Ductor Roller
On my 10x15 heidelberg Platen, there is this roller that is part of the ink fountain and it has a wheel attached to it on one side. How do I ge it off the press?? By the way my press is very dirty, caked in dry ink and I am trying to get some of it off, there is a great deal of dry ink in and around the ink fountain and I just wanted to get some of it off and even get this roller recoated. Will it come off?
I hope this makes sense? Please help???
Thank you in advance,
Meaghan
Roller removal is not a normal maintenance item. An experienced mechanic is needed. But, there should be no need to remove it as the fountain blade drops away for easier cleaning of both. Use steel wool and gasoline to scrub them. The roller is steel and doesn’t require “recoating”. Look on pages 93+- of the manual. Remove the sludge tray for easier access for cleaning of the whole area. I would try getting ink off with an ink/putty knife. See if judicious use of gas and steel wool does the job. Caveat: Using gasoline in interior spaces is very dangerous. Gasoline fumes, as propane, collect near the floor and can be ignited by water heater pilots and other sources. Use gas sparingly in WELL ventilated spaces. Use a fan if necessary.
Thank you for your response. I thought it might be a difficult one. The roller is quite damaged and has many tracks running down, does this need to be fixed. Can I work efficiently with half an ink fountain caked in years of ink? It is probably the only thing holding it together!
I am also looking at the manual - thank you for your assistance on this!
Thank you,
Meaghan
You don’t need to use the fountain. Ink up with an ink knife just as you might when first starting up clean. The scoring on the roller isn’t good but not that big a deal. It will work fine. Cleaning up the fountain won’t be as bad as you think. Drop the blade and scrape with a putty knife or the like. Do it a little bit at a time. A operating fountain will allow your fine press to produce to its potential.
Dick - my curiosity got the best of me and I spent some time looking at the parts manual and this gave me a few hints on how this roller may come off the press - and it worked. The area looks so clean now. I know you advised against it - but I feel I am learning a lot about the press by looking at the parts and how they work with each other - really getting in and making my hands dirty. Thanks for the tip on operating without the fountain - as parts of it are missing I will be doing a lot of printing without it!
thank you :).