hello everyone, i have a 215 ready to print – soon as i figure out how to adjust the height of these rollers. i don’t have a manual, any other press i’d used have knobs at the ends of the rollers but this model doesn’t have anything so obvious. looks like maybe a hex key [...]

Here are some photos from my December visit to the Museum of Printing History in Houston, where I spoke about the Vandercook centenary and consulted on their recently acquired circa 1909 Vandercook Trip Action Proof Press, commonly known as a “rocker.” It had belonged to a company in Cincinnati whose owner said that his grandfather [...]

I’ve just put my contribution on flickr and thought it would be great if others could upload theirs to show the great un-washed masses what a super project it was…

Hello! I have two pictures (pictures below) of a piece that is grinding on my vandercook 219. There are fine metal shavings under the press after about an hour of running. I see no way of adjusting this to lift it up. Any suggestions? Pictures: Nick

Dear Vandekin I am in Memphis cleaning & repairing two Vandercooks, a 4 and a Uni III. The operator of the III tells me the motor jumps (or rather jolts) itself randomly during a press run and there appears to be a little bit of slack in the chain. I tested it out and sure [...]

I’m having some issues with low ink distribution in the first inch or so of my form. I noticed that the area coincides with the first few inches of the cylinder rack which is separate from the rest of the rack and slightly raised with some plastic shims. Does anyone know the reason for that [...]

Is anyone familiar with balancing the cylinder on an SP-20?  Our 20 never seems to print well and we’ve balanced the base & made sure the rollers are seated properly to no avail.  I’ve asked around locally & balancing the cylinder came up.  Any instruction would be greatly appreciated–a step-by-step breakdown would be even more so. [...]