Windmill - Printing with guides

Hello everyone,
I´m a newbie so to speak, and had my debut earlier today, printing with nickel guides, which turned out….bad.

The stock is crane lettra 220. What happened was that the blind impression on the sheet was ok, since my packing worked out very well. But the print…well, resulted not horizontal on the sheet, and not vertical either, but somewhere in between.

I´ll post a picture of it.

I´ve taken all the procautions when printing with guides, but still I´m way off…

Any ideas?

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Show us some photos and there are many windmill experts here who can provide some help.

One thing from your description isn’t clear. Was the blind impression aligned correctly? Is this a problem that cropped up only once you inked up?

Here’s a pic. What do you think?

Nickle guides are not easy to use, if you have enough margin you should use the brass guides, i rarely use nickle guides. Dick G.

Here´s a picture again..

image: windmill_guides.jpg

windmill_guides.jpg

Are you sure you have the lay bar locked in for guide use? On the flywheel side, just behind the platen is a round knob attached to the bar that holds the guides. Make sure you turn that knob until it clicks into place and you can’t move the bar up or down. It looks to me like the guides aren’t catching the paper and it is just dropping down.

Dick, why are nickel guides harder to use than brass? I don’t have brass, only nickel, so I have never compared them.

I have trouble with nickle guides, the stock wants to fall behind them, the brass guides allow the stock to drop a little below the platen, maybe its just what i’m used to using. Dick G.

I had trouble with the stock slipping behind the left guide too. I can’t see that happening with 220# lettra, though. Too thick. I glued a couple of small pieces of paper to the inside of the guide so it hits flush with the platen and the sheet stays in register.

How about picking the sheet up, then turn off the press and slowly turn the flywheel by hand and watch whats going on with the sheet. (Slow motion could help) Is it dropping onto the guides evenly or what. I have to agree with Dick, I only use nickle guides when brass won’t do the trick.

Are you sure the feed stack is in the proper position for the guides you are using? Each set of guides takes a different left/right position on the feed table. I saw a press where the feed stack was set wrong, causing the paper to actually drop onto the guides from a substantial distance, thereby making the registration a complete mess.