I sent my form rollers to be recovered and got them back without the MR-110 pin that goes into the end of the shaft, the one with the rounded head that connects to the gear clutch. The roller company says they never saw them. When I prepped the rollers for shipping, I stripped off the gears and springs, but didn’t think to remove the pins; I assumed they were part of the roller shaft and not removable. New ones are available from NA Graphics, but are expensive. Is there some kind of substitute? Are these pins easy to get out, ie, could they have fallen out during transport somewhere? Thanks.
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Thanks to all who have advised on this thread.
I’d like to go back to my original problem, as it still persists despite new rollers, and that is/was uneven inking over the bed of the press, lengthwise.I had a form set up with two plates, one close to the grippers, and the other about 8.5 inches toward away from the grippers. The front part printed fine, while the back was light, despite raising the impression on the packing and even putting a bit of tape under the plate. I was printing red ink, about .5″ square. This is still happening, despite new rollers. Any ideas? Thanks.
The rider rollers are held in place with taper pins and it would take a punch to drive them out, with the punch on the smaller end of the pin. Vandercook didn’t intend for that assembly to come apart, and I doubt that any do need to except for gross mistreatment like the presses stored outside for 20 and more years.
Securing the cylinder, removing the handle and feed table and securing loose parts like rollers and lockup bars should be about what’s required for a basic move. Clean out cabinet of paper and loose stuff.
Also, I’m about to have my press moved again. Any advice about prepping, other than taking off the handle and securing the cylinder>>
Thanks, FRitz. Never have figured out how to remove those outer rollers, so never have done it. Any hints how to do this? Good advice about checking the crescent and the worm gear.
Katie
The worm is held in place by two collars, the one towards the center of the oscillating drum is fixed in place by a pin through the collar and shaft, and the outer one is held in place by 2 set screws. I’d suggest taking the entire shaft with worm out of the drum, after backing off the crescent holder (note set screw in end of drum next to where the crescent holder is located–back off on that set screw) so that the crescent can be removed as the shaft is withdrawn. Then take just the crescent and move it through the grooves and see if it hangs up at any point, especially where it binds. Quite likely there will be some damage to the worm sidewalls where the crescent has to move. As mentioned in my earlier post, this is hardened steel and a small machinist’s file takes a long time of filing to even make a bright spot on the worm. The file will wear before much steel comes off the worm. The crescent should have sharp points on each end. The worm should be held tightly in place by the outer collar so it doesn’t move, and thus I don’t think changing its position will solve the problem of sticking. The problem is damage to the worm, I’m quite sure.
As to the oscilating rollers, these ride on wood bearings on each end of the roller, and possibly the shaft is bent but that’s hard to determine unless you remove the shaft and that requires unpinning the handles. If that assembly is out of square, then that would explain the uneven inking. The wood bearings are about a thing of the past and will have to replaced with bronze bearings if required.
Fritz: Are the worm gears costly to replace? I noticed when I took mine apart that they have a set screw that apparently controls their length, which seems to be adjustable. Could this have something to do with the hangup? I also wonder about Paul’s comment about the rods in the other metal rollers getting bent. My whole oscilator assembly doesn’t seem to sit evenly on the inking rollers, and I find I have to push slightly on the right front and left rear rollers to get them to ink properly…
Interesting–I was working on the inking mechanism from one of the Nevada desert #4s this evening and the oscillating ink drum had the same problem. I took it all apart and discovered that one of the points on the worm was slightly bent and catches the crescent, but after a lot of filing, I made some progress, but these worms are hardened steel and I just may replace it. Both the worm and crescent are lost wax steel castings which are then hardened, and surprisingly, the original Vandercook patterns for making waxes are still at the foundry in Cleveland after all these years.
It could be that one or both of the rider roller tie rods (MR 113) are slightly bent. This can cause them to not seat properly in the lift arm assembly.
Paul: Press is up and running beautifully. Thanks for your help. Now a new problem has developed: the top vibrator roller is intermittently “sticking” during part of its run. It goes out to the farthest right position (away from the operator) and sticks just as it is turning to come back. I took it apart, expecting to find a broken vibrator crescent, but it was intact. I cleaned and lubed everything and put it back together, but it is still catching on something. If I lift the upper rollers and then lower them back down, the large roller goes back and forth smoothly. Only sticks every once in awhile. Any ideas?
Katie: the cores you received with new rubber are probably not the same cores you shipped out. This is how vendors shorten the turnaround time.
Thanks, Paul. I worked the inside of the shaft with a wire brush. Saw lots of rust in there. Wonder what happens when rollers get recovered to cause that kind of oxidation inside the shaft… It’s working, just takes elbow grease. Thanks for great and very responsive advice.
Use a wire brush and mineral spirits to clean the barrel of the roller cores. Also make sure that pins are clean, use an emery cloth if needed, then lubricate the bottom half of pins with graphite powder.
Thanks, Paul for the advice and the images. I have good news–I found the pins. Had them all the time. For some reason, I was thinking I needed another part. As I started putting it all back together, I was suddenly reminded of past experiences: the rollers come back from being refurbished, and the pins are now too big to go into the shaft. Not WAY big, but tight, when they should be loose. I seem to recall that the last time this happened, I had to ream out the shaft a bit to get the pins to go in easily. The only problem is that I can’t remember how I did that reaming out. Any suggestions? Thanks.
These pins have a hole in the end of the shaft the allow the pin (MR 109) to pass through it, the clutch block (MR 108) and the roller core. It’s possible that one or both pins may be stuck inside the barrels of the roller cores. If so, the slot on the side of the core end may show the tip of the pin. Nudge it out with a knife. If you don’t see the pin, shine a flashlight into the barrel. If it’s there hold the roller vertically with the gear end down and tap the top end with a mallet.
Perhaps a machinist could make you one, it he had one of them as a model to work with, but it may be as expensive as ordering the real thing.