GTO Manual

Table of Contents
1 Plate mounting
4 Turning the press with the crank handle
5 Pile transport
Adjustments of the sucker bar
6 Positioning of paper and pile
Feeding paper for press makeready
Stopping press from feeder
7 The double sheet control
Sheet smoothers and sheet brakes
8 Front lays
Side lays
9 Engaging and disengaging of ink
and water supply
10 Circumferential register and reciprocation
11 Operational functions of the press
12 Heidelberg single – lever control
13 Sequence of operations when preparing
the press
14 Cylinder packings and press rolling
15 Cylinder packing gage
17 Impression cylinder
18 Adjusting the pressure between blanket
and impression cylinders
19 Typical Calculations
20 Examples showing how to work out pressure
between blanket and plate cylinders
Plate Mounting

The rear clamping bar (1) is spring loaded, before you can
mount a plate, loosen knurled screw (2) and pull the rear
clamping bar downward, lock in position by turning the latch
(3) to a vertical position.

Crimp the tail edge of the plate only, the crimping device is
fitted at the delivery of the press.

Handle plates carefully, they are easily scratched or bent.

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GTO Manual

Turn the press by hand crank until the front clamping bar
(1) is accessible, insert the plate lead edge into the front
clamping bar and turn locking bolts on operator side and
drive side upwards towards the plate to lock it with the plate
wrench (2).

Hold the plate at the tail edge and turn hand crank until the
rear clamping bar is accessible.

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Insert the crimped tail edge and turn hand crank until
the rear clamping bar and lock it by turning the two
locking bolts downward towards the plate. Move latch
(1) back to horizontal position, spring action will tighten
the rear clamp.

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GTO Manual

Turning the press with the crank handle

The Crank Handle (1) serves to turn the press by hand during
makeready, washing, platemounting, blanketmounting or
cleaning the impression cylinder. The handle is located on
the drive side of the press and can easily be turned from
the delivery end of the press. To engage the handle, lift
the safety pawl (2), pull the handle out and let the pawl
drop again. An electrical safety switch ensures that the
press cannot run if the single-lever control is operated,
therefore the crank will in no case be coupled with the
press in motion.

To disengage the crank, lift the safety pawl and push the
handle in, the press is ready to run.

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Pile transport

First, put the lever “paper

transport” (1) to the extreme
right into position “thin paper”.
Then raise the pile with the crank
handle (2) until the sheet control
bar (3) just touches the paper.

Now, engage automatic pile

transport by moving the handle
(4) to the right and adjust the
lever for paper transport (1) in
such a way that the rear edge
of the suckers (5) is about 2-3
mm above the pile. Do not forget
to close the suckers which are
outside the actual sheet size.

Adjustments of the sucker bar

The sucker bar tilt is adjusted by the star handle (6)
according to the stock to be run. Thinner paper usually
requires more tilt. You will quickly find the correct position
between both end positions of the handle.

The height of the sheet seperating air blast pipes can

be adjusted by the star handle (7) to suit the material to
be printed so that the uppermost 5-10 sheets are well
ventilated. Each pipe has 9 hole and part of the pipe can
be closed by a sleeve to suit the requirements of a specific
stock. You can adjust the total air blast volume with a valve
on the airpump.

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GTO Manual

Positioning of paper and pile

Place one sheet in
the center of the feed
board as per scale
(1), for example, if the
format to be printed has
a width of 33 cm (13"),
the left and right sheet
edge respectively
should coincide with
the same number
on the scale, i.e. 33
cm (13"). Then move
both side standards
(2) to the sheet edges
by pushing in the
guide bars (3). This
should first be done
on the side where the
push side lay is used, then on the you have obtained with the sheet
opposite side. Lock the standards on the feed board. This gives you
with the star handle. automatically the correct side lay
position and maintains the proper
Now set the side lay you are using side lay push of 3 mm (1/8") when
on its bar to the same number registering the sheet. Then load the

Feeding paper for press makeready

To control all press functions prior to
start, blank sheets are fed through
the press. Put the single-lever
control on “Run” and tilting switch
(4) to the left.
After test-feeding with blank
sheets, pu the tilting switch back to
the right. It remains in that position
during the run.

