Yesterday morning we had a rather strange experience with our Vandercook SP-15. It was about noon and the studio was just starting to warm up. Temperature was maybe 50 degrees when we started the heater. After a bit we inked the press to print some notecards and what I think was the vibrator roller (pretty […]
MoreAuthor: Ray Nichols
Universal III forward / reverse switches
Does anyone have a working forward / backward switches for a Universal III they would be willing to sell? I also need the microswitch that is on the lower backside of the press closest to the feedboard, but this doesn’t seem quite as critical. Any help would be appreciated. Ray Nichols / Lead Graffiti
MoreTaking off a Universal III motor
I need to remove the motor that drives the cylinder on a Vandercook Universal III. I need to have the motor rebuilt. I worked on it a bit today and simply could not figure out how to get it off nor could I figure out how much of I should take to the motor place […]
MoreVandercook roller dimensions…
I would like to see a chart of the dimensions of rollers for all of the Vandercook models somewhere that was easy to look up to see if your current rollers were up to par. I’ve just had a problem with my SP-15 rollers which were about 3/32″ too small in diameter and it was […]
MoreLargest run…
I was printing last night and was wondering what the largest run (number of sheets + number of colors) anyone had run on a Vandercook where you were either hand feeding the paper or hand cranking. How about a few stories of your experiences? If you can please list the sheets / size / colors […]
MoreSP-15 ink roller and gear…
Could someone either take a nice close-up digital photo or carefully measure (wrap a piece of paper around it and measure) the circumference of both the form roller (the one that actually touches the type) and the gear that drives it as it moves across the press? The outside diameter of my gear is noticeably […]
MoreSP-15 inking…
Details: Vandercook SP-15 Brand new inks from Graphic Chemical and Ink (their own block & letterpress ink) Photopolymer plates from Boxcar Press Impression is somewhat deep The issue is that if I put enough ink on the press to ink in one pass the type is ragged. What I’m having to do is shift to […]
MorePressure Ink Well
*Was: Unknown device on SP-15…* changed for archiving purposes What is the component you see sticking up on the back corner of the paper feed board? I never see it on any of the posted photos. This image is of an SP-15.
MoreAutomatic frisket…
I recently bought a Universal III with the automatic frisket / paper delivery option. I’m looking for information about the automatic frisket part. What would cause you to use a frisket versus the cloth tapes which is the only thing I’ve ever seen being used? What do you use for the frisket material?
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