Just when I thought my SP-15 problems were over, there’s another issue! I apologize for the length of this post, but I’m trying to be as thorough as possible.

I noticed that the press was inking rather lightly, but the impression was good and I had plenty of ink on the rollers. As I adjusted the form rollers I noticed that they were significantly higher towards the end of the bed (away from the feed board). Also, the gear that forces the geared form roller to roll was skipping in the track and would stop spinning shortly after engaging the teeth.

We started by trying to shim the track up. This kept the form roller spinning, but the height was still inconsistent front to rear. Next, we tried readjusting the side bearings – many times. This actually seemed to hurt rather than help. We adjusted the top bearings in trip and the bottom in print to a 0.004″ gap using an automotive feeler gauge, which I believe to be correct. We tried it the other way (adjust top in print and bottom in trip) and the press would no longer trip, leading me to believe that we were running into problems with interference due to the bearings being positioned incorrectly.

After we played with it for a while, we noticed that one of the form rollers sits too low on the gear side of the press and is unable to be adjusted any higher (there is a 1/4″+ ink strike on the roller setting gauge). The other side adjusted fine with a simple turn of the knob. We don’t think that the problem is with unevenness in the bed or bearers because a blind impression is consistently good no matter where we put the plate on the bed. This leads me to believe that the problem is isolated to the form rollers and the associated pieces.

Photos of the inking problem are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45293278@N00/sets/72157617411356816/

So, that’s my situation. Here are my questions:

1 – Is it possible that it’s a bearing adjustment issue?
2 – Is there any way to put spacers on the form rollers to bring the up to where they need to be?
3 – What else might cause the inconsistency in form roller height from side to side and from front to back?
4 – Could shimming the gear track have exacerbated the problem? Was it the correct fix given the problem of the gear skipping teeth?
5 – Is the bearing supposed to roll against the form roller on the geared side (photo at link above)?
6 – Is it possible that my bed or my bearers are uneven?

If you have any other ideas, that would help a lot. I’m fresh out and frustrated. Thanks.

Rachael

Hey everyone,

I co-run a community print shop in Saint Louis, MO. We have facilities for letterpress, intaglio, and screen printing. We were recently given a vandercook no. 4 to add to our lettepress equipment.

When we showed up to pick up the press, it was being moved out of a basement with a backhoe (giant construction machine that looks like a bulldozer). A wall had been knocked out so that it could be removed from the building. Unfortunately, it was not only covered in drywall and brick mortar, but had also been taken apart and was missing the inking drum that sits in the bed of the press and the motor.

I am making good progress on getting the parts replaced, but there is another problem: the carriage is stuck in the middle of the press bed, and will not move. I have cleaned it a little and I can’t see anything stuck in the gears. I have some photos here… any ideas?

if more photos or photos of different parts help please tell me — I know almost nothing about the mechanics of this press, any help would be great.

I noticed that on our SP-15 the ink drum was not getting any ink on one end of the drum while inking fine on the other end. My suspicion is that the spring has weakened to the point where that end of the drum is lower. Are there other conditions we should look at which would cause this condition? If it is a weakened spring, is the replacement a difficult job?

Does anyone know of any surviving examples of the Hacker No. 4 proof press, as pictured in the “Other Brands” link – in museums, private collections, or in use? Thanks, John

Hello all – -

I had the great fortune of saving an SP20 from the scrapyard earlier this Spring. However, it was not quite as complete as I remembered it being when I first found it last Fall.

Someone clearly attempted to dismantle it sometime in its history, then abandoned it, and the only old pressman in the shop claims that it had always looked like this. I smiled and nodded and agreed that indeed, they never had a feedboard or handle, clearly.

My Universal II has all of a sudden stopped locking when it returns to the feedboard. Therefore when I press the trip pedal nothing happens (grippers don’t move) and it makes a sharp ‘bang’ noise releasing the tension of the pedal…
Thoughts? Trip spring?
Please help. Thanks,
Adrian