More Than You Ever Wanted to Know

Last week I told you about the "new" 5-color printing press they got at the print shop where my husband works. I was confused about the 5 colors. I knew there was cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and a 5th color, but since the primaries and black were covered, I couldn't understand why a 5th color was needed. In an extremely rare break with his customary practice, Lyle actually came out of "lurkdom" to explain:

OK, don't everyone faint...It's actually me leaving a comment on a blog!

Just so everyone understands better, the 5th color is so you can print more a more brilliant color in the same pass through the press than is possible with the 4 primaries, like a fluorescent or metallic ink. Laura [our daughter] thought it was for the gloss coat, but that is actually yet another unit between the 5th color and the delivery unit.

Also, Denise wanted to know if it was very loud when printing. At that time I hadn't heard it but I had been told it was relatively quiet for the size of the machine. Lyle addressed that question also:

Yes, it is actually as quiet as our smaller presses, it is really quiet (<----intentional, isn't that cute?) amazing.

Later he turned it on for me. He was right! It is amazing.

He also mentioned that I didn't show you the control panel for the press. It's against the wall to the left in this picture:
It reminds me of a sound board. Each of the little levers controls ink flow somewhere on the press.
I'm just glad I don't have to learn to run it!