As I put the new print cabinet I built to work I am contemplating improvements. One issue is the inevitable curl of fiber-based paper prints. This can reduce the amount of space available or lead to damage to the prints as the drawers are opened or closed.
I have considered a number of ideas and seem to be settling on one simple solution I prototyped last night. I bought some 3mm elastic cord and some fabric hooks. I fixed one half of the fabric hook to the inside of the drawer front in the center and then threaded the elastic cord through the other half of the fabric hook before threading the ends into hole drilled in the drawer back corners. (I have tied the ends off in knots to secure the ends but I will need to find another solution as the knots are large enough to prevent the drawers from closing completely.) The attachment of the cord ends and fabric hook to the drawer was done as low as possible so that when in use it exerts a downward pull.
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| Fabric Hook on Elastic Cord |
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| Fabric Hook on Drawer Front. (Drawer front nearest.) |
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Fabric Hook in Action.
(Note hook faces down as the stack of paper will tend to pull it up.) |
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| Elastic Cord Stretched Tight |
The idea is a simple way of holding the prints down.
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| 16x20" Print Held in Place |
It works well on large prints however with many smaller prints or ones where the corners curl a lot the v-shape is not so good. I am contemplating using thin sheets (3mm) of Perspex/plexiglass under the elastic cord to apply even pressure across the prints. This would help flatten them over time and keep the entire print out to the way when closing the drawer.
Below I used a sheet of Perspex I had cut to fit the drawer size. Unmodified this would then present the problem of lifting it up. I made a cutout on the edge of the Perspex to make hooking and unhooking the elastic easier and allowing it to be lifted up easier. This version is 3mm thick, however I also have a sheet of 2mm thickness and that seems to work fine and is cheaper. Now I merely have to repeat this 20 times!
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| Perspex hold-down sheet in place. |
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| Detail of cutaway for hook access and lifting Perspex sheet off. |
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