C & P Pilot Muddy Impression

Hey all I’m somewhat new to this so I’m not sure exactly which forum to put this in so forgive me if this is miscategorized here.

I have a C & P Pilot and am using the boxcar deep relief base. New Rollers- Chabonelle Ink and Cranes Lettra 300 paper.

The impressions are coming very muddy with the print basically illegible.

I tried putting some tape on the rails and such and the plate seems to be getting inked just fine- does anyone have any idea why this is happening? Should I attempt to adjust those large bolts which seem to dictate the pressure? I have read that these really never need to be adjusted.

Take a look at the photo I am attaching. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

image: LP1.gif

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You’re getting a lot of ink pushed between and around the lettering; I’d guess that your rollers are still hitting your form too hard. Don’t adjust your bolts quite yet- it doesn’t look like your impression is too hard. Check your trucks if they’re adjustable or try adding more tape. You may need more than you might think. Good luck!

I can’t see the picture very clearly, but my guess would be that you may be putting on too much ink on your press for your form. Try using half or a fourth of what you are currently using to see if that helps the problem.

Hope that helps!

I had the exact same problem on my Pilot when I just got it. The rollers were smashing my plate and getting way too much ink on the form. My solution: I ended up putting on 9 pieces of electrical tape on the rails.

I’d suggest cleaning the ink off of your plate and putting on many layers of tape on the rails (I started with 12). Do a run-through. Chances are that your plate won’t even get inked. Start removing the tape one layer at a time until the rollers ink the plate just right and you get a nice, clean impression. It worked for me. Good luck!

gina