HAIL TO THE CHIEF

1/28/2014

The Chief 17 and 15 presses were a subject of my obsession when I started out as a printer. While working for a printing temp agency I met a couple Chief loyalists on my different jobs. They spoke highly of the versatility and reliability of the machines, bragged about the heroic acts of printing that they performed using Chiefs: CMYK printing one pass at a time and an additional spot color with hairline trap, varnish overlay for a total of six runs, etc.

These guys loved that the inking units could be changed easily during a run without washing up; they liked the adjustable headstop bar that allowed one to adjust the angle of approach of the sheet rather than skewing the plate for registration purposes. They talked about ways people had hot-rodded Chiefs by adding a third form rollers to them. And as a bonus, San Diego Printing Parts manufactured aftermarket parts for Chiefs, so there were still plenty of parts to keep these presses going, even well after the graphic equipment division of ATF stopped producing them.

However, even the fans did seem to offer some kind of caveat when talking Chief, along the lines of "finicky, but great" or "if you can get to know the personality of the machine, you'll never want to go back to another press."

One of my printer friends had based a small job shop operation on a Chief 17, and ran his shop successfully for many years with just the one press. I was surprised upon entering the production area of another commercial print shop to discover four Chiefs there, the primary presses of the operation. The production manager there simply said as explanation, "we're a Chief shop."

So when it came time to start a print shop, the first press we bought was a green body Chief 17. Already 30+ years old the press was well used but the price was right, and it served us well for many years. I'd have to say, however, that running that Chief reminded me a little of driving the air-cooled 1969 VW bug I once owned for a short while. You'd have to carry a tool box with you and expect surprises along the way. I was always adjusting the timing, delivery bar gripper fingers, suction feet, and making similar adjustments for each job and type of paper stock, but once that was done and it was set up, it was good to go. Some of my printing mentors achieved a real level of finesse as Chief operators and mechanics. I learned what I could from them, if nothing else a love of that machine.

Andrew Basford link

6/25/2014 04:04:31 pm

Wow!! thats a flashback. This story is so familiar to mine. I started my apprenticeship on these machines. In Australia they were called a Gestetner 211. We had 3 and i can still remember the first business card i printed on them 31 years ago. I ended up mastering these machines as well and found that each press i stepped up to in my career was easier to master. If you can do 4 colour envelopes on these you can do anything. I ended up setting up my own print shop at the ripe old age of 21. In total i owned 3 or 4 of these. Im now entrenched in letterpress and I've got to say my Heidelberg Platens are by far the coolest presses I've ever owned and I've had a few in my time.
Thanks for the memories.

Srinath.V

4/29/2015 08:36:56 pm

good flashback. same story familiar to mine. I started my printing @my age 19years on multilith1250 american machines. In India its a model of Gestetner. still remember the first business local wedding card i printed on them long years ago. I ended up mastering these machines as well and found that each press i stepped up to in my career was easier to master. i had done 3 cut colour wed cards, envelopes, stickers on these, you can do anything. I ended up setting up my own print shop at the ripe old age of 21. In total i owned romayer315, swift 150 & 1520 (Indian make), ryobi 2800CD, Ryobi500N, AB Deck 13x17 CD,
Thanks for the memories.

Eric Bagdonas link

4/30/2015 04:47:53 am

Andrew and Srinath,

Thanks for the stories! I could learn a lot from you guys! Yes, when we were running our Chief regularly, I loved the challenge of attempting work that rivaled the quality of larger, more expensive, and newer machines. Sometimes you could nail it and the job would run smoothly, with little spoilage, and fantastic print quality, and there was no better feeling of accomplishment. I remember a couple CMYK jobs that ran better than I expected. Other times the machine required rather acrobatic moves to attend to one adjustment or another during a run, or other challenges would present themselves and a job that should have taken an hour or two would take much, much longer. I remember some frustrating mulitple color #10 envelope jobs that unexpectedly carried me well into the wee hours of the night. While I'm not sure if I could personally claim mastery of the Chief, I do agree that if a person has the perseverance and patience to achieve quality multi-color work on these machines, they have a solid foundation for more easily gaining proficiency on almost any other press.

Like your thoughts on the Heidelberg platens, the machine that I'm most enamored with on our shop floor right now is our Heidelberg KORD. I love that press- such a work of beauty. They just don't build them like that anymore.

The Swifts look cool! Some models look to be similar to our Hamadas!

Thanks again for the comments!

Christine Cox

11/7/2017 02:48:17 pm

I am trying to sell a ATF Chief 15 that is sitting in barn. I don't know who to contact to sell. If anybody could help I would greatly appreciate it.

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