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 [...]

The press? A Universal 1 manual. The problem? A severe case of an undercut cylinder. How sever you ask? Say your normal depth of cylinder on a Uni 1 is what? .040 inches? .070 inches? This Uni? .160 inches. What packing can fill it? What top sheet can hold it? What am I using for [...]

Dear All I am considering selling my 2 Vandercooks to my employer. (Read: “I needs the cash!”) As I don’t keep up with recent Vandercook sales & prices anymore, I am curious what any of you might think they are worth. The first is a Vandercook 4 that has been rebuilt, repainted, and has everything [...]

Here’s the beginning of a sad story. How will it end? I do not know. For how shall I begin my query, how shall I transmit my distress? Our trusty Universal I automatic has lost control of itself. This press’s dilemna has been building up ever so gradually year by year, run by run. I [...]

Friends & relations alerted me to this story on yesterday’s ‘All Things Considered.’ And I quote: “Douglas Wilson of Springfield, Mo., lets us listen to the sound of his 1949 Number Four VanderCook Proof Printing Press. The hand-feeding process makes for some rockin’ rollers.” For all of us on the Vanderblog, this 2 minute piece [...]

[In a previous post I stated that all 4Ts have an cylinder undercut of .070". ---PM] Just to add my two cents, my 4T cylinder is undercut to .070″ as are the other 4T’s at the Wells Book Arts Center. … I’m curious why a Uni I manual at the Center would have been undercut [...]