I recently acquired a Vandercook No. 3. There is still a tremendous amount of cleaning to do, but I have it to a point where at least all the oil holes are un-clogged and the parts that are supposed to move, do so smoothly. I also have brand new rollers on the press. (Polishing all [...]

Anyone have a date when this might have been made. I cannot find any information for this press. The University I adjunct teach at needs this information for their records. Casey Inky Lips Letterpress

My recently acquired No. 1 proof press (#3639) is an older version sans grippers. The previous owner fashioned a hinged tympan on the bed which I believe was used for registration. He had taped on makeready with gauge pins to the underside of this tympan at one point. However, the press has not been used [...]

We are working on a workaround for the wear under the top rail on the Vandercook and Challenge presses. This wear will produce metal flakes when you wipe a rag along the rail. On some presses it will cause light and dark spots on your printed matter. If you are having this problem, please let [...]

Today is the official deadline to have received participants prints for the centenary bundle. So far I’ve received 61 out of a projected 100. While it fell on a Sunday this year, August 16 was chosen because it is (was) the birthday of R.O. Vandercook. Several participants have told me their prints are in the [...]

So, as some of you may remember, I’m restoring an SP20 currently (yeah, I know, I should be done by now… but I’m not.) Well, I’m finally having the rollers recast, and I noticed something yesterday I thought I’d pass along. I was cleaning the gunk off of the ends of my cores to send [...]

I have a badly corroded lock-up bar that I would like to free up. I see numerous good suggestions on how to remove rust, but considering the steel AND aluminum construction of this bar, any suggestions on a type of penetrating oil or rust remover that would work on the movable steel components while not [...]

Well, it appears that I have chosen to showcase my relative inexperience with a contribution to the Vandercook bundle. Currently, I am having problems printing my second ever halftone. First of all, I think that I may need new rollers as these are a little glazed. I’ve used Putz pomade and a scotch brite pad [...]

I just posted a new census of Potters presses. I’m hoping to figure out the manufacturing history of these machines. Originally Manufactured by A.F. Wanner Co. Chicago, IL., later Potter presses have name plates that say made by Hacker Manufacturing. The 1935 ATF Catalog shows Challenge-Potter and Challenge-Poco presses (pages F-11, F-13).