Smith Mechanical Field Services

DWG-PP / Printing presses

The press is the job we put first.

Setup, alignment, mechanical repair, installs, leveling, commissioning, and retrofits. Sheetfed, letterpress, and the converting equipment beside the press.

Request press service
A Heidelberg GTO offset press in a print room, with no people in the frame.
FIG. 04Illustrative · NTS

Heidelberg GTO offset press. Illustrative. Not a Smith Mechanical Field Services job.

shamin kmrzmn. Unsplash License. Source

A vintage green platen printing press against a workshop wall, with no people in the frame.
FIG. 02Illustrative · NTS

Vintage platen press. Illustrative. Not a Smith Mechanical Field Services job.

Nik. Unsplash License. Source

A row of older printing presses in a museum hall, with no people in the frame.
FIG. 01Illustrative · NTS

Older presses in a museum hall. Illustrative. Not a Smith Mechanical Field Services job.

Lennert Naessens. Unsplash License. Source

Ink rollers and cylinders on an industrial printing press, with no people in the frame.
FIG. 03Illustrative · NTS

Press rollers and cylinders. Illustrative. Not a Smith Mechanical Field Services job.

Aleksandr Galichkin. Unsplash License. Source

DWG-PP-02 / Scope

What we do on a press.

Printing presses are the work we lead with. A unit out of register, a press that arrived and still needs to be set and leveled, a line that was moved and never truly reset. We troubleshoot the mechanical path, align it, and stay through startup. Sheetfed, letterpress, and the converting equipment beside the press.

  1. 01

    Setup and register

    Get the unit holding register, then prove it on a run.

  2. 02

    Alignment

    Cylinders, transfers, and the iron that has walked out of place.

  3. 03

    Install and level

    Receive a press, set it, level it, and anchor it so it stays.

  4. 04

    Breakdown repair

    Find the mechanical cause and fix that cause.

  5. 05

    Commissioning

    Stay through startup instead of leaving at the end of the install.

  6. 06

    Retrofits

    Change the press or the line around it so the equipment you have can keep running.

DWG-PP-01 / Schematic

Cylinders, gears, and a side frame.

A shop drawing for the kind of iron we work on. Letters mark the parts. Nothing on this sheet is a measured dimension from a customer's machine.

A · PLATE CYLINDERB · IMPRESSIONC · CENTER DISTANCED · SIDE FRAMESMFSDWG-PP-01 · PRESSSHEET 1 · SCALE NTS
A 1911 encyclopaedia plate of a Miehle two-revolution cylinder printing press.
FIG. 06Illustrative · NTS

Miehle two-revolution cylinder press, plate from 1911. Reference drawing, not a job photo.

Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1911). Artist not named.. Public domain (published in the United States before 1930). Source

Reference plate

Older iron, still the same problems.

Register, level, and a cylinder path that has to agree with the gear train. The 1911 plate is a reference drawing from an encyclopaedia. The photographs on this page are licensed pictures of other people's machines. None of them are Smith Mechanical Field Services jobs.

A hand-operated cast-iron platen press, with no people in the frame.
FIG. 05Illustrative · NTS

Hand platen press. Illustrative archival photograph. Not a Smith Mechanical Field Services job.

Barak Sh. Public domain dedication (CC0-equivalent, PD-self). Source

Next

Got a machine that won't behave?

Send a photo. We'll tell you what we think.

Request serviceCall / text
Call / textRequest service