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I’ve been operating a challenge 305mc cutter for ten years, and I’ve never been able to figure out what the paper deflector does. It doesn’t move, it just sits there on the left side of the blade. I see there’s a little red knob under the table extension that you can loosen and tighten but that...

I was out of the loop about Zipset/Tokyo Ink Manufacturing ceasing North America operations. I've been using Zipset No Skin series inks for the last 15 years in my shop and now I'm stuck looking for a good replacement. I run small duplicator presses with continuous dampening and these inks ran...

I’m about to purchase a vertical foil stamping press for decorating book covers, and the overseas firm I am talking to offers two nearly identical models of press, the only difference being one is pneumatic and the other is hydraulic. They cost the same, offer the same printing pressure, etc. My...

I've been working with this press for years. I recently replaced the lower feed roller with a new one, and it seems like ever since I have been having trouble getting it to feed straight. Seemingly at random (and approximately 10% of sheets on a given run) a sheet will feed skewed, with the...

I usually use the Varn CA wash. This time my vendor (great western) sent me this Prochem stuff. It is very different. Its thicker and oily, and definitely not a quick drying solvent. It does have some advantages, it seems to clean better with much less volume of solvent used. It also has almost...

Small family printing business owner here. I've been looking for a good source for cartons of sheets of "bible paper" (uncoated white offset papers in the 20-30 lb range) for years now. I get asked about this by clients all the time, and always have had to tell them that I don't know how to get...

This has me completely stumped. Books are coming out of my perfect binder with a spine that seems twisted. The covers are slightly puckered and won't lie flat against the book. If I slice one of the books into section on the guillotine, I can see that the spine is tighter against the book block...

Running a Watkiss collator and Automatic Stitch Fold Trim booklet maker that uses M2000 type stitching heads. I am running a booklet that is 5 by 4 inches and has one off-center stitch. I can only get three booklets to run through the machine and get a staple. After that, the wire buckles and...

I just bought a Vario collator/bookletmaker set up at auction and I am looking for a tech in my area to get it up and running.

I'm running a job on carbonless in two passes on my 2 color ryobi. First pass is black and a spot (pantone 292). As I'm running the second pass (two more hits of black, this is a weird job), I'm getting weird repeated ghosting of a mark I printed in the pantone during the first pass. Its a...

Does anyone know what adjustment can be made on a National Booksewing machine to make the stitching tighter? Right now my stitching is really loose, with loose loops on the outside of the spine and some slack on the stitches on the inside of the signatures. There are so many adjustments that can...

I've worked with laser plates on a one-color hamada for a while. They work great for my purposes on 95% of the jobs I run. Recently I've added a Ryobi 3302 to my shop, and have been getting it up and running. One problem I'm having that I can't seem to figure out is that the image on the laser...

Some of my prints are left with little folds from the impression cylinder grippers. It's either of the outermost grippers (OP or NOP side, occurring randomly) that will catch from time to time and fold the paper over rather than grip it. I just did a full replacement of all the impression...

Looking for a technician in my area to service a Ryobi 3302 I recently installed in my shop. Thanks.

Just finished installing a Ryobi 3302m with crestlines (altra) in my small shop, where I had previously been running a hamada one-color duplicator. There are a lot of things about this press that are alien to me, and these are the (probably dumb) questions I have that aren't addressed in the...

I have crestline units on all my presses. They work great when they work, but miserably when the rollers are in less than good condition. I'm wondering if there is anything that can be done to maintain the rollers in working condition for longer. Right now I use Varn California wash for all my...

Hello, I run a small offset shop/bindery that is part of a nonprofit arts exhibition space in Portland, OR. I run mostly one and two color jobs, occasional 4-color work–stuff like invitations, posters and catalogs for our shows, as well as illustrated artists books that are made in...

I'm located in Portland, Oregon. Thanks.

I think this is a long shot but I recently purchased a National Booksewing Machine (patented 1905!) and was wondering if anyone had a manual or instructions for running and adjusting it? Or just any advice on this machine?

I run a Hamada 611 ECD duplicator press with a crestline dampening system, usually with electrostatic plates but also some metal plates. It has run great for me for a number of years. Over time, however, I have been having more and more scumming that occurs in a stripe that runs parallel to the...