Heidelberg Rollers won’t roll

I just got a new Heidelberg Windmill 10 x 15 (at an auction for $100, great deal!!) But now I have an issue. I bought new Syn tak rollers and new trucks. The rollers move up and down but they won’t turn(spin) except at the top when they touch the ink roller.

I don’t have a form in the press. We loosened the tension in the springs to see if that would help, but there wasn’t really a change. We cleaned the rails and trucks with brake cleaner and made sure there was no grease. The trucks are black plastic. Any ideas???

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Do you have the bearings that go on after the trucks? i wouldn’t loosen the springs, if the press is running you need a bit of tension on the springs, i’d be afraid the rollers could come out. Dick G.

If you pressed the bearing in to tight, leave a small gap between bearing and truck. I have no issues with their Rollers. A clean Press is clean printing.

Thanks for all the quick replies, however here is more information. My press is an older style and doesn’t use bearings.
I had older trucks and rollers on it and while they were worn and not good enough for production work, they had no issue with rolling freely.

Maybe you can use the older trucks on the new rollers, make sure the shafts on the new rollers are the same as the old rollers, i think the form rollers on the windmills are all the same(i could be wrong) so my guess is that the trucks are not the same. Maybe a picture would help to see what’s going on. Dick G.

Sarah, i peeked on your blog, you have a black ball windmill, probably mid 1950’s or early 50’s, it has a bearing press on the back of the machine so my guess is you need the bearings on the ends of your rollers. I bought some a while ago from a local bearing company, had to special order them. The press looks really good, not too dirty or beat up, i think it was money well spent. You should look on line for a manual, there is also a book Hints for the Heidleburg pressman (i think thats the name) its pretty good. There is a few of these for sale in my area one the man wants $3500 for it, so you did well. These are great presses and you can do amazing things on them, i run two of these almsot daily, if i can help contact me and i will give you my phone number. If you never ran one before you will have a hard time getting going, you don’t want to break any parts cause they are expensive to replace. Good Luck Dick G.

I added some blue tape to the rails and that little bit of friction seems to be working. Maybe the rails were too smooth? I’m going to see what I can find out about the bearings, thanks for that advice Dick.

On a windmill you shouldn’t have to add tape, the rails are adjustable, there are marks on each side of the rails, you need to start at “0”, all four have to be set the same, also if there is any dirt or oil on the rails it will cause the rollers to not ink properly, they must be kept very clean. Lots to learn about windmills. Good Luck Dick G.

It sounds like the tape kept the rollers from skidding down the rails, causing a slurring result. I remember a rosin pouch used in one shop where I worked to add a bit of grip to the rails, providing more secure rotation of the trucks on the rails.