Hi All,
I just received two newly recovered rubber rollers for a #4, done by Rotadyne. I measured the rollers and one is bigger than the other in diameter by 1/32″. One roller is 2 1/2″ and one is 2 1/2 plus 1/32. I asked the roller company to make them 2.515″ in diameter. Should I send the rollers back to be remade? The difference in diameter- between the two rollers- if I did the math right is .03125. I think that is probably too much. What do you think?
Thanks,
Martha

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 what I did, for the benefit of other newbies. If you see anything that needs to be corrected, please leave a comment. Thanks!

Barbara

Our Vandercook No. 4 does not stay in trip.  When printing, the operator has to hold down the trip to keep it in place.  In comparing it to our other No. 4, the trip mechanism is still in place, but the trip bar connected to the handle has a lot of play; there is no tension to keep the lever raised to rotate the shaft connected to the rear trip wedge and I can’t get a good vantage point to see what, if anything, is missing or broken.  Any insight?

Thanks!

Sara P.

hello all, i’ve just picked up this Vandercook and would love some help to identify it, i’m guessing it’s a no 4 but the sides of the main ‘carriage’ seem to be different from those i’ve seen pictures of, it’s made of one piece unlike the other no 4′s which look to be made of separate ‘bits’ bolted together, the ink distribution roller set in the bed is powered and the lay/gripper are activated by the pedal, the only serial number i can find is stamped on the bed under the feed table on the operators side and reads 918, i’m located in England, i’d be glad of any help, ta

roger

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 couldn’t find anything elementary enough for me. I have Sheets 103 and 182B from the manual, but I was hoping to find some step-by-step instructions, or even an exploded view. Is there anything like that out there?

I have one question about Sheet 182B. It says, “4 nyliners are required per bearing bar. 8 per machine….” All I ever had on the form roller assembly was 2 nyliners. Is there something wrong?

Also, I would appreciate your feedback on RotaDyne’s assessment of my roller situation. The rep said that my old rollers had hardness ratings of 32 and 34, and that the new rollers would be 25. He also said that the diameter of my old rollers was 2.480″, that the spec was 2.500″, and that my new rollers would be 2.520″. Did I really need new rollers? I’m aiming for the best print quality possible.

Thanks so much for your help,

Barbara

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? Are my form rollers out of round? How do you know when they need replacing? When I adjust the roller height, there is a bit of difference (maybe 2 points) between the height at the ends and the height in the center of both form rollers.

This was printed on a Vandercook No. 4 with packing consisting of 0.021″ Kimlon, 1 sheet of 0.006″ oiled tympan paper, and a 0.007″ Mylar drawsheet. The paper was Epson Velvet Fine Art, which is 100% cotton with a coating for inkjet printing. It is 0.019″ thick, for a total thickness of packing plus paper of 0.053″. I do try to feed the paper and turn the cylinder in the exact same way.

A closeup of the photograph is available on Flickr.

Thanks again for your always helpful comments.

Barbara

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 even shows up when I run the paper through on trip. These two lines are handset brand-new 12-point ATF Caslon Italic. This problem occurs only on these two lines. The rest of the piece, in 18-point Bulfinch, looks fine. These two lines fall an inch and a half from the bottom of an 8 ½ by 11 inch sheet of Epson Velvet Fine Art paper (19 mil). I’m using press points. The press is a Vandercook No. 4.  A close-up of the photo is available on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunadabayletterpress/4633627048/.

I’d appreciate any suggestions you can offer.

Thanks,

Barbara

Hi there,

I am restoring my 4T proofing press from the early 1950s and am dealing with replacing the motor belt. I bought a new one from NA Graphics (thanks, Fritz) because the old one was pretty badly dry-rotted even though it still functioned. Even with much adjustment to the height/position/angle of the motor in putting the new belt on, something about the tension/angle isn’t right because my belt keeps flying off the pulleys – literally! Fritz recommended taping the edge of the pulley to create a lip. It worked for a while, then it popped off again. If anyone has any experience specifically with doing this task on a 4-T, I welcome any/all advice. Maybe I just haven’t found the positioning sweet spot yet, but I’m losing valuable press time to this task. Thanks in advance for sharing your experience!

#4 Proving Machine available, would like advice of selling it.

I have had a continuous problem with the Vandercook 215 form rollers dropping down too low due to the hex bolts working themselves loose. We tighten these by hand because with a wrench, they get too tight and the rollers won’t turn freely. Is this an indication that there is something wrong with the bearing blocks? We have nyliners in place, too. For years I have just accepted this as press aging, something to be watched from time to time, but I’m hoping there might just be a cure. Any help appreciated. I have photos if that would be helpful.

Hello, I recently bought a Vandercook 4 from the Hick’s Bros.

Everything seems like it’s in working order except the cylinder needs to be adjusted – the rail on the operating side is bearing down hard and there’s a gap on the non-operator side where you can see daylight between the rails. I think as a by-product of this issue the press is printing heavier on the operator side and lighter on the non-operator side. Also, the teeth are starting to have tiny specks of metal get shaved away. I’ve stopped printing as soon as I noticed this, but am in a deadline to finish my first job with this press and feeling the crunch…

Can anyone give me a lead-through on how to fix this? I know that it’s something to do with the ball bearings in the printing/impression cylinder, but I haven’t got a clue where to start.

Help? Friedrich Kerksieck

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.