trying to figure out where to begin

My Grandfather recently passed away leaving me in control of his 80 year old printing press in Westchester county, NY. Though a large portion of the work is done on an offset or outsourced, he continued to use the heidleberg windmill letterpress for small jobs and numbering/scoring until the final months of his career. He always refused to teach me anything about these windmills whenever I would ask. I think it had to do with the offset revolution and how his business was affected by his ignoring it. where would I start to learn the operation of these presses. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi Craig,
I should start learning about the press by visiting the Boxcarpress website and download the heidelberg 15x10 manual and the Heidelberg tips for pressmen.
Read and study,and make sure you know where all the parts are that are referred to.
Take particular note of the Pressroom safety.
I have been retired for 14 yrs, and although over 80, my memory is still pretty good, and with 50plus years experience of operating Heidelbergs both platen and cylinder, maybe I can help with any queries you may have.

I would relish giving some one-to-one training but unfortunately I live in the UK.

Hope this helps, but use the forum if you have any problems. I normally logon daily.
Bern.

Thank you Bern. It’s interesting to find people who have both the skill and appreciation for letterpress the way my Grandfather did. People like him and yourself are truly a staple in printing and its roots and history. After spending the day looking through old files and drawers in the office i came across the original manuals for the heidelberg windmill presses as well as the manuals for the meile(spelling?) vertical press which im unsure the purpose of and hasn’t been turned on in decades. The Heidelberg manual seems like it will be helpful, im starting at the very begining, trying to understand the machine itself and its componants. if anyone knows where i could begin looking into training in this press or possibly taking classes, please let me know, Ive always been fascinated by it and would like to put it back into use and perhaps offer it to customers as a specialty printing of sorts. Any information would be greatly appreciated. thank you, Craig F. Bennett.

Hello,
For the past months I’ve been searching around the new york area and internet in search of a place that offers instructional courses in using a hiedelberg windmill letterpress. I own and operate an 80 year old printing press left to me by my Grandfather and am very much interested in learning to operate the three windmill letterpresses we have in order to offer custom letterpress printing as an option for my customers. If anyone knows about such courses being offered in the New York area as well as private instructional courses it would be very much appreciated if you could share such information.

Very eager to learn, Craig.

Hello Craig,
If you can make it in to NYC I’d suggest setting up a lesson with Tim Chapman. Might be best to leave it until after the holidays though. I suspect he’s got a lot on his plate!
http://pressnewyork.com/

Or talk to Davin Kuntze from Woodside Press. He might be willing to do a lesson on your machine.
http://www.briarpress.org/user/9706

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY