Continued thanks to everyone who has the patience and takes the time to answer the many questions that we relatively new printers come up with. I recently asked for step-by-step instructions for installing new form rollers on my No. 4, and the replies I got were extremely helpful. I put together a Flickr set on [...]

Hello Vanderfolks, I just had the form rollers on my No. 4 recovered. A very nice gentleman from RotaDyne came to my house to pick up the old ones. He took the whole assembly with him, and they shipped everything back disassembled. I’ve looked through the archives for instructions on putting things back together, but [...]

I’m sorry for having problems two days in a row, but here’s another phenomenon that I’m not understanding. These two drop caps (48-point Rondo) were printed one after the other – same lockup, same ink, same paper, same packing, same everything – yet the print quality is markedly different. What could have made the difference? [...]

Hello Vanderblog Friends, I’m hoping someone can help me solve a problem I’ve been having with ink being where it’s not supposed to be. The piece I’m printing has two lines on which I’m getting flecks of errant ink. The problem occurs no matter how much ink I have on the rollers, and the ink [...]

Hello everyone, Fritz Klinke posted a photo on the Letterpress Flickr site showing a C&P press label that refers to “about thirty-seven oil holes” that the pressman needs to attend to http://flickr.com/photos/53177163@N00/3008271735/in/pool-letterpress. I’ve always wondered — and maybe after a year-and-a-half of owning my press, I should have moved beyond the wondering stage before now [...]

  Here is the drawing for the form roller pins on a No. 4, along with a photograph of the pins on my unit. Are the pins supposed to be as round as the drawing shows? In other words, is it time I had my pins replaced? Thanks, Barbara

Hello. I am a newbie restoring a No. 4. I have cleaned all of the moving parts and am putting everything back in place. When I turned on the motor for the first time and lowered the oscillating and form roller assemblies, I noticed a faint clacking sound that didn’t seem right. I turned off [...]

 Hello. I am a newbie in the process of restoring a Vandercook No. 4, SN 18794. My husband, who was in aerospace mechanical engineering for many years, is providing advice and much moral support. He was surprised when I told him that the procedure for lubricating the impression cylinder gear teeth was to apply a [...]