| We carry a wide selection of tympan and press packing, including genuine red pressboard, Kimlon compressible packing, and mylar topsheets. We also carry genuine Vandercook packing, die-cut and scored for your specific model--see the Vandercook Tympan section. Need a custom sheet size? Give us a call!
Press sizes are determined by measuring the inside dimension of the chase. Thus, a 10x15 C&P, also called a "platen" press, has an actual chase measurement of 10x15, and the "platen" measures 11 1/8 x 18 1/18. Please use the chase dimension only when ordering tympan for your "platen" press.
Press packing can also be ordered in bulk packs in these sheet sizes (all in inches): 15x21, 20x26.5, 24x30, 25x38, and 32x42. In these sizes (1/1000"), .002, .003, .004, .006, and .007, the standard package is 100 sheets. In the .008, .009, .010, .011, .012, .015, and .016 sizes, the standard packing is 50 sheets per carton. We do not stock all these sizes as can be seen in our catalog listings, but it is available. This paper is packed in handy "Easy-Dispenser" stock cartons that can be used to store the paper once in your shop. These are drop shipped direct from the manufacturer and are special order items. Call us or leave remarks on the order blank if ordering on-line.
The question frequently arises as to "what is all this stuff used for?" Our suggestion is to read, and read, and make sure you're reading the basic letterpress books, like Polk's Practice of Printing, Cleeton's General Printing, and Mills' Platen Press Operation. Mills taught letterpress press work at Carnegie Tech, Cleeton was the dean of the School of Printing Management at Carnegie Tech, and Polk was a life-long graphic arts teacher in the Detroit public schools.
Briefly, rubber top blankets will absorb excessive abuse from inaccurate forms. Rubber underblankets serve the same purpose. Rubber blankets are often used in teaching situations so that students don't waste too much time on the details of makeready, and of course, proper makeready is the sign of good printing. Vandercook offered 2 basic thicknesses--.032" for presses with a .040 cylinder undercut, and traditional offset blankets at .065 for cylinder undercuts of .070". We presently have no source for the thinner blankets, but are looking.
Treated Tympan is made in diecut sizes for all standard Vandercook, C&P, Kluge, and Heidelberg presses, both Platens and Cylinders. It is made with the highest degree of uniformity, and without either hard or soft spots and is .006" thick. Tympan for the Vandercook 325 press is .010" thick.
Mylar top sheets (or tympan) or used as an undersheet, serves to give sharp, clear impressions and is part of the typical "hard" packing method. It requires the use of good type or plates, and in all type forms, where old and new type, or wood type, is used, then a softer top sheet in the rubber type will work better.
Kimlon is a latex impregnated paper sheet made originally by Kimberly-Clark (since 2004, by Neenah Paper Co.) that is used as a press packing. It has the property of being "compressible," and that means that the sheet will recover to a large extent from high type and other form irregularities. Kimlon is made to exacting standards for thickness--within .0001", and is mostly used as offset press packing, but has a definite application for letterpress. It is hand inspected sheet by sheet and hand finished.
What to use? Hard packing and hard tympan is usually preferred for most letterpress applications. Soft packing leads to type and plate wear, will not give sharp impressions, and will leave an embossed impression in the tympan and packing of whatever was being printed. Deep impression is also best achieved when the paper fibers are compressed rather than punched through the back of the sheet and the use of soft packing to achieve this is usually a mistake. The packing paper we sell is accurately made for the specific purpose of press packing, and is available in several thicknesses, and provides the essential foundation for proper printing. Don't do more than your press is capable of doing, and most table top presses are not suited for deep impression work. The key is to experiment and see what works best.
Tympan paper made in the United States is currently manufactured by the Sunshine Paper Company in Denver, Colorado. Sunshine purchased the Cromwell Paper Co. of Chicago in 1986 and acquired the Riegal line of tympan from the James River Paper Co. when that company shut down some years back. The current tympan and packing papers made by Sunshine are a mix of the Cromwell and Riegal specifications. Some of the Sunshine paper line is sold exclusively by certain distributors, like Day International. Why is Sunshine in Denver, certainly not a major graphic arts center like Chicago? The owners preferred living in Colorado--the same reason we're not in Cincinnati where NA Graphics started.
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