where a bookbinder was talking about how those cheap cast iron presses can have air pockets or brittle spots from bad casting. 80 pages shouldn't be anywhere near enough to snap a press bar unless it had a hidden flaw. Maybe it's just me but I feel like the MDF cracking is almost worse though, that stuff can splinter and mess up your book cloth. I've heard of people putting a layer of plywood over their pressing boards to spread the load more even.