Godfrey gets an update

April 7, 2013

New Lithography Presses Installed in the Basic Lab

In late February, the Basic Lab’s printing capacity increased with the addition of a Ryobi 3302M, 2-color lithography press.

Although this press is not typically used in production in the US printing industry today, it serves as a great training tool for students learning the fundamental processes of litho printing. Basic Lab instructors actively sought the press for its manual controls, small footprint, and similar format to larger lithography presses.

The first press was delivered on February 24 and began running student projects within the week. The second press was delivered mid-August and was ready for students to use by the start of the Fall semester. The presses were purchased from Brooks Printing Equipment in NC courtesy of the Harris Smith.

New equipment in the Photography and Video Lab

And….Action! Graphic Communications students are now ready to create professional grade videos in GC3400 with 4 new sets of CanonXA10ProfessionalHD camcorders, with lavaliere microphones for interviews and boom microphones for capturing ambient or group audio.

These cameras allow students to carry what they have learned about still photography all the way through the video portion of the course because they have manual controls for focus, aperture, shutter speed, and more. The new microphones take their onset audio from basic capture to the realm of professional audio mixing. The labs also acquired a second ARRI 5-light kit that can be used in the studio or out on location for setting up the perfect lighting situation anywhere they are shooting photography or video.

These additions were purchased through B&H Video in NY through generous funding of the Harris Smith Foundation and the equipment was put into use immediately in the labs.This semester,students are filming Baseball, Men’s Soccer, and Women’s Soccer promotional videos for the Clemson Athletic Department.

You can see students work on our YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/ClemsonGC340/

New Convection Oven Installed in Basic Lab

In order to adapt to the diverse materials being printed and cured in the Godfrey labs, we needed a curing unit that could provide dependable, programmable, accurate curing conditions – enter the Brown Manufacturing DragonAir 2475. In March 2014 we removed the 20+ year old, non-adjustable curing oven from the basic lab and replaced it with the DragonAir 2475 – a convection curing oven with variable temperature and exposure controls and programmable curing conditions.

The new oven allows us to cure materials ranging from plastisol to silver conductive inks. With independent temperature and time controls we can cure on substrates that were previously impossible to cure in lab. Being programmable, once a new ink/substrate curing method is determined, it can be put into the known curing settings so that students and instructors can change settings simply by picking from the menu instead of striving to remember the specifics of curing needs.

The new oven’s controls open research opportunities for students in GC4460 and GC4440, in addition to special projects and creative inquiries. It also allows for more strategic work with industry partners to explore the possibilities of new materials and techniques. As we improve our printing capabilities, we can support the research with more advanced curing capabilities. 21st Century production requires adaptability, ingenuity, and invention, and Graphic Communications is making sure we provide that in student learning opportunities.