Choice between crucibles

More important than red or black would be the year of manufacture. Early black ball models lack some features. Later red ball models added some useful features (roller lockouts). Assuming condition of both presses is good and there is little difference in price I would probably choose the red ball.

Brad.

Thank you, Brad!

Are you talking about this option? (See photo)
I already noticed this feature. I understand the printing rollers are locked in the upper position while the press is working. But I still do not understand why this is necessary? What does this give?

JPG.

You can perf, crease, die cut or emboss without removing the rollers if you have roller lockouts.

…and do a faster washup.

You know for all these years, it never occurred to me that lockout would yield a faster washup but it makes perfect sense! Still running my old black ball though—beats hand feeding any day!

Many thanks to you for the answers! Advantages of the Red ball are good this is undeniable… especially the washing of the printing rolls and the central cylinder at the same time.

Now I’m actually working on a press with manual feed of paper and the speed of printing is the main problem… and of course the washing out)

Thanks to everyone who could reply! I really appreciate it!

2Mike Conway

I had experience with one such press, which has the ability to turn off the rollers … they turned off but not for long. I do not know what the problem really was, but after a few cycles the rollers started working again. I admit that it was some kind of malfunction. Then I decided that it should be so and decided that this option is rather strange))

I noticed that not all Red Ball models are equipped with this option

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Justyas003, Many thanks to you for this list!