Stopping press from feeder

Push red button (5). Suction air is cut off, sheets will no
longer be picked up, the last sheet in the press will be printed,
thereafter the press goes off impression and stops.
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The double sheet control
The double sheet control is an
electro-mechanical safety device.
Adjustment is made by putting one
sheet of the run between the upper
control roller (1) and the lower friction
roller. With the knurled disc (2), the
control roller is lowered, so that a
single sheet can easily be inserted
between both rollers. Thereafter,
Sheet smoothers and sheet brakes
The sheet smoothers (4) are
mounted to the double sheet control
bar. The sheet guiding tip mounted
to the front end of each smoother
should be set 1 mm above the sheet.
Depending on the size and type of
paper, sheet smoothers should
be used in sufficient quantity and
spaced out correctly. Both outside
smoothers are set approximately 1
cm (3/8") inside the paper edges.
two sheets are pushed between
both rollers and the friction roller
should then turn distinctly to contact
the limit switch and stop the press.
If the double sheet control is
actuated, the press will go off
impression automatically.
Jobs requiring exact register with
high speeds often require the use
of sheet brakes (5) or the smoother
brushes (6). They prevent jumping
of the sheet at the front lays should
just lightly touch the paper.
The travelling grippers (3) are
connected to a pneumatic control
system which will stop the press if
no sheet feeds into the grippers or if
a misaligned sheet is picked up.
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GTO Manual

Front lays
The press is equipped with 5 front lays, each frontlay can be
adjusted by 1mm (1/16") forward and backward, therefore
the total adjustment range is 2 mm (1/8"). You can make
such adjustments with the knurled disc (1) according to the
symbols “+” (gripper margin increasing) and “–” (gripper
margin decreasing). Normally, you will work with the two
front lays, that are somewhat between the center and the
outside edges of the paper size to be printed. Adjust the
knurled disc so that the adjustment is in the middle, so you
can increase or decrease the gripper margin as required to
obtain straightness or fitting a second colour.

Side lays
Two push side lays, one each at the operator’s and drive
side, ensure printing in perfect register. Adjust side lay by
loosening the wing nut (2) and slide side lay on the shaft to
the corresponding number, to cincide with the number on
feed board, according to the paper size. Lock wing nut.
For micro-adjustment, loosen wing nut (3) and move side
lay with the knurled screw to the exact setting and tighten
wing nut.

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Engaging and disengaging of ink and water supply
The lever (1) for engaging and disengaging the can be set to three positions:
“Normal position”: Ink feed only while press is running on impression.
“Ink on / Impression off”: Ink feed only while press is running off
impression, initial inking of all rollers prior to the run.
“Ink off/ Impression on”: Even while the press is running on impression,
the ink feed is disengaged, to compensate for excessive ink.

The lever (2) has also three positions and operates the dampening system
in the same manner.
“Normal position”, “water on / impression off” and “water off /
impression on”

The formroller lever (3) is used to pre ink the plate before the run.
To engage the formrollers, pull the lever out and turn to the right,
to disengage and turn lever to the left.
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 GTO Manual

Circumferential register and reciprocation

With the aid of the circumferential register adjustment on

the plate cylinder, the plate cylinder can be set forward up
to 50 mm or backward up to 10 mm to move the image
to the correct position. Open the guard on the drive side
of the press and loosen the three locking bolts (1) with
the key wrench. Now you can adjust the circumfenential
register with the center bolt (2) within the range of the scale
(3), tighten the three locking bolts subsequently.

The reciprocation of the ink oscillator rollers is adjustable

from 0 to 25 mm. The lock nut (4) is first loosened with
the key wrench, the same wrench is then pushed in
further onto the adjusting nut. The adjustment is made in
accordance with the white marking on the scale, tighten
lock nut after adjustment.

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 Operational functions of the press
(1) Main switch at control box with control light (2)
(3) Speed adjustment
(4) Sinlge lever control
(5) Form roller lever
(6) Sheet counter
(9) Hand wheel for ink stripe adjustment from 0 to 45 mm with indicator
scale (10)
(11) Lever for engaging and disengaging the ink supply
(12) Lever for engaging and disengaging dampening supply
(13) Crank for lifting and lowering the feed table
(14) Lever for automatic feed table lift
(15) Adjustment of the automatic feed pile lift for various paper thicknesses
(16) Star handle for adjustment of sucker bar tilt
(17) Star handle for height adjustment of air blast pipes
(18) Crank for lifting and lowering the delivery pile
(19) lever for engaging and disengaging automatic delivery pile transport
(20) Lever for sheet joggers on-off
(21) Hand wheel for adjustment of rear sheet stops
(22) Knurled screws to adjust printing pressure between blanket and
impression cylinder
(23) Lever for optional numbering unit
(24) Adjustment for printing pressure of numbering boxes 11
 GTO Manual

