I have a friend who has an SP15. She was having trouble getting the inking smooth and I stopped over to see if I could figure it out. Turned out that the roller and the drive gear were acting independently of each other. Once it was printing the gear that should drive the form roller […]
MoreