Hello all – – I had the great fortune of saving an SP20 from the scrapyard earlier this Spring. However, it was not quite as complete as I remembered it being when I first found it last Fall. Someone clearly attempted to dismantle it sometime in its history, then abandoned it, and the only old [...]

Dear Presspersons, I have done some printing of wood and lino cuts and set so much type as would be barely noticeable under your fingernail. But in spite of this relative inexperience I have purchased a #315, sn 5562 to replace/compliment my #0. I have disassembled every moving part, cleaned and lubricated, re-packed the bearings, [...]

  Here is the drawing for the form roller pins on a No. 4, along with a photograph of the pins on my unit. Are the pins supposed to be as round as the drawing shows? In other words, is it time I had my pins replaced? Thanks, Barbara

 Hello. I am a newbie in the process of restoring a Vandercook No. 4, SN 18794. My husband, who was in aerospace mechanical engineering for many years, is providing advice and much moral support. He was surprised when I told him that the procedure for lubricating the impression cylinder gear teeth was to apply a [...]

As some of you are aware, I recently hauled my No. 3 from the eastern shore of Maryland to my new home in Kentucky. Having thanked my lucky stars that the truck did not tip over (more on this in a later post), I am now faced with trying to restore my beautiful beast. Overall [...]

Thanks to Paul’s recent post regarding trip spring replacement, I was able to discern that my SP-15′s trip/print problem is that both springs are broken. I spoke with Fritz today for advice and ordered new ones. I know there was a photo recently posted by John Cristopher showing a carriage off the press with the [...]

can anyone tell me what other parts would be required to make the sheet finger operate – view the parts i have on “flickr”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/8286330@N03/ thanks again! john christopher arcane devices

Hello, I posted once previously regarding the SP-15 I recently bought and have been cleaning up. This is taking longer than I thought but it is looking better! Meanwhile I’ve been reading and enjoying learning about the press. I am somewhat confused, however, about the maximum sheet size which is listed as 14-3/4 x 20 [...]

Dylan Fareed and I went out to visit John Barrett at Letterpress Things today and he asked me to drag some proof press roller assembly parts back to The Arm to attempt to identify them. I think the second one is a 219 rider roller assembly, but I have no clue on the rest. Anyone [...]

I picked up this Vandercook #3 (serial 13165) a few days ago and am interested in tracking down the parts it is missing. The press seems to have been partially disassembled to replace the rollers and the associated parts were lost before it was put back together. Here is a list of what I am [...]

A video… This is the most recent press to cross the threshold at The Arm. It didn’t take too much fiddling to replace the microswitches across the back of the press, clean out the control box and get it cycling back and forth, but it is pausing for a full five second count at the [...]

My newly purchased SP-15 is now moved into its new home and I’ve been able to take a close look at it for the first time (I bought it based only on photos so couldn’t see all details). It looks to be in very good shape (no rust or dents) with no major parts missing. [...]