I read with interest Ray Nichols’ prior post regarding the resurfacing of his SP-15′s ink drum. The drum on my own SP-15 is also scratched, presumably from the previous owner’s use of the automatic washup system (the blade was missing when I bought the press, and I haven’t replaced it). The scratches on the drum [...]

We were able to kinda-sorta fix the SP 15 belt slipping by installing a new belt. Now there is a new issue: there is a knocking or clunking sound when all the rollers are in contact (the down position). We checked for things like a loose gear on the back form roller; it is ok. [...]

Hello, Has anyone replaced the wooden bearings on the inking drum of a Universal 1 press?, I noticed some side to side play in the inking drum awhile ago and ordered replacement wooden bearings from N.A. Graphics. But I was unclear on how to remove the inking drum and ended up leaving it as was [...]

I’m trying to remove the ink drum on our No.4 Oldstyle in order to replace the worn bearings with some new plastic ones.  I cannot seem to figure out a way to get the ink drum free in order to get access to the bearings.  I have completely taken out the screws on either side [...]

My sp-15 started squealing today; I deduced the noise was coming from either the motor or the ink drum assembly – inspected the motor oil reservoir and topped it up without overfilling. Moved onto the ink drum assembly x 20613 and on removal found the ink drum shaft to be very resistant to rotation. I’ve [...]

Hello, I am hoping someone will have an idea of why my press has developed an extremely loud, shrill squeak that is emanating from the ink drum/vibrator assembly. The noise occurs each time the drum [oscillator] travels away from the operator’s side of the press, primarily when the rollers are engaged at feedboard position. The [...]

Our #4 has a squeak that appears to be coming from the ink drum. In attempting to find the source of the squeak, we have noticed the ink drum is VERY close to the operator side of the press(less than an ink knife blade). I did a little careful cleaning with a utility blade and [...]

Hi All, I read the posts in the Vanderblog archives about SP15 ink drums wobbling because of a broken plastic gear or shorn off screws. Is it the same fix or different on a Uni 1 AB? On our Uni 1 AB, while printing we noticed that the lower steel ink drum was not inking [...]

It looks like I’m going to have to remove the ink drum on my 232. Having never done this, I’m a bit intimidated. The construction looks very similar to a Universal III. Can anyone talk me through this? John Horn

Hi All, New to the site from UK. We have an SP15 needing restoration in the workshops (we usually do hand presses). It is hand cranked and has powered inking. One of the nylon? plasticky gears that drives the ink cylinder has basically disintegrated and I was wondering if anyone Stateside does spares? Any help [...]

I have a 219 OS with twin ink drums. Does anyone have a procedure for removing them? There are a few reasons: The bolt to adjust the height of the entire carriage to the form roller is completely hidden by the armature for the ductor roller (which is missing). The press was stored in a [...]

Hello all, My Sp15 has been put through her paces in the last two days, and tonight during cleanup I noticed that the ink drum is wobbling…or more precisely, the three screws that hold the pulley gear to the ink drum are wonky. The head to one screw is sheared off (and thus the source [...]