Heidelberg single – lever control

You will appreciate how easy it is to operate the press since all main
functions are following one another in correct sequence. The control leve
(1) is moved from left to right, passing through the following positions:

End position left — “Stop”

First notch — “Run”. Press runs without paper, ink and
dampening feed
Second notch — “Dampening”. Reminder position, turn on
Kompac dampening now.
Third notch — “Paper”. Suction air will come on and
feeding of sheets will commence.
End position right — “Impression”. The 4 forme inking rollers will
contact the plate, ink and dampening solution
feed are engaged, press goes on impression,
counter is engaged and misfed starts working.
You should put the control lever on “Impression”
when the sheet is just in front of the side lay
shaft, otherwise the first sheet will pass through
the press without impression and only the
second sheet will be printed.
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Sequence of operations when preparing the press

1. Insert one sheet and adjust pile standards according to

scale and sheet size. Lower the feedboard if required and
load the rest of the paper
2. Adjust side lay, frontlays and sheet smoothers accordingly
3. Adjust sheet joggers and rear sheet stop in the delivery
4. Put control lever to run and feed paper with the toggle
switch at the feeder check paper feed, side lay push, adjust
if required and turn toggle switch off
5. Mount the plate onto the plate cylinder
6. Put ink in the ink fountain and pre-ink the rollers
7. Adjust printing pressure between blanket and impression
cylinder according to the paper thickness
8. Put control lever on dampening and turn on Kompac
dampening unit
9. Put control lever on impression and print several sheets,
stop the press with red button and check if the image is in
the correct position. Make any adjustments required on the
side lay, front lays or circumferential register
10. After correct image position has been obtained, print about
15 sheets and put through the press again to check register
of the image on the paper
11. Check image quality and adjust ink fountain keys and stripe
accordinly, pull sample sheets during the run to check quality

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 GTO Manual

Cylinder packings and press rolling

The plate and blanket cylinders

run bearer-to-bearer, while the
clearance between the blanket
cylinder and the impression
cylinder can be adjusted according
to the thickness of material to be
printed.

The plate cylinder undercut is

0.03 mm (.0012"). The press can
utilize any offset plate from 0.1
mm (.004") to 0.15 mm (.006")
thick as well as any instant
plates. The plates are mounted
on the bare plate cylinder without
any underlay packing.

The blanket cylinder undercut

is 3.0 mm (.118"). The blanket
cylinder packing consists of a 1.9
mm (.075") thick offset blanket and
a calibrated underlay blanket.

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Cylinder packing gage

Untrue rolling caused by packagings of the wrong thickness

is often the reason for printing problems and premature
plate wear.

A cylinder packing gage, part No. 09.465.000, available

as an extra accessory, makes it easier to measure the exact
heights of plates and blankets when clamped around their
respective cylinders.

The gage is placed on the plate or the blanket, as the case

may be, parallel to the axis of the cylinder. To avoid damage
to the plate and provide a more suitable surface for the gage
to slide on, a sheet of paper extending out over the cylinder
bearers should first be placed over the plate or blanket.

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 GTO Manual

Place the gage on the plate or blanket so that two of the

dial gages are resting on the blanket or plate and one on
the bearer. The gage is calibrated by turning the dials until
all the pointers are pointing to “0”. Then move the gage
sideways untill all three dial gages are resting on the blanket
or plate. The end dial gage will now indicate how much the
plate or blanket is packed above or below the bearer. Care
must be taken when placing the gage on the cylinder as it
will give incorrect readings if it is tilted or skewed.

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Impression cylinder

The impression cylinder undercut measures 0.3 mm

(.0118"). For normal printing this cylinder will be covered
with a 0.3 mm (.0118") thick steel jacket. The surface of the
jacket is thus at the same level as the theoretical surface
of the impression cylinder. The bearers of the impression
cylinders serve as gage rings. They are 0.35 mm (.012")
below the theoretical printing surface of the impression
cylinder. When stock approx. 0.1 mm (.004") thick is used,
a squeeze of 0.1 mm (.004") will be obtained between
the impression cylinder and the blanket cylinder. If very
thin or thick material is to be run, the clearance between
the impression cylinder and the blanket cylinder has to
be adjusted accordingly to maintain the right amount of
squeeze and good impression.

The standard steel cylinder jacket is suitable for printing,

perforating, numbering and center-slitting. However, for
certain jobs a different jacket is needed for the impression
cylinder. For this reason, i.e. to allow the press to handle
the widest possible range of jobs, the impression cylinder
has been designed to accept various packing jackets.

