Does anyone have access to an old blueprint machine AND paper? An artist friend wants to makes some real blueprint drawings. None of the local print shops even has a machine, and the paper is hard to find online even! We could send you drawings to develop in your firm, for a fee of course, if you have one in the basement...
phld21
Sep 14, 11 1:55 pm
You might want to check with high schools in your area. If they had an Architecture elective at any point they probably have one of these somewhere.
"The Co-op Guy"
Sep 14, 11 2:22 pm
you could make a cyanotype.. is this for artistic intent or to use as construction docs? if its artistic i really like cyanotypes, but it probably wouldn't really work for the documentation side..
will galloway
Sep 14, 11 5:12 pm
wow, barely even noticed that i haven't seen a blueprint machine in an office for at least 10 years. does anyone still have a machine that works even?
miesian
Sep 14, 11 5:31 pm
I know these guys had it...10 years ago. I have a feeling they may have kept one somewhere.
tagalong
Sep 14, 11 6:29 pm
ahhhh the smell!!!!...just reading this post is making my eyes water.
Miles Jaffe
Sep 14, 11 6:46 pm
Make a negative and then run a blueline.
magentasky
Sep 14, 11 7:06 pm
I know my community college had one just a few years ago...check with local colleges, they probably have one sitting around
Donna Sink
Sep 14, 11 8:23 pm
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. miesian, your link led me to the paper, which is a great start. If I can find some strong ammonia, some light, and a dark space, I can make a blueprint!
These are for artistic purposes only. I'll share a story here I've shared many times: when I was at Cranbrook in 92, and Susanna Torre came to visit, we hosted her for dinner in the architecture department where we had a huge wood communal table. We laid unexposed blueprint paper on the table (yellow side up), covered it with white paper as a tablecloth, set the table with plates, utensils and serving dishes, and ate our meal. Then we developed the blueprint paper the next day (in a sonotube with a bowl of ammonia) and had the most gorgeous record of the meal - we were heavy into Krauss' indexical signs at that point in Cranbrook's history.
snook_dude
Sep 14, 11 9:14 pm
Donna,
I worked with a guy who was from the Mideast and they used to take originals and ozolid paper to the roof top and put them under glass the paper on the bottom and the original on top and let the sun blast away at them and then take them inside and develop them with ammonia in a tube with the ends plugged.
I do have an old blue print machine in my basement....I haven't run it for years but I imagine it still works.. I could most likely come up with some paper is your serious.
Just let me know.
Donna Sink
Sep 14, 11 9:18 pm
Wow! snook I sent the artist miesian's link for the paper - if she gets the paper and we can expose it similarly to your rooftop system (at Cranbrook we used photography lights - Tota lights) we just may try sending it to you to develop! Don't bother checking to see if the machine works yet - but I'll let you know if that seems like our best option!
snook_dude
Sep 14, 11 10:55 pm
Donna,
I also had the opportunity years ago to tour Olmsted's Office. The Original Olmsted Office and they did have an exposure system which was very similar. The ammonina will have to have a very high concentration.....and well it is best placed in some sort of cotton in a shallow lid so it is absorbed into the cotton. The developing material is against a tube, with the ammonia sensitive surface to the vapors. I recall they had glass tubes in the Olmsted office. I recall after going on the tour of the Olmsted Office, coming back to the office and telling the story to the guy in our office and that is when he told me about his experience in Haffia (sp). Wishing your friend best of Luck!
EAEdave
Jan 8, 20 3:16 pm
I have an old 452 BLU-RAY that the last time I used it it worked but I do not have any paper but I still have 4 bottles of used ammonia and one bottle of new? dated 1996. I am looking to donate it to the Smithsonian Institute (LOL) or to anybody that want it. It is located in Clarkston, MI.
Donna Sink
Jan 12, 20 11:43 am
I honestly wonder how many bottles of used ammonia are sitting around on the floor in architecture firm offices? What a hazardous waste nightmare LOL!
Flatfish
Jan 13, 20 4:23 pm
Ammonia isn't too big of a hazmat situation. You just need to dilute it by SLOWLY adding ammonia to 10 times more water to dilute it, and then it can safely be poured down a drain. Just don't add the ammonia to water all at once: that will cause a violent reaction and toxic gas cloud. I hope architecture firms aren't keeping too many ancient bottles of ammonia sitting around.
