Print it yourself
Download the files
Get free 3MF and STL files for a snap-fit DIY printmaking press. Print a desktop proofing press for block printing, linocut, and letterpress.
The 3D printed proofing press for your desk
Pica Press is a 3D printed proofing press for printmakers. The files are free for personal use. It is a snap-fit desktop press for block printing, linocut, and letterpress, built so beginners and working artists can pull even proofs without a heavy cast-iron machine.
You do not need your own 3D printer to get started. Our reseller network connects you with printers who can produce and sell the press, ready for assembly, as a portable linocut press for home studios and classrooms.
We are committed to putting printmaking tools in classrooms, studios, and educational programs, helping the next generation of printmaking artists grow.
About
Made for the studio, the workshop, and the classroom
The Pica Press belongs on a home studio desk as much as it does in a print class. Compact enough for everyday use, it is a natural fit for workshops, classrooms, and schools where people are learning to print together.
Safe, simple to operate, and built to deliver even pressure from pull to pull, it is equally at home as a beginner block printing press and as a desktop letterpress.
Pica Press at Sining Cafe, Niagara Falls, Lego Printmaking Workshop
Get a Pica Press
Download the files or buy a printed press
Print it yourself with our free personal-use 3D print files, or buy a printed press if you do not have a 3D printer.
Go to downloads
No printer needed
Buy from a reseller
Find a printer who can produce a portable, snap-fit linocut press for you. An affordable desktop letterpress if you do not have a 3D printer.
Photo by Katya Ross on Unsplash
Education
Our educational commitment
Our mission is to help as many people as possible grow as printmaking artists and to support the future of the art form we all love. That commitment goes beyond building a press. It means putting tools into classrooms, studios, and educational programs where the next generation can learn.
For every reseller who joins our team and helps us bring the Pica Press to more printmakers, we commit to donating an additional press to schools and educational programs. Each quarter, we tally the number of resellers in our network and donate an equal number of Pica Presses to the same cause. Support our mission on Patreon.
For every five Patreon supporters who are not resellers, we donate one press to schools and educational programs, tying community membership directly to our school donation program.
1:5
Patreon supporters
For every five Patreon members who support us outside the reseller tier, we donate one press to schools and educational programs.
One donated press per five Patreon supporters
1:1
Reseller giving
Each quarter, we count our active resellers and donate that same number of Pica Presses to schools and educational programs.
One press per reseller, every quarter
For example
10 resellers = 10 presses donated each quarter
If ten resellers are part of our network in a given quarter, we donate ten Pica Presses to schools and educational programs that quarter.
10
Resellers
10
Presses donated
Growing the craft
Every donated press puts tools in the hands of the next generation of printmaking artists.
Community
Join our communities
Connect with other printmakers, ask questions, share your work, and stay close to the project. We have two places to plug in depending on what you are looking for.
Pica Press Forum
Our community forum for Pica Press owners and builders. Ask assembly questions, share tips, show your prints, and connect with other people using the press.
Printmakers Matrix
The broader printmaking community behind Pica Press. Explore contests, connect with artists, and stay involved with the wider Printmakers Matrix project.
Get in touch
Contact
Questions about the press, downloads, or becoming a reseller? Send us a message and we will get back to you.
Prefer email? [email protected]