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 GTO Manual

Adjusting the pressure between

blanket and impression cylinders

This adjustment is made by knobs with a milled edge on the

operator and drive sides of the press. Settings are indicated
by a pointer on a scale.
Method of adjustment
Deduct 0.1 mm (.004") from the thickness of the stock to
be printed and set both scales to this figure (0.1 mm =
the squeeze required between the blanket and impression
cylinders). (Important: measure the paper thickness with
a micrometer or other suitable thickness gauge because
the weight of the paper does not give a true measure of
its thickness.)
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Typical Calculations
Calculation I
0.4 mm (.016") thick card, 0.1 mm (.004") thick
20

offset plate, blanket and underlays level with

52

bearer
0.2
0.1 Card 0.40 mm (.016")
0 – Pressure 0.10 mm (.004")
0.1 + 0.30 mm (.012")
0.2
0.3 gives a scale setting of “– 0.3” in the black
0.4 area. From its zero position, the blanket
cylinder is moved 0.3 mm (.012") away from
the impression cylinder.
0.05 mm (.002") thick paper, 0.1 mm (.004")
thick offset plate, blanket and underlay level
20

with bearer
52

0.2 Paper 0.05 mm (.002")

0.1 Pressure 0.10 mm (.004")
0 – 0.05 mm (.002")
0.1
0.2
gives a scale setting of “+ 0.05” in the white
0.3 area. The blanket cylinder is moved 0.05
0.4 mm away from its zero position towards the
impression cylinder.

Calculation II
20
52

0.4 mm (.016") thick card, 0.1 mm (.004") thick

offset plate, blanket and underlays 0.05 mm 0.2
(.002") below bearer 0.1
0
Card 0.40 mm (.016")
0.1
– Pressure 0.10 mm (.004")
0.2
– Blanket below bearer 0.05 mm (.002")
0.3
+ 0.25 mm (.01") 0.4

gives a scale setting of “– 0.25” in the black

area. From its zero position, blanket cylinder
is moved 0.25 mm (.01") away from the
impression cylinder.
02

0.05 mm (.002") thick paper, 0.15 mm (.006")

52

thick offset plate, blanket and underlay 0.05

0.2
mm (.002") below bearer
0.1
Paper 0.05 mm (.002") 0
– Pressure 0.10 mm (.004") 0.1

– Blanket below bearer 0.05 mm (.002") 0.2

0.3
– 0.10 mm (.004")
0.4
gives a scale setting of “ + 0.1” in the white area.
Blanket cylinder is moved 0.1 mm away from its
zero position towards the impression cylinder.
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 GTO Manual

Examples showing how to work out pressure

between blanket and plate cylinders
Using a 1/10 mm (.004") thick plate:
Plate 0.10 mm (.004")
– Plate cylinder undercut 0.03 mm (.0012")
Plate above bearer 0.07 mm (.0028")

Rubber blanket 1.90 mm (.0747")

Calibrated underlay blanket 1.10 mm (.0433")
3.00 mm (.118")

– Blanket cylinder undercut 3.00 mm (.118")

Blanket at bearer height 0.00 mm (.0")

gives a pressure between the plate and blanket cylinders of

0.07 mm (.0028") because the plate is 0.07 mm (.0028") above
the bearer.

With a 1/15 mm (.006") thick plate:

Plate 0.15 mm (.006")
– Plate cylinder undercut 0.03 mm (.0012")
Plate above bearer 0.12 mm (.0048")

Rubber blanket 1.90 mm (.0747")

Calibrated underlay blanket 1.05 mm (.0413")
2.95 mm (.116")

– Blanket cylinder undercut 3.00 mm (.118")

Blanket below bearer 0.05 mm (.002")

Plate above bearer 0.12 mm (.0047")

– Blanket below bearer 0.05 mm (.0019")
0.07 mm (.0028")

again gives a pressure of 0.07 mm between the plate and

blanket cylinders.

A pressure of 0.07 mm between the plate and blanket cylinders is

correct for virtually all jobs. Any change in the pressure between
the blanket and the plate cylinders for different thicknesses
of plate should always be made by increasing or decreasing
the paper underlay under the offset blanket.

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Designed and Printed by
Steven Xueqin Shi
Tyler David Kinch
Tommy Wilson
January 16, 2008
 Designed and Printed by the second year
Digital Graphics Comunications students at SAIT Polytechnic