If anyone is seriously interested... I have one, E-sized including the filterbox and a couple stacks of diazo paper in 24x36 and 18x24 and willing to part with it. In Denver. Also a variety of other old architectural tech equipment... Need to clear it out by the end of 2020 when I turn over my historic office building to the City.
atelier nobody
Jan 13, 20 6:43 pm
No interest in a diazo machine, but I might be interested in some of your other stuff, if you post a list.
mightyaa
Jan 14, 20 5:45 pm
Normal crap; flat files, 2, 3, and 4 drawer filing cabinets.
mightyaa
Jan 14, 20 5:57 pm
Oh, and weirder crap: Stacks of Calcomp digitizers, couple of old plotters, a Kroy machine, wire binder punch machine, typewriter, fax/copier, blah blah. Think 90's architects office stuff. Oh, and eventually, tables various sizes, antiques, some office chairs, coffee makers, microwave, wall art (dated mostly), and misc interior stuff like that down to xmas lights and tree.
Erik Evens
Jan 13, 20 11:56 pm
We’re using Waterlogue and Photoshop to make CAD drawings look like hand drawings printed on brown line diazo. Progress!
wessonar
Jun 22, 20 4:45 pm
I have a working blueprint machine if anyone still needs one. It is Dart XL 80.
smallpressllc
Sep 20, 20 8:25 pm
Way late to this thread, but I'm also trying diazo for art-purposes (currently in an MFA)-- so far I've got paper, and some ammonia seems too weak. I'm going to try the tube-method of exposure but if anyone even close to CA has a diazo machine I'd be interested to hear more about it. Also if anyone has leads on where to find high strength ammonia!
treviibaker
Dec 16, 20 5:43 pm
I have a diazit blueprint machine 6160 I'm trying to sell with no paper if you are interested I want 600 dollars for it
b3tadine[sutures]
Dec 16, 20 8:13 pm
Six hundy?
curtkram
Dec 16, 20 6:12 pm
this thread is from sept of 2011. that was kind of the peak of the recession for architects. do we still have people around here who really remember those days? the furloughs were tough, but at least we could go to the grocery store without wearing a mask. remember when travelling was ok? OAC meetings were on site instead of teams or zoom and we talked about weather delays instead of covid delays. definitely something to hold on to is that the weather has been great this year.
archi_dude
Dec 16, 20 8:19 pm
Twas when I graduated. I haven't felt like it's been nearly as bad as those days. I still run my finances like the next one is around the corner after those experiences.
MaSloan
Dec 19, 20 7:21 pm
I have an old Blue print machine for sale. if anyone is looking. Make an offer.
Does anyone have access to an old blueprint machine AND paper? An artist friend wants to makes some real blueprint drawings. None of the local print shops even has a machine, and the paper is hard to find online even! We could send you drawings to develop in your firm, for a fee of course, if you have one in the basement...
You might want to check with high schools in your area. If they had an Architecture elective at any point they probably have one of these somewhere.
you could make a cyanotype.. is this for artistic intent or to use as construction docs? if its artistic i really like cyanotypes, but it probably wouldn't really work for the documentation side..
wow, barely even noticed that i haven't seen a blueprint machine in an office for at least 10 years. does anyone still have a machine that works even?
I know these guys had it...10 years ago. I have a feeling they may have kept one somewhere.
ahhhh the smell!!!!...just reading this post is making my eyes water.
Make a negative and then run a blueline.
I know my community college had one just a few years ago...check with local colleges, they probably have one sitting around
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. miesian, your link led me to the paper, which is a great start. If I can find some strong ammonia, some light, and a dark space, I can make a blueprint!
These are for artistic purposes only. I'll share a story here I've shared many times: when I was at Cranbrook in 92, and Susanna Torre came to visit, we hosted her for dinner in the architecture department where we had a huge wood communal table. We laid unexposed blueprint paper on the table (yellow side up), covered it with white paper as a tablecloth, set the table with plates, utensils and serving dishes, and ate our meal. Then we developed the blueprint paper the next day (in a sonotube with a bowl of ammonia) and had the most gorgeous record of the meal - we were heavy into Krauss' indexical signs at that point in Cranbrook's history.
