Conrad Press

Conrad Press World's Finest Printmaking Presses since 1945! www.conradmachine.com Dear Printmaker,

Welcome to the official Conrad Machine Fan Page. Conrad Machine Co.

This year is a historic year in Conrad Machine's history; it marks our 66-year anniversary. was founded by my father and uncle, Earl and Robert Conrad, in 1945 with assistance from my grandfather, Hveding Conrad. Fresh out of WWII, my father and uncle started the company with little more than ideals and the American dream. In 1956, we began manufacturing our first printmaking presses. Today, we ar

e recognized around the world as one of the oldest manufacturers of fine art printmaking presses as well as the oldest manufacturer in North America. is proud to manufacture 6 different lines of presses. We do not, by and large, sell peripheral materials like other companies. Instead, we concentrate our time, energy, and engineering abilities on manufacturing the world's finest printmaking presses. We offer more lines of presses than any other press company. Our selection allows you to pick the press that best fits your wants, needs, and price range. The Conrad Machine Co. line of presses includes tabletop and floor model etching, combination, monotype, and lithography presses. These presses have proven to be popular in both the studio and educational settings. In addition to our Conrad Machine Co. press line, we have added the world-renowned American French Tool press line in 1999. Andre Beaudoin, American French Tool's founder, designed and built these elegant and graceful etching presses for nearly 30 years in Coventry, Rhode Island. Their agile design and stunning performance are unsurpassed in the printmaking industry. Recently, in 2007, we added the complete line of Rembrandt fine art presses. This line, designed by John Graves, has proven itself over the past 35 years, with its efficient and well-built design, to be very popular among printmakers. Our newest line of presses is the Brand New line. This line is designed after the Charles Brand style of presses. If you loved Charles Brand presses, you will love the Brand New line. Conrad Machine Warranty Logo Conrad Machine Co. is not only celebrating our 66-year anniversary, we are also celebrating more than 50 years of building the finest printmaking presses in the world. Because of our level of commitment to higher quality and better performance, we have decided to increase our press warranty. All Conrad Machine Co. manufactured presses now carry a 25-year warranty. This warranty sets a benchmark; no other press manufacturer offers a better, full 25-year warranty on their printmaking presses. We invite you to compare our presses to any in the world. We are confident you will see that our commitment to quality, large variety, and you, the printmaker, is unmatched. Please visit our new website to get more detailed information about all of our presses and our company. Thank you for all of your support throughout the last 55 years. We would not have been able to achieve this milestone without the loyal support and following of our printmaking family. Sincerely,

Tom Conrad,
President, Conrad Machine Co.

Made the recent trip to  in Cleveland, Ohio to move and install a recently donated large Conrad Floor Model Etching Pres...
06/08/2026

Made the recent trip to in Cleveland, Ohio to move and install a recently donated large Conrad Floor Model Etching Press.

We removed this from a building on one side of town, then relocated it to Morgan and gave it full inspection and tune-up, including polishing, adjustment, lubrication, and more.

What a beautiful space—with a beautiful press now to match! The Morgan Paper Conservatory is a great facility with many antique and interesting pieces of equipment. It’s awesome having such an active learning center here in the Midwest.

They now plan to offer more etching and large scale relief opportunities with their large Conrad.

Executive Director .donnelly.art was great to work with and accommodated us to make the move as smooth as possible.
Hope to visit again soon!

05/04/2026

May the 4th be with you.

There was a lot to do at UC Santa Cruz during our visit to the printmaking department.We started with some basic cosmeti...
04/06/2026

There was a lot to do at UC Santa Cruz during our visit to the printmaking department.

We started with some basic cosmetic cleaning of the presses like polishing rollers, press beds, sanding, removing, and treating any visible rust on the machines, plus removing over 50 years of accumulated felt dust!

We also installed new warp plates on all of the studio’s Charles Brand machines, which is usually pretty straightforward, but several machines had broken bolt heads that had to be ground flat, removed, re-drilled and re-tapped on site. Thankfully, we brought everything to do a full service repair with us!

Next we re-lubed and oiled everything on the presses, adjusted the drives, calibrated the pressure system, and gave them some fresh paint.

