Still working to adjust platen on sigwalt ideal
A few weeks ago I had written to ask about adjusting the platen on my Sigwalt Ideal here http://www.briarpress.org/31374
I got some really great, helpful feedback. However, I am still having issues.
The problem is that the lower (in the press) letter will print ok (seems a bit heavy) but the top prints nothing at all. I’ve been adjusting the bolts on the back of the platen and even with the top bolts pushed out entirely I still cannot get a print of those letters.
My next step is to try and adjust the bolts on the back of the press to see how the platen will react to those being tightened and loosened.
If anyone has some more pointers or tips that would be wonderful. I can post pictures if need be.
Thanks
Try using packing to adjust the level of your platen. Read this:
http://www.apa-letterpress.com/T%20&%20P%20ARTICLES/Press%20&%20Presswor...
Even though your press is small it works the same as the big ones.
If there is more impression at the bottom the packing is too thick, remove one or two sheets and increase the impression.
If there is more impression at the top, then you need more packing and reduce the impression (back the screws off).
You must be so far out of true how do your rollers touch your form?
Thank You GwaK, that article was very helpful, very similar what I was attempting to do earlier. I had 1 large letter M in each corner of the chase and, at one point it seemed print pretty evenly but its still out of wack.
The form appears to be inking nice and evenly. I placed a few different pieces in the chase originally just to test the rollers (which are new) in that way and everything inked up fine.
When adjusting any hand lever press it helps a lot if you always close the press to the mechanical stop — on the Sigwalt it’s built into the impression toggle, as it is in the different mechanism of a Pilot and clones. Consistency is the first requirement. If you can’t close the press to the stop you need to back off the platen adjustments until you can close all the way.
I don’t remember from my Sigwalt Ideal I sold many years ago whether the platen was supported solely by the adjusting bolts or if there was a central bolt with a coil spring — I’m remembering the latter. If that is the case, the bolts push the platen against the spring (or the spring pulls the platen against the bolts), and you can have one adjusted too far and get a rocking action of the platen. In any case, you should back off the lower bolts until the inked type is printing without punching at the bottom of the chase with the press closed all the way, then add pressure at the top to bring up the type at the top of the chase. The best way is to lock up a fairly large piece of type (like 48’) in each of the 4 corners of the chase and adjust until all four are equal in pressure.
If you always close the press to the stop when you’re printing you’ll get more consistent impression in your press run and you can eliminate impression pressure as a variable when troubleshooting printing problems.
Bob