missing parts from my 320
I have a disassembled 320 who’s missing a few parts. I have no idea where they went to, probably some sculpture kid ran off with them. Anyway, as I see it I have 3 options. 1] find replacement parts from a scrap press 2] machine new parts based on actual pieces or plans 3] sell the sellable parts . Ironically, the lockup bar & the entire iniking assembly is present and accounted for, except for needing recovering. I don’t know what’s wisest here, so any advice or help is appreciated.
thanks much,
alex brooks
press eight seventeen
lexington kentucky
The parts missing are:
_cylinder trip plate_
NS-357 PLATE
NS-344 CYL. TRIP WEDGE
NR-231 SHAFT
NS-444 safety bar
[other attached small parts]
trip bar
NS351 TRIP BAR
gripper trip rod
LR79 GRIPPER TRIP ROD
LS112 GRIPPER TRIP CONN.
LR80 PUSH ROD
Hey Alex,
This is pretty bad news. I have been looking for pretty much any 320 parts I could round up over the last year and didn’t find too much.
First thing I would suggest is that you look at bit more around that place and see if a box is hiding somewhere. If that fails you might consider trying Ted Salkin (check the Briar Press classifieds), but I suggest you push for photos of anything you are buying from him first because a lot of his stuff sat out in the desert for years.
If you can’t manage to get it back together get in touch and I’ll buy a big heap of those parts off you.
Daniel Morris
March 7th, 2007 at 1:56 pmThe Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY
All the parts listed can be readily made. The NS-444 is the most complicated with 3 parts and some rivets. I just looked at the blueprints for each of these parts and there is nothing out of the ordinary that the machine shop we work with can’t make. The cost is undetermined at this point, but I roughly guess at around $600, and if that gets an otherwise good press into operation, then that’s a valid investment. It should not become a parts press.
March 7th, 2007 at 8:58 pmThanks Dan & Fritz. I had already scoured the area around the press, cabinets, type drawers, under the palette, etc. and had come up empty. On a hunch, I went today to the King Library Press, across campus, where the press was disassembled before it moved to its current location, and I just started looking around corners & under tables. i knew of one particularly promising pile of crap where I immediately found the gripper trip rod assembly - covered in a tell-tale distinctive coating of dirty dried grease. After 30 min searching for parts with the same complexion, I found, leaning in a corner next to the c&p’s, the trip bar. We joked that it may have been used as a pry-bar for some c&p operation. In a completely different pile of crap i found a plastic bag containing all the sundry bolts and pins needed for re-assembly [the bag's bottom promptly fell out upon lifting, spilling bolts all over the floor]. I still haven’t found the cylinder trip plate & safety bar, but I’m going back next week to look more. I may have to find/make the last few parts, but the outlook is much better now - I was dreading trying to find all the required bolts.
-alex
March 8th, 2007 at 5:45 pmAlex,
I’m very glad to hear that, man! Let me know if you need any detail photos for the reassembly.
Daniel Morris
March 9th, 2007 at 3:39 pmThe Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY