This week I got out to The Garage to get the Multilith ready for some printing this month, and my first step was leveling the press. This was more challenging than I expected, since it’s hard to get a good reading on this machine using a standard level. The instructions in the manual I have recommended putting dampener fluid into the water system and using that to level it, but I was having a hard time checking that system on top of the press while making adjustments to the feet. I think I got it figured out eventually.

After that my goal was to run some test paper through to make sure it’s feeding through the press properly and smoothly, and BOY was that a mess. The vacuum hoses were pulling in multiple sheets at a time, they kept getting caught on something right away and getting fed in sideways, and then not getting caught by the blanket roller and fed through. The pages that DID go through ended up coming out the receiving end also got caught on something and piled up, very quickly backing up the whole machine. SO. There’s work to be done there as far as adjusting all the rollers that move the paper, and the locations of the guides that keep the paper in line from end to end.

One thing I definitely noticed is that while all of the upper print rollers are all fine, the knit covers that go on the water form rollers are very loose and worn. Also, the rollers that pull the new paper in from the magazine ARE worn out – the rubber has gone soft and tacky, and needs to be replaced immediately. These feed rollers are definitely contributing to the paper being pulled onto the paper conveyor at bad angles. So, that’s my next step, replacing all those bits. And then running some more test paper to make further adjustments.