Printers in Detroit

Hi Gerald,

Amos Kenndy is a letterpress Printer but probably doesn’t use a duplicator.

cmcgarr Thanks for reaching out. Amos is indeed here, and is great, but you are right that he does not have a duplicator.

I assume by a duplicator you are talking about a true printing press. I was not sure what type of press you are looking to learn to run or currently have. Keep in mind that most of the companies that made duplicators of time have stopped the production of them and parts can be hard to come by. Over 45 years I have run AB Dick, Hamada, Ryobi and Heidelberg presses. These days Ryobi 3302 and Heidelberg GTO would be the best entry level presses. You will also need to decide how you are going to plate them for printing. Free free to ask any questions and I / we will offer the best answers we can give.

western411

I am—I am looking at a few small presses, a Chief 17, a AB Dick 9800 series. I’m just looking for someone local who is running presses still that would be willing to teach me the basics. There are a lot of presses available right now, but I don’t really know what I should be looking for.

A LOT OF YOU SUCCESS will depend on WHAT you are planning on printing. You might have a hard time getting someone to train you, those presses are not used as much these days. Look for videos and watch the machines run. It is not easy to show someone how to run the press and now they are a pressman. You will learn by making mistakes and overcoming bad printing results and then become a pressman. The ABDick in my opion might be the better of the 2 choices. Ryobi made the 2800 and later the 3200. I ran Ab Dick 360 in 1980 which is similar to the 9800 and later Ryobi 3302H which I still run today. The Ryobi was a better press. You may be able to find handbooks on line that can give you an explanation of how to operate the presses.

Gerald,

Platemaking and parts for the machine are issues you should consider.

Michael Vickey
Nickel Plate Press