S2 E2 Quickpress Modern Age Comic Books by KaptainMyke

[@kaptainmyke]

For a complete comprehensive list of recommend products, please go to www.kaptainmyke.com/products

[@zestytaquito]

Love your videos and have included many of your techniques with mine. For moderns, I use multiple thin sheets of ultra bright white paper every dark page - and especially closer to the heat source.. the glossy paper doesn't stick to paper sheets. I start with the comic upside down (bottom first - or, the side that needs the most attention last)... put it in bottom side up, and heat up to 165-180 (you can go a little hotter, depending how much paper you put in) and turn on. After 4 mins, open (leave heat on), you can fan the book a little if you want to disperse a little heat... and flip it front up (side that needs most work). Leave for 2 minutes, then turn the press off and wait two hours. After two hours I've had very favourable results (9.8's). Cheers.

[@kaptainmyke]

That's a good tip, thank you

[@kaptainmyke]

All comics in this video with spine denting received a CGC 9.8 grade 4 weeks later.

[@Dumballa]

Thanks so much for these instructional videos. Ordering my first press and materials today.

[@stevef3453]

Hi, this is the first time I’ve commented on your channel, but want to say that I greatly appreciate your content. It is extremely educational. Regarding your modern pressing video episode S2 E2 Modern quick press, I probably didn’t pay close enough attention but it seemed that for pressing, you both preheated the press at the temperature for 300 seconds and then also pressed the book with the press on for an additional 300 seconds. I have used this particular formula and it is working really well. I am actually using 145° and the results are fantastic. Wondering if I am overdoing it with the preheating for a full 300 seconds? Look forward to your response on this. Second question, you mentioned the Stan Lee books requiring a lower temperature and I am wondering if there are other books like that. And wondering how you figured it out, was it trial and error or did you know something about the melting point of the ink on those particular books? Final comment, perhaps I have not done enough books, but even with the books with the larger staples, I find if I put a magazine backing board in the middle against the staple, The width of the backing board protects the neighboring pages and the press really doesn’t have a chance to force the staple into the next page. Just my observation on that, but perhaps I will run into a problem at some point. Again, greatly appreciate the content. Regards, Steve

[@kaptainmyke]

Steve, Thank you for the kind words. I truly appreciate it! For a clamshell press machine, you do not preheat the machine. Seal dry mount press machines you preheat. (And only keep heat on for 60 seconds or less for quickpressing moderns) There are other books that "melt" like the Stan Lee tribute books. A lot of independent press books suffer that same fate. Some Image Comics (Diamond Retailer Summit Exclusives) and some kickstarter books or books printed by PrintNinja. There are a few marvel books as well that feature the all black tribute pages in the front (Chadwick Boseman Black Panther Tribute). Time and Experience will guide you on that one. Trial and Error, and looking at the paper type will help you. If you see thin all black pages in the front or back of a book, you may need to press at a much lower temperature just to be safe in order to prevent damaging books. Large stapled modern books can be protected by using 110 lb cardstock paper before and after the staples with the backer board in the middle centerfold. Always use slightly less pressure as well. Thanks again for your feedback and comments! -Mike

[@milesmayham]

So normally you would skip the steaming step if the book does not have any deep spine ticks? Would you just press at the stated temps and times as normal?

[@kaptainmyke]

Yes, that is correct. It's best to avoid using a steam gun as much as possible. I only use one for bad spine denting and light color breaking lines. Most of the time it's not necessary or required.

[@milesmayham]

​@@kaptainmyke Thank you so much for the quick reply. I love your videos, super informative!

[@davisrider340]

I just test printed a modern Marvel book with large staples. I followed what you said of boards on each side of the staples, then cardstock on each side of the digital code pages, and then behind both the front and back cover. It worked great overall, except it made the book pretty thick with all the boards and cardstock and theres kind of a raised edge on the spine now because of that. Should I have put more pressure to account for the extra thickness from the boards on the staples?

[@kaptainmyke]

There should be 110lb cardstock paper on each side of the staples, with one backer board in between at centerfold. Then 65lb cardstock under both covers and before/after digital code page. When a line ridge forms that's from too thick of stacking layers and too much pressure. To mitigate ridge lines along spine you can press again with no stacking layers under covers.

[@davisrider340]

@@kaptainmyke Thanks for that! I got the ridge line out. There is however 1 dent on the front spine that is not color breaking that I still can't seem to get out with this method. Any other tips?

[@kaptainmyke]

@@davisrider340 Join our free facebook group and upload some photos for the group to brainstorm ideas further for you :) facebook.com/groups/kaptainmykecomicpressing

[@adamdeliso8100]

I noticed that the bottom plate of press 1 is loose. Is there a reason for that? I just got a new clamshell do I have to do this also?

[@kaptainmyke]

I have loosened the 2 front bolts of my press machines so there is give and flex for the books during pressing. If your unit does not close evenly this is recommended. But, if your machine closes evenly and everything is lined up, this is no cause for alarm and not necessary.

[@adamdeliso8100]

KaptainMyke thats what I figured. Thanks alot for all the great info. Your book is awesome by the way.

[@kaptainmyke]

@@adamdeliso8100 Thank you I appreciate that. :)

[@hfrog713]

Can you plese explain what you mean by check ebay for which books get away with bindery tear for 9.8? How would i look that up?

[@kaptainmyke]

You can check copies of "cgc 9.8" on ebay and inspect the photos to look at the spines. This helps you inspect other copies of the same book to see how CGC graded it overall. This can prove to be inconsistent as many times CGC is all of the place when grading a book. This can be due to the fact early copies graded they were not aware of the production defect and later copies were accepted as an impact of an entire production run of an issue. (page 102 of "Comic Book CPR")

[@ck7603]

i had a backing board stick to my heat press with 150F, any suggestions?

[@kaptainmyke]

Never heard that before, that's a first.

[@ck7603]

Took a bit of cleaning, now I'm just wondering whether I can safely remove the silicone pad since using it makes the pressure way too high.

[@kaptainmyke]

@@ck7603 No you do not want to remove the silicone pad. You need that bit of cushion for your book to flex under pressure.

[@zestytaquito]

Add a thin sheet of bright white printer paper on the glossy side of the backing board that faces the glossy pages of your modern book. The matte or paper side of backing board doesn't stick, but the glossy side can melt together with the inks from the glossy pages (this also applies to glossy inserts, like Mark Jeweler's and Dungeon and Dragons centrefolds). You can also use parchment paper instead of paper if you want. 👍