Screws and Presses - Part 2

The second press I want to describe is quite a bit more complicated (and expensive). In fact, by the time it was on the shop floor, it had set me back a day's labour and $300.00 -- but worth every penny.

This second double screw lying press starts with the "Twin-screw Veritas Vise" found on page 55 of the Lee Valley catalog. The cost is $149.00 plus shipping and taxes. This vise comes with extremely detailed instructions which you can forget since the construction of the binder's lying press operates on a completely different set of conditions. The first major difference is that the plans that come with the vise are written for the front plate to move in and out against a fixed back plate and there are no guides for the moving plate and the conditions under which this can occur are more strict than the instructions I will offer here.

The main advantage of this vise is that both screws move together closing the vise in a parallel manner by means of a chain that connects the two vise screws together. But, you can operate each screw independently by clicking out a pin on the one screw, either the left or right side depending on your preference for construction. This means that when you get old books that are thicker at the tail than they are at the head, you can still get them tight in the press with equal pressure all along the squished edge.

The chain that comes with the twin screws is only long enough for 16" between the screws. The chain cover, however can accommodate a distance of 20" between the screws. The extra chain which I finally was able to locate in town cost me about $1.50 for the chain and the connector. I was more than a little ticked off to think that I paid $150.00 for this thing from Lee Valley only to have to spend the better part of an afternoon running around to find and buy $1.50 worth of extra chain to gain me the extra 4" between the screws. There is a big advantage in being able to accommodate those extra 4" of book. The press will accommodate a book that is 12" thick -- I've never dealt with one that thick but that's just the way it is.

Basically the press operates the same way as the first press, described here, except on its side. This press squeezes things together between the top plates by pulling rather than by pushing but that makes no difference at all. The front plate in this model is fixed and you build essentially the same rectangular box as before with a few differences. The force of the squeeze is between the front two plates and therefore there is no need to overdo the mounting of the front plate onto the side panels since there is no force there. The back plate runs on slider bars located on the lower side of the box. The holes for the screw must be drilled on a drill press as they MUST be absolutely square with each other or the thing will simply bind up and never move again. Have it done by someone with the right boring equipment if you don't have it. Maple is the best material for the front plates and the plates must be a full 2" thick according to the instructions. Right! Dressed planks like this are called 2" but they are really 1 3/4" and since the two pieces of maple cost me close to $60.00 there was no way I was getting even thicker stuff milled down to 2" full. Besides, an elephant couldn't bend a 1 3/4" piece of maple anyway. The reason for this curious demand is that the screw nut which is mounted into the back plate is 2" thick and would stick out the front side and would not let the press plates closed entirely tightly. Since the force of the press is against the back part of the nut which has a mounting flange on it anyway and could not possible pull through the thick piece of maple, I stuck on a piece of 1/4" masonite to build up the thickness on the back side which plays no part in the action of the press anyway. So these two 25 cent pieces of scrap saved me about $75.00 of milled away maple for the sake of the required 1/4". Once the actual press is constructed, you can mount the whole box on a few legs (usually 4) and the lying press will be a terrific addition to your bindery. Since the action here is hammering down when used as a backing press, I used 4" x 4" legs on the front and 2" x 4" on the back. The front legs support both the frame and the actual front plate. For the rest of the box I used 1" pine with hardwood runners for under the back plate. Since the runners make the back plate run absolutely horizontal, the need for some of the special drilling required in the enclosed instructions is unnecessary and should be avoided.

After having used this press for a while, I can say that it is a tremendous piece of equipment and I highly recommend it to anyone who is willing to take the time to construct such a thing.

I store a large waste bin under the press and things get dropped down the opening all the time. It's a very workable apparatus. It is not bolted to any other structure and is quite heavy so it can be moved around to any position in the bindery although it usually stays where it is. I covered the top and inside panels with arborite because it is a great surface to have because it cleans so well. I also have a cover for the whole top which makes a good working surface about 30" x 20" for other jobs when the press is not needed. You will end up with lots of small extra parts from the kit that you buy from Lee Valley because of the way in which this press is constructed. The bolts that you have left over are the very thing you need for the other press for the mounting of the side panels to the top and bottom beams. If you make them both you'll use up nearly all the things you paid for.