During lockdown the Sussex Humanities Lab contributed to a postgraduate Colloquium at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) titled "The History and Practice of Printing". Before the pandemic students received a practical component of the module in UCSB's maker lab working with real printing presses. In response to pandemic restrictions the practical sessions were replaced with 3D CAD sessions presenting a reconstruction made from the Smithsonian Museum's plans of the Common Press. The Common Press was an early descendent of the Guttenberg press and represents a pivotal moment in history when the printing press changed the sharing of information. The sessions on reconstruction introduced humanities students to the potential and limitations of 3D graphics and simulation as a way to study the press. The sessions concluded with every student constructing and operating their own functioning scaled printing press using 3D printed parts. This 45 minute presentation describes the sessions, reconstructions, and printed (paper) outcomes.