Archive for the Customization Category

Hand gripper redux - Posted February 6, 2010

Goudy said: “The old fellows stole all our best ideas.” Proving it again is this No.4 with a custom-made hand activated gripper bar, similar to the idea for a No.3  discussed on this forum Summer ’08 (archive links here and here). The pedal and chain linkage are still intact, but don’t work, I was curious to see it I could fix it, but this modification suits the new owner. Besides, I had more urgent issues to address: adjusting carriage bearings, installing new clutch pins, and freeing up the cylinder eccentric that shifted with difficulty at each each of the bed. My thought, confirmed by a call to Fritz, was that with lubrication it would work itself out after a couple hundred strokes. The owner reports today that it indeed shifting easier each time.

See also that the crank handle is at 10 o’clock instead of at 4 o’clock. It may have been installed this way because of a crude repair weld near the collar and the hole for the taper pin was drilled out off-center. When correcting the position I was not able to pass the bolt substituting for the taper pin all the way through.

Sleeve attachment for hand-activated grippper bar - Posted August 6, 2008

This post related to Hand gripper lever for a No. 3. –PM:
Here’s a quick sketch. I don’t have a #3 around me, but if the Gripper Trip Lever is anything like a #4 or an SP-20, you can undo the top 2 screws and let it swing free, slide the tube over, and reassemble.







Hand gripper lever for a No. 3 - Posted July 23, 2008

Here’s an idea for a hand-activated gripper lever to aid sheet feeding on the No. 3 Vandercook. In the drawing at left, a handle attached to the gripper trip lever is pulled toward the operator, thus moving the push rod against the trip bar which forces the gripper stems to rise.

A notable “feature” of the No. 3 (after hand-cranked ink distribution) is its automatic cylinder grippers and the absence of a foot pedal. (Similarly equipped models are the 325A and the 317.) Opening the grippers at the feed board requires rolling the carriage forward. Paper is then placed in position (beyond the feed board lip) and the grippers are closed just before the carriage returns to the feed board. This maneuver is time consuming, makes registration difficult and can damage some papers in the process.

There are two No. 3s at a printmaking studio I’ve been invited to teach next summer, so I hope I can make a modification by then. The question is: should the gripper trip lever (MS-125) be replaced with a longer single steel bar extending up and then at a right angle (A) or should a separate assembly be attached between the first and second screws of the existing lever (B)?

If any No. 3 operators have a successful workaround for this “feature” or a better, simpler method than I’ve described, please share.

Work station - Posted February 29, 2008

vandercook-workstation1.JPGJohn Horn sent me this photo of his innovative rolling Vandercook work station. John says, “It’s two feet deep and four feet wide. It’s a prototype so it is pretty crude. I love having the furniture cabinet close at hand. I park this work station right behind the operator so that he or she can just turn around and reach whatever they need. The raised box is glass-topped for mixing ink. I really like the cork board too. I pin up proofs, notes, and samples so they’re easy to find. The cases below have paper for makeready, a lead and slug rack and a case of small furniture. One could also store tympan and packing too.”

Universal III carriage conversion - Posted January 30, 2008

Chris Manson, proprietor of Crooked Crow Press, in Rockville, Maryland has converted his Universal III Power Vandercook to a hand-cranked press. He had a retired machinist make a collar extension to fit onto the bearing stub on the impression cylinder (photo 3). Onto this new bearing stub Chris attached a crank from a large Poco press. Note the notch that had to be cut out of the handle arm (photo 5). Currently, a set screw is the only means of holding the position of the crank collar on the new bearing stub. Chris still needs to have a hole drilled through the assembly to fit a taper pin.

c-manson.jpg cm-u3-handle.jpg cm-u3-stub-top.jpg cm-u3-stub-handle.jpg cm-u3-handle-notch.jpg cm-u3-backside.jpg

Chris kept the circuitry intact but removed the carriage motor, which was attached on the carriage. He also removed the form rollers, preferring to ink his forms manually with a roller as is done on an iron handpress.

With this project, and the 232 at Wesleyan, hand-cranked conversion seems to be an idea whose time has come. Fritz Klinke has asked me to assist him in developing a conversion kit to that could be used on most power carriage models including the 219. Together we will study the original Vandercook engineering drawings during my visit to NA Graphics in February.

Chris was fortunate to have found a crank long enough for his press. Additionally to matching length to cylinder and bed size a new handle arm would need to have an outward bend like those on standard equipped hand-cranked Vandercooks.

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