Hello! I’m trying to understand non-electric/non-motorized cylinder press that still have inked rollers (for cylinder presses, I’ve only printed with ones that have power ink distribution, or handinked with a brayer).
For cylinder presses that instead use non-motorized handwheel ink distribution (like the Vandercook 3 or similar Challenge models), does anyone know how often you need to turn the roller-inking handwheel while printing? (Definitely after every print? Every x prints, varying by ink and paper choice? Something else?)
I don’t have a good sense whether the action of the machine turns these a bit without needing to turn the handwheel, so am trying to tell how often this extra steps has to happen with such presses. Thank you!
Thank you both—I’m interested in both Vandercooks and Challenge presses, so all useful info! I hadn’t realized some presses with cranks for the rollers also let the rollers turn from just pulling a print.
Paul, yes, you are probably right. I have used a Vandercook, but only the motorised-inking version. I don’t know if the hand-cranked version has any mechanism to link the movement of the rollers to the movement of the cylinder when making an impression. If not, Challenge should have boasted about it in their marketing literature ;-)
Alasdair, the mechanism you describe may be specific to Challenge K and GP series presses, which have reciprocating beds. All Vandercooks have fixed beds and rolling carriages. The non-motorized SP15 has a hand wheel attached to the front form roller, which spins against the large steel oscillator tube and a smaller steel rider roller.
Your inking mechanism may be similar to the No. 3 Potter reciprocating bed press. https://vandercookpress.info/potter-2/
I have a Challenge KA15, and on that model the act of cranking the main handle to move the bed and make a print also turns the inking rollers, so you don’t need to turn the inking handle separately.
Note that on my press there’s also a separate inking handle to turn the rollers. This slides on its shaft, so you can pull it out to disengage the inking rollers from the main crank. This allows you to ink the rollers first without moving the press bed. Once you have spread the ink, push the handle back in so that it engages with the main gear. This will turn the inking rollers every time you operate the press. (If you forget to do this, your impressions will get fainter and fainter, and you will wonder what’s going wrong. Ask me how I know…)
Your press may be different, but I imagine it has something similar.
Thanks so much, Paul!
It depends on the mass of the printing form. In general, I would spin the hand wheel while the carriage is at the feed board before each impression.
The hand wheel on a Vandercook SP15 is attached to the front form roller, whereas on a No. 3 it’s attached to a third rubber roller above the oscillator, called the feed roller. The feed roller can be difficult to turn if the rubber diameter is undersized. It should be 1-7/8″ and as pliable as the form rollers. Additionally, the brass bracket for the bare cores may need to be reamed and machined to eliminate play and prevent the core from bouncing.