Replies

1. 
   bckelly01 | Apr 24, 2002 02:02pm | #1

   Owl,

   We have plans for about 600 bridges in our office archives. I think truly blue prints stopped in the 1950's in our archives.

   BCK

2. 
   tjcarcht | Apr 24, 2002 03:08pm | #2

   owl - Diazo (ammonia-based) processes are dead here in NJ.

   T. Jeffery Clarke

   Quidvis Recte Factum Quamvis Humile Praeclarum

1. 
   JohnSprung | Apr 25, 2002 02:58am | #3

   Diazo gives you a positive image -- give it black lines on vellum, and it gives you dark blue lines on yellowish paper with blue speckles.  I still get them from Capitol Blueprint, which has been here since 1958.  30 x 42's are about $1.17 each.  I kinda like the ammonia smell, maybe because it gives you an informal way of knowing you've got the newest prints.

   -- J.S.

1. 
   KenHill3 | Apr 25, 2002 03:23am | #4

   John-

   Right on about smellin' thoser new prints, also knew it wasn't fading as much. For presentation purposes, I always liked making the brown-line (sepia) Diazo prints. Yeah, those were the days!

   Ken Hill

3. 
   diddidit | Apr 25, 2002 02:42pm | #5

   My last employer, Lift-Tech (part of Columbus McKinnon), stopped regularly making us make blueline prints about two years ago. We still made stuff from 40 year old drawings, though, so we still made them occasionally. Most old drawings came off of a microfiche machine; new ones came off of the D-size inkjet plotter.

   did

   I have

   misplaced my pants

1. 
   BungalowJeff | Apr 25, 2002 02:48pm | #6

   My old company had a print machine in the office. I do not miss the amonia filled paper cuts at all....that's not a mistake, it's rustic

4. 
   archyII | Apr 27, 2002 03:03am | #7

   It is getting harder to get blueline prints and sepias.  In chicago Mosser stopped making all ammonia type prints when they moved.  Everything is now a xerox process.  The problem is that the large format copies cost twice as much as the ammonia blue lines .  I'm sure that this will change.

1. 
   BungalowJeff | Apr 28, 2002 08:26am | #8

   Most public agencies now deal with half-sized prints, so usually we just print to a laser printer and send them to a copy shop. ...that's not a mistake, it's rustic

1. 
   Kyle | Apr 28, 2002 08:43am | #9

   For those of you who still miss the blueline. MOVE to baton rouge, LA.

   Every house designer in the city uses that garbage. The damn things don't last a week in the sun. Oh sure it's an easy way to copy hand drawn prints, but I beg the people, stop! before I go mad.

2. 
   JohnSprung | Apr 29, 2002 09:18pm | #10

   Capitol Blueprint out here has two diazo machines, one of which actually works.  :-)

   -- J.S.

1. 
   Rein_ | Apr 30, 2002 02:16am | #11

   One of my first part time jobs was picking up prints at the shop for my mom's office.

   Now they just come off the plotter somewhere in the back. There goes (or went) another 'foot in the door' job!

3. 
   ecomma | Apr 30, 2002 04:55am | #12

   Hr Archy,

   We run a Diazit blue print machine in our office.  We go through about 6 gallons a ammonia a year.  We have a room filled with about 20 gallons of old ammonia.  Do you have a blue print machine?  What do you do with  your old ammonia?  I'm sure it is a hazardous waste material.  We also did a 26 million dollar performing arts center and had to do some value engineering to get the price down from 29 million.  The result was 125-250 sheet sets of blueprints.  We tried to recycle them, but no one would take them because they had ammonia and emulsion on them.  Luckly we were able to recycle the specs. which were about the size of a Manhattan phone book.  Any suggestions for recycling blue prints? 

   DIGITAL SCAN IS THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. 
   archyII | May 02, 2002 03:23am | #13

   You are right, you cannot recycle blueprints made with ammonia.  My main problem is that the xerox process cost so much more than a blueline.  I would have thought that the cost would go down by now.  Oh well.