Donna,
I worked with a guy who was from the Mideast and they used to take originals and ozolid paper to the roof top and put them under glass the paper on the bottom and the original on top and let the sun blast away at them and then take them inside and develop them with ammonia in a tube with the ends plugged.
I do have an old blue print machine in my basement....I haven't run it for years but I imagine it still works.. I could most likely come up with some paper is your serious.
Just let me know.
Wow! snook I sent the artist miesian's link for the paper - if she gets the paper and we can expose it similarly to your rooftop system (at Cranbrook we used photography lights - Tota lights) we just may try sending it to you to develop! Don't bother checking to see if the machine works yet - but I'll let you know if that seems like our best option!
Donna,
I also had the opportunity years ago to tour Olmsted's Office. The Original Olmsted Office and they did have an exposure system which was very similar. The ammonina will have to have a very high concentration.....and well it is best placed in some sort of cotton in a shallow lid so it is absorbed into the cotton. The developing material is against a tube, with the ammonia sensitive surface to the vapors. I recall they had glass tubes in the Olmsted office. I recall after going on the tour of the Olmsted Office, coming back to the office and telling the story to the guy in our office and that is when he told me about his experience in Haffia (sp). Wishing your friend best of Luck!
I have an old 452 BLU-RAY that the last time I used it it worked but I do not have any paper but I still have 4 bottles of used ammonia and one bottle of new? dated 1996. I am looking to donate it to the Smithsonian Institute (LOL) or to anybody that want it. It is located in Clarkston, MI.
I honestly wonder how many bottles of used ammonia are sitting around on the floor in architecture firm offices? What a hazardous waste nightmare LOL!
Ammonia isn't too big of a hazmat situation. You just need to dilute it by SLOWLY adding ammonia to 10 times more water to dilute it, and then it can safely be poured down a drain. Just don't add the ammonia to water all at once: that will cause a violent reaction and toxic gas cloud. I hope architecture firms aren't keeping too many ancient bottles of ammonia sitting around.
Mmmm ... brains...
leave some for the rest of us.
There are diazo machines on ebay.
Paper available here: https://www.engineersupply.com/diazo-blueline-media.aspx
try you local high schools
If anyone is seriously interested... I have one, E-sized including the filterbox and a couple stacks of diazo paper in 24x36 and 18x24 and willing to part with it. In Denver. Also a variety of other old architectural tech equipment... Need to clear it out by the end of 2020 when I turn over my historic office building to the City.
No interest in a diazo machine, but I might be interested in some of your other stuff, if you post a list.
Normal crap; flat files, 2, 3, and 4 drawer filing cabinets.
Oh, and weirder crap: Stacks of Calcomp digitizers, couple of old plotters, a Kroy machine, wire binder punch machine, typewriter, fax/copier, blah blah. Think 90's architects office stuff. Oh, and eventually, tables various sizes, antiques, some office chairs, coffee makers, microwave, wall art (dated mostly), and misc interior stuff like that down to xmas lights and tree.
We’re using Waterlogue and Photoshop to make CAD drawings look like hand drawings printed on brown line diazo. Progress!
I have a working blueprint machine if anyone still needs one. It is Dart XL 80.
Way late to this thread, but I'm also trying diazo for art-purposes (currently in an MFA)-- so far I've got paper, and some ammonia seems too weak. I'm going to try the tube-method of exposure but if anyone even close to CA has a diazo machine I'd be interested to hear more about it. Also if anyone has leads on where to find high strength ammonia!
I have a diazit blueprint machine 6160 I'm trying to sell with no paper if you are interested I want 600 dollars for it
Six hundy?
this thread is from sept of 2011. that was kind of the peak of the recession for architects. do we still have people around here who really remember those days? the furloughs were tough, but at least we could go to the grocery store without wearing a mask. remember when travelling was ok? OAC meetings were on site instead of teams or zoom and we talked about weather delays instead of covid delays. definitely something to hold on to is that the weather has been great this year.
Twas when I graduated. I haven't felt like it's been nearly as bad as those days. I still run my finances like the next one is around the corner after those experiences.
I have an old Blue print machine for sale. if anyone is looking. Make an offer.