Perusing the equipment listings on Ebay and thinking: "Everybody want's that "perfect" press, the one that has easy impression, runs smooth and always keeps whatever settings you set it for. Sort of a set up job, especially for somebody new to letterpress. This is because there is no perfect letterpress--not even the vaunted Vandercook's or Heidelberg cylinders. Do they do good work? Oh yes they do, but you pay for them far differently than some tired old C&P found in a barn....and we're not talking the cash you paid for it either.
The more precise the machine, the greater need to maintain it, the more refined materials need to run it and the more often you have to run it. Yes, the nicer the machine, the more you have to run it. Take a Heidelberg cylinder and run it once a year and you'll be spending a lot more time getting it going than you would were it a C&P that you've run once a year. The same will go for an Intertype against a Ludlow.
Does that mean you shouldn't get the Heidelberg Cylinder, or Intertype? No, but you should look at how much work you have when you reach your printing goals and figure out if you really need that "perfect" machine.
The "perfect" machine quest can also be a grand excercise in being afraid to really get down to work and put yourself out there. Yeah, doing your own business is scary as all get out, but here I am and there I go. I really can't use my machinery as a crutch for what I do or don't do, because they're not doing the work--I am!
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