I am having an issue with our Uni I—it has a squeaky rider roller.  I took a look at an old post, ‘Inking Roller Squeal,’ and that was helpful, but I have an additional question.  The black knob at the end of the rider is loose, but when it is held in place, the squealing stops–Is there a way to tighten this?  I don’t see a set screw, so does the whole rider roller have to be removed to examine the handle?

Thanks!

Sara P

NEW CONTENT AT BOTTOM The problem I am having is that I can not see how to remove the distributor frame. It is wider than the frame which holds the mechanism to raise and lower the roller assembly. I can raise the distributor frame about 1/2 to 3/4″, but since it is partially in front and partially behind the curved steel frame in which the rod for lowering/raising moves up and down. I suspect I would need to disassemble the frame.

For those not familiar with this early model, I have added this excerpt from the Composing Room Cylinders sales brochure below. The full 4 page PDF is available on the Bibliography page. -PM, moderator

The following photos of a model 17 are provided by JoDee Stringham: 1) complete assembly lowered; 2) complete assembly raised; 3) Distributor Lift Part CI 9 ; 4) Distributor Lift installed.

Here is a another view of the Distributor Lift (CI 9):

Hi Folks -

I know that I use one of the “knock offs”, a Challenge 21MP (similar to the Vandy SP15), but I’m up poop creek without a plunger. I am calling on the collective wisdom of this group….

I’ve been restoring this press (some rust – lots of gunk) and have run into a problem with the Vibrator Assembly. It is in good shape visually but will not oscilate when the press is running. it moves to the far end of the bar and stays – it doesn’t return.

I’ve looked at the parts list breakdown and can’t find anything I might be missing. Ideas?

Brent

The Book Arts Program at the J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah has a Vandercook 15-21 (shown with the top frame assembly removed) that is experiencing difficulties. Within minutes of application, a majority of the ink added migrates to the non-operator side (highlighted in the image) of the ink distributor assembly and form rollers

Any suggestions for correction are much appreciated.

I have been perusing the posts related to #4 form roller problems, specifically in regards to the clutch plate. I finally got a good handle on the source of all the racket that my press has been making for the last few months by adjusting the roller assembly and shimming the clutch plate. The issue that I am really curious about and haven’t seen any information about the wear on the gear track where the form roller gears rest. In all the pictures that have been posted of the clutch plate the gears below look like they have been worn down, just like mine. I have heard that a worn down gear track is curtains for a press…is that true?? Also, is this the reason that my press jumps some times when i begin to move the carriage down the track? Any information regarding this matter is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Karen

Can anyone provide a picture and approximate dimensions of the bullet catch that holds up the ink distribution rollers for cleaning on a Uni I? Ours has gone a-miss and I have a VERY KIND friend willing to machine us a new one–but I have no idea what it looks like!

Rather suddenly my rollers decided to crap out by not inking the form evenly. I am using photopolymer plates.

The Problem
Form is not being inked evenly. Ink is heaviest at the beginning of the form (the area the form rollers hit first). Based on the image above, it appears that the rollers are not freely rolling across the top of the form, rather pushing/sliding the ink across. The 2nd example is the worst case scenario – many of the bad impressions made the form look as if it were only half inked.

Observations
First, I’ve tried adjusting the roller height and the amount of ink in addition to cleaning all moving parts (nyliners, etc.) – all to no avail. I tried rubber and oil based inks. I even moved the form around on the bed. All with the same result. However, please note that I haven’t tried cleaning the crescent or worm.

I have observed the following behaviors:

[1] The oscillating roller does not appear to move/roll during inking of the smaller form. With the larger form, it rolls inconsistently – it rolls over some areas and slides across others.

[2] I get better results when the oscillating roller is in the up position (ie. not touching the form rollers).

[3] Even with the oscillating roller up, the problem seems to persist with the front form roller.

[4] I get best results when using only the back form roller (ie. without the oscillating roller or the front form roller in use).

On Another Note
Sort of on the same topic but an entirely different issue, when things are working okay, my rollers are not able to ink the entire bed. It does fine on the first 7″-9″ but the form rollers cannot make contact with the form on the rest of the bed. Does this mean my bed is uneven? If so, how do I fix this?

