Broken part on a 6.5 x 10 Pilot. Please help!

Lauren, I don’t have a replacement part at this time. The part can be repaired by brazing. If you can’t source a local repair contact us. If it is an emergency I have a solution for that too as we have this press in inventory.

Tom

T and T Press Restoration
www.tandtpressrestoration.com
[email protected]

I doubt if your press is a Hohner. They are incredibly heavy and built like a Sherman tank. It would take two or three strong guys to pick-up your press if it was a Hohner.

I have moved a lot of table-top presses in my time, and the few Hohners I came across were unbelievably heavy for their size.

Rick

As usual, Rick is “on the nose” with his answer. The Hohner tabletop platen is of a significantly different design than the Pilot clone you have, and is made exceedingly stronger and heavier. It uses more of a “rocker” action in the operation of the platen.

Check the Brair Press Museum for a picture of the Hohner Tabletop Press: http://www.briarpress.org/museum/browse?page=5&t=24

John Henry

Hohner made several different table top presses. Lauren’s is a Pilot clone. Each press component is identified with a part number with the prefex OH.

Look at her third photo, Side arm in picture…

Tom

The only other presses I’d seen like mine (that also had the APE Co. plate as shown) were said to be Hohner Pilot clones. The second photo I’ve uploaded shows that OH prefex in front as well.

Tom, you say this is a press made by Hohner, just not the most common press they make? All I could find out, aside from the info I mentioned, was that they were made in West Germany and sold by APE Co. to schools and Universities sometime in the 60’s.

Thanks so much for the advice. I’ll speak with the machine shop about brazing it in the morning. I’m taking it over for them to take a look. The input is much appreciated, all of you. Thanks!

photo2.jpg

photo1.jpg

Also, this press is pretty heavy. I can’t lift it myself. Took a few guys to load it up for me, and people to get it on a hand truck and up to its current location. It’s way heavier than it looks.

I learned something today. I never knew that Hohner made a knock-off of the Pilot Press. It is kind of funny that they didn’t cast their name on them.

Check the picture that Jhenry points out and see what a real Hohner looks like. Solid as a battleship and just about as heavy!

Rick

I have no idea how common either model is but we have restored three of the Pilots types in 2010 - 2011. I personally have only seen the D model in the APE catalog. That is where the Pilot clone can also be found. I haven’t found any of the press parts to be interchangeable with the C&P Improved Pilot (NS) nor the Craftsmen, except the rollers and trucks. We have enough experience working with all three (four if you count the original Pilot (OS) to note the minor differences. I believe the iron is different. The Hohner grain isn’t as crystalline and it much lighter in color than the others. I would also say that casting voids are nonexistent in the Hohner’s we have worked on. They are in fact heavier that the C&P’s and the Craftsmen. Shaft bores are of closer tolerances and the shafts appear to be of better steel as they polish up faster, brighter and with far fewer surface imperfections as if they are ground shaft stock. Some of these attributes could be because the Hohner’s are newer and material sourcing is different than it was years ago. Coming from Germany one could also conclude a more refined product that what was being made when the Pilot dominated the bigger bench top press market. These are my opinions and observations. Some of it comes from reading between the lines, what I have read here on BP, chatting with other sources and rationalizing. If there is more to know about these presses I remain all ears and I very well may be misinformed on these comments.
The D model that Rick is referring to is a 9 X 12 3/4 and weighed in at 500 lbs. while the APE Pilot weighs in at a mere 200. In my reference catalog there are three Hohner presses listed, a 10 X 15 (DIN-A-4 Press), a 11 3/4 X 14 3/4 (RAPID-11-C) and a 9 X 12 (ALFA).
The learning never stops. I bet someone reading this posting can tell us all… more.

Tom

Thanks so much for all of the info! I’m so grateful to learn from you guys.

Lauren, under what force did the part break?

It happened while printing. I don’t know if there was a weak point in the metal or not, but I was making an impression and heard the pop. I’ve been using non-slip hard packing from NA Graphics, and perhaps I’ve just been using too much (a few sheets in different thicknesses with pressboard). The press had worked beautifully for me up until this point, so I’m trying to do as much as I can to make sure I never have to endure this kind of failure again. Should I have to put muscle into making an impression, or should it be much less effort? Any knowledge you can share would be wonderful.

I sense that this is an event that puts the two printing results at odds (from an equipment perspective), that being kiss vs. deep impression. I will defer to those that print regularily and have decades of experience as printers.
Stress is stress … I was hoping the failure was from a different type of event, e.g. dropped the part on the floor.

I’m a designer/illustrator by trade (though I was a fine artist before I was a designer), so I’m still very much learning my way around a press. And unfortunately I’m having to go about this one the hard way. The project I’m working on is for the ad agency I work with, who requested a deep impression…so it’s been a lot of research and just trying my hand at it. I’m actually very happy with the prints I’ve gotten (all very even ink coverage with the impression they’re looking for) but this incident has crippled my confidence for obvious reasons. I’m determined to learn and practice what makes a good printer, so I appreciate all the patience and knowledge that you experienced printers share with beginners like me.

Lauren,
A number of comments.
Your press and others of this type were not made to do smash printing (deep impression). Some have been successful at doing so with these presses. The attempts to do smash printing will stress the press to its limits, or in your case, beyond. So the first lesson is to know the limitations of your equipment.
Tom is correct that the press may be repaired by brazing. It will probably not be as strong as new and you will need a skilled welder who understands how to braze cast iron. I am assuming it is cast iron, but I believe Hohner made some cast aluminum presses. In addition to the braze, I suggest sister plates or fish plates on both sides of the flat portion spanning the break. These are to be tack brazed in place and bolted through. It will look a bit ugly, but will improve the strength. These are splints that stay in place.

I’m somewhat surprised that John Henry hasn’t posted hhis recently received information here. John too the initiative to contact APE and ask them if they could tell him the name of the manufacturer in West Germany that produced the Pilot clones for them. Their response to John’s querry was HOHNER. So now we all know.

Rick

Thank You John & Rick for sharing your discovery and confirming the understanding.

Rick got the jump on me.

After hearing from American Printing Eqpt. that Hohner was the manufacturer of the Pilot Clone they distributed, I wanted to get some more background on the company. It is not the same company which produces the fine harmonicas, but rather a company, in the same region of Germany, which started out producing medical equipment and switched to graphic arts equipment.

Here is a link to the company’s current website:
http://www.hohner-postpress.com

If you look on the page dedicated to the company’s history:
( http://www.hohner-postpress.com/Templates/Article.aspx?id=77 )

you will find photos of their production facility and showroom during the period when they were building printing presses. Today they specialize in wire stitching and post finishing equipment for the printing and publishing industry.

John Henry

Awesome information! Thank you all!

For what it’s worth, I have the exact , same press and also the Model D Hohner. Both are shown on page 152 of the 1983-84 APE catalog and also on page 167 of the 1987-88 APE catalog.