Windmill assessment

The black ball on the impression lever was made in the late 40’s thru the late 50’s, the red ball was made from late 50’s till the 1970’s, late in the 1960’s the rollers could be locked up on the ink cylinder. check to see that the tools are there, look it over to see if there are any welds, most heidleburgs i’ve seen have been in decent shape, good luck Dick G.

From the photo, I see a red balled handle in the middle. I’m guessing that’s what the “red ball” vs. “black ball” difference is. I’ll take a few pictures tomorrow and post them.

Where am I most likely to find welds if they’re there?

if the handles in the front of the press are welded its not too big a deal, i have two windmills both have the handles welded, if the press was dropped or abused there would be welds, the platen and bed of the press should not have any welds, this would make the press not print very well. the grippers on the windmill could have been bent at some point, and might have a crack in one of them, one of my grippers was cracked, it lasted about 8 years before it had to be replaced. these presses are very sturdy, those German kids know how to make presses, i run my two presses every day for the last 30 years with hardly any problems. if you know a printer near you familiar with heidleburgs maybe you could get him to check it out. Good Luck Dick G.

I saw it this morning. It seemed to run fine (we didn’t ink up or anything). The red ball lever (that’s the impression, right?) seemed stuck, but she said it worked previously, so it’s probably just stuck from not being used in awhile. I don’t think that or her SP20 (which I also bought) have been used in about 10 years. Now I have to learn to use the thing!