I am about to have a replacement dead bar made up for one of my Universal IIIs and the original I am using as a pattern has a raised center block. Does this block serve any function? Should I include it in the reproduction or would I be wasting time and money?
Does anyone else need a dead bar for a Universal III while I am having this one made up?
To the original question, the raised portion was for use with vacuum bases, and need not be duplicated. The main criteria being that the dead bar allows the grippers and paper guides to pass safely over the bar without damaging them. The dead line relates to type high material and should be carefully observed. The best lockup with these bars is using quoins, just like with chases.
I have a dead bar like this for my No. 4. I find that its direction only matters if I use a long plate or base that doesn’t acommodate a quoin in the gap. If flipping the bar so that it sits further out on the bed still doesn’t help, then I use reglet or leading and tighten the screw from the outside to lock the form.
Eric,
This dead bar doesn’t have a hole through it, but it almost looks like it originally did and then it was brazed in and the whole bar was plated. I do have vacuum plate bases for these presses, but I don’t believe the style of base I have had the adjusters like the base for the 219.
My final question is this – which side of the dead bar is meant to face toward the form? Neither orientation reaches the foot dead line so it isn’t obvious.
Thanks,
Daniel Morris
Every time I’ve seen a tail bar with that center block, there was a set-screw running through it–is there a threaded hole there? I assume that feature was for use with a plate base that fills the bed; if that assumption is true, you probably don’t need to duplicate it. Many bars are just flat stock, just make sure they are no higher than wood furniture height.
I think the raised area was just to mount the vandercook label. There’s an aftermarket deadbar for the universal III at the Art Department at the University of Kentucky and it’s made of a completely flat bar stock of aluminum.
I need one for a universal I, so if your machinist can make one a little shorter and keep the price a little lower, i’d be interested.
-alex
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