Hi there—This is my first post. I have an SP-15 (serial #26151), and I looked through my manual, but am still unsure of the part names. It appears the gear on my motorized roller is broken. This is the gear that the belt / pulley (?) runs on to actually move the roller. For clarity, here’s the area in question:

I was printing this afternoon, and paused, turning off the press and raising the rollers to answer the phone. I came back about 10 minutes later, and when I turned it back on, nothing was moving. When I looked around, I realized the pulley / belt (?) had detached from the roller gear. As I attempted to get it back on, I discovered THIS:

Yikes. A chunk of the gear is suddenly missing. The strange thing is that I didn’t hear anything break—just turned off the press and raised the rollers to answer the phone. I found a few pieces of the gear—they appear to be clear plastic.

This one gives a really clear picture of how much of it is missing—quite a bit.

I’m hoping I can just find another gear and replace it, but I’m not sure how it all fits together. Does anyone know if this is a readily available part, and if so how I’d go about replacing it?

A prelude leading up to a repair question-
I am restoring a Vandercook 4, serial # 10877, that I’ve had for a few years now. I’ve been mostly removing accumulated layers of ink, grease/dust and mild rust, and lubricating moving parts. With a couple of exceptions nearly everything appears in order.

One of the first problems I noticed is insufficient clearance between the form roller gear and clutch block that I think is due to wear on the clutch lever, more so towards the feederboard, as shown in the first photo (the set screw is removed in this picture). I read the suggestions for shimming the trip lever but there appears to be almost no additional play to be gained there.

I also have 2 sets of rollers. Set “A” has what appears ( to me) to be a good set of clutch pins but the gear on the rear roller clacks slightly when the clutch is disengaged. The pins in set “B” are much shorter and don’t engage with the clutch at all. I’m pretty certain I need to replace the pins on set “B”. They don’t appear to be so much worn as to be perhaps the incorrect pins(?) The tips are concave. I think the pins in set “A ” will engage if I repair the clutch.

I have someone who’s a whiz a metalsmithing that I’d like to have braze some more material into the depressions in the clutch plate while I have the chance. However I’m not sure of the best way to remove it for this repair. I’m comfortable with disassembling things when necessary but I’ve tried to limit it to those parts that could not be sufficiently cleaned otherwise, such as the gripper and roller assemblies, and leave others areas alone in order to avoid decalibrating or mucking up anything that didn’t need fixing in the first place. It appears that quite a bit of the trip rack assembly has to be taken apart to get to the clutch plate, including knocking out a couple of pins. I started the process but as I got deeper and deeper in it occurred to me I might be missing something very simple and be smacking myself on the forehead in short order.

So that’s my question- is there a simple way to remove the clutch plate or am I in for a long sequence of disassembly? Any advice or commentary on this process would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Yvonne

Do any of you #4 Vandercook owners have any side play on your ink drum? That is, when wiping from side to side, does the drum move a little, or not at all?

I sent my form rollers to be recovered and got them back without the MR-110 pin that goes into the end of the shaft, the one with the rounded head that connects to the gear clutch. The roller company says they never saw them. When I prepped the rollers for shipping, I stripped off the gears and springs, but didn’t think to remove the pins; I assumed they were part of the roller shaft and not removable. New ones are available from NA Graphics, but are expensive. Is there some kind of substitute? Are these pins easy to get out, ie, could they have fallen out during transport somewhere? Thanks.

Hi,

I recently obtained a vandercook that is in pretty rough shape and missing a lot of parts, although still great for what I need it to do. I have the two inking rollers that are supposed to be mounted together with the oscillating roller (excuse the made up terminology), but they aren’t usable anymore. They have only traces of the black surface that they should have. Instead they consist of a half melted green gelatine of some sort. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how these rollers could be put to some use—even though it wouldn’t be the use they were designed for.

If they can’t be reworked in any way, does anyone know how they ought to be disposed of so that they don’t cause environmental harm?

Thanks,

Klaudio.