And we were able to check in on their newer Conrad AFT press and smaller Conrad E-15, both in perfect working order!

Lovely studio with a great group of printmakers. So sorry for all the noise, but happy to get you set up for the new year.

Happy printing!

Visited Stanford University's MFA print studio to give their pre-Conrad American French Tool press a makeover and bring ...
03/20/2026

Visited Stanford University's MFA print studio to give their pre-Conrad American French Tool press a makeover and bring it up to the modern standards that we now build the machines.

If you have ever used a pre-Conrad AFT, you will know about the original sundial gauges that came on those presses. These were never true micrometer gauges, and it is one of the first things we changes on the machines once we bought the company from its founder. We now make a retrofit kit that can be adapted to any vintage AFT if you do want modern gauges. Email us if you are interested ([email protected]).

Also, older AFT presses didn’t have the same rise and clearance that we now make them with, so we added new spring blocks and taller springs to this machine to increase the clearance between the press bed and the upper roll. Very important for printing thicker blocks.

After that, we gave the machine a full once over, greased and lubed everything, cleaned it up, then drilled and taped the bedplate to install a Conrad registration grid and protective bed cover.

After we finished the service call, Camille was nice enough to give us a private tour of the art building, including the BFA print studio, and show us a beautiful art installation of hers titled “Fathom,” which features hand painted and sandblasted glass panels suspended in the Computing and Data Science building. Absolutely beautiful!

What an amazing spot; hope to visit again soon!

Stopped by  while in San Francisco to see their gallery and studio spaces. A true institution in intaglio printing!The e...
03/10/2026

Stopped by while in San Francisco to see their gallery and studio spaces. A true institution in intaglio printing!

The etching studio has several Conrad American French Tool and Charles Brand presses that they use for invited artists and their summer workshop series. We got a chance to look at these, as well as the original Hughes and Kimber press that they started their journey with, which was beautifully restored and on display!

The building and gallery spaces are both magnificent and just around the corner from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Finished prepping and restoring all of the presses at the former San Francisco Art Institute for storage during building...
03/04/2026

Finished prepping and restoring all of the presses at the former San Francisco Art Institute for storage during building renovations.

This was a massive job that involved disassembling and moving nine presses, four of which had to be craned through the windows for removal.

After moving them to the holding room, we reassembled them and gave each machine a tune up, as well as a thorough cleaning and in-field restoration.

Now they will be all set when building renovations are completed.
A large but rewarding job to keep these machines alive!

Visiting the newly built City College of San Francisco printmaking studio while in SF.Last year, we built and shipped th...
01/29/2026

Visiting the newly built City College of San Francisco printmaking studio while in SF.

Last year, we built and shipped this gorgeous Conrad American French Tool Press for the new studio space, which is now the pride of the lot. It was great to be see the studio first hand, as well as one of our vintage Conrad floor model presses. Still going strong!

Had fun visiting the San Fransisco Center for the Book to see their beautiful workspace and visit with Studio Director C...
12/15/2025

Had fun visiting the San Fransisco Center for the Book to see their beautiful workspace and visit with Studio Director Chad Johnson, who is also a local West Michigan Hope College graduate. What a small world!

Beautiful location and an amazing collection of equipment, machines and type!

Had a chance to stop by Kala Art Institute during our time in San Francisco and attend the farewell party to the amazing...
12/01/2025

Had a chance to stop by Kala Art Institute during our time in San Francisco and attend the farewell party to the amazing studio tech Nick Shick. Sorry to see you go, Nick! I have never seen such well maintained presses.

We recently upgraded all three floor model AFT presses with modern Conrad micrometer gauges to replace the vintage sundials, which were never a true micro gauge. Nick was great to work will all along the way.

I hadn’t been to Kala since 2014, and it is great to see it still going strong and full of life.

Before/After shots of cleaning and prepping a neglected tabletop Conrad American French Tool for long-term storage durin...
11/18/2025

Before/After shots of cleaning and prepping a neglected tabletop Conrad American French Tool for long-term storage during building renovations.

All of the presses in the etching studio have been abandoned for the last 3-4 years, including two floor model Charles Brand presses that got a similar glow up before getting put away for storage.

Address

1525 Warner Street
Whitehall, MI
49461

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+12318937455

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