What kind of press is this?

It looks quite a bit like the Ideal side lever tabletop, rigged for automation with a motor (looks like the motor plate is all that says “Abart”).

It seems to be a “snappy” little press, and someone put some thoguth into the motor linkage. No throw-off, so you’d have to be good at feeding.

I suppose if you manufactured a lever, you could bring it back into use as a hand-operated platen press.

Hello,

You have a very nice Sigwalt press. Commonly believed to be knock off of the Golding Official line. It’s a good knock off, and most people that own one are very happy. The model is the “Ideal”, but I cannot be sure which number. Looks like it might be a 6 x 9 which would be a No. 5. If it is a 5 x 8, it would be a No. 4. Very interesting setup.

John(no ink-Golding snob)

I also believe that it is a Sigwalt 6x9 with a motor. My personal opinion is that this is a very dangerous press. If you miss-time feeding a sheet or reach in it at the wrong time, it will smash your hand. Without a flywheel to grab, you cannot stop the press.

My 2 cents.

Paul Aken

The way the inking roller snaps down rapidly over the forme area seems less than ideal. I’d think it would be prone to slurring.

I wonder if the addition of the second roller would help…

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

I can’t read the motor plate, but it may be possible to put a speed controller on it and slow it down a little. If it could be made to run in the opposite direction that would probably help with the rollers snapping down like that, but it might make the platen snap shut — not a desirable outcome either. It’s an ingenious solution but, as was pointed out, dangerous. I’d be inclined to remove the motor and substitute a foot pedal, which you could control, leaving both hands free to feed and take off. They are excellent little presses — though this one looks to me to be larger than 6x9!

Bob

Wow, I didn’t look at the video until I read the additional posts. That doesn’t work well at all. Hard to figure why its snapping so much when a traditional Sigwalt has got such a nice smooth action even at that spot. As was previously stated by knowledgeable people, looks dangerous and doesn’t look like it would print well.

This press was on eBay a few months ago. I believe it sold for a few hundred dollars. Not sure who bought it or if the deal fell through, but perhaps they realized it didn’t work as well as they had hoped?

Brad.

I believe the snapping action is related to the way the lever connecting rod is installed. I think if the motor were run the other direction the press would run much more smoothly. The same kind of thing happens if you run a Pearl the wrong way.

Bob

The snappyiness does terrify me a bit. I wonder if it’s easy to turn in the right direction?
The listing says that the plate is 7.25” by 10.25” so I’m figuring it’s more of a 6x9 or something?

I doubt if you can reverse the direction of the motor. You could mount it below the press, turned 180 degrees to reverse the rotation direction, and get a longer connecting rod made. Probably not worth the effort. I’d suggest ditching the motor and get a stirrup-type replacement shovel handle at your local hardware store and attach it to the stub of the arm and make it back into a manual press — much safer and less cumbersome, and while a little slower I think the hand operation is more fun, myself! ;-) The handle would be a little shorter than the original but the press is quite powerful.

Doesn’t it have a chase — it must if the present owner was printing with it. The inside dimensions of the chase are the press size.

Bob

I would think the motor could be reversed in direction. I don’t think it matters to the gear reducer above the table which direction it turns, and most motors can be reversed by switching the wires to the motor circuits.

The speed looks manageable to me, but as has been mentioned, there is no good way to stop the press or throw off impression in case of a misfeed.

As Bob says, conversion back to a hand operated (or foot operated press would be fairly easy to accomplish.

John Henry