Advise on a Heidelberg windmill needed please!
Hello,
I wonder if somebody could please give me some advise.
A Heidelberg platen has come up for sell at a good price that I am interested in.
I have never used a Heidelberg before. At the moment I have a floor treadle platen press made by Cropper, England, very similar to a C & P.
I feel I am not ready to start on a Heidelberg just yet and would definately be needed to seek training but, I am wondering about purchasing and storing it until the time is right. I am positive that I will look to use a Heidelberg windmill in the future.
I have read a lot of discussions about windmills on Briarpress but I am definately no expert in what to look out for when purchasing a windmill.
Unfortunately, I am not able to look at the machine before I decide whether to purchase it or not. The lady who is selling it does not know an awful lot about it either but says it has been used for numbering and perforating up until recently. Is there any way to know if it has lock up rollers? It is a red ball model so I am right in thinking that it is post 1959?
I have put a pic of it below. I wanted to know if anybody can see anything in the picture that could be wrong with the machine at all?
I cannot see why if it is a good press at a good price I should not just buy it and store it safely for a while until the time is right?
Any advise would be much appreciated, many thanks.
Here it is, I don’t think I attached it properly first time
heidelberg-here it is
if you are uk contact Peter Luckhurst on Briar-he maybe able to inspect for you and train you up for a fee-extremely expert Heidelberg operator you can trust.
I don’t see the lock out for rollers on that press. You don’t NEED the lock out function. They probably just take the rollers off to diecut/perf/crease. Peter Luckhurst is the heidelberg guru of UK. Ask the seller what the serial number is and then you will know the year of manufacture. If you have the $ and storage there is no reason not to buy a heidelberg.
This is not a good image to identify exactly what machine generation this is but it doesnt appear to be a late one with roller lock , they have a plastic grip on the drive engage handle and this image does not . Nor does it have the speed indicator dial so i would say its probably an early machine , only able to age it vaguely as late 1950s or early 60s . The colour of the ball is not really a true date identifier as you can fit them on blackball machines too . Are you in the uk or where ? If you ask the owner do the ink rollers arms have a recess for inkers that carry a ball race on them ,these are a better buy than an ancient model with no ball race facility for the ink rollers as your roller shafts wear through on the old ones and can be a bit dangerous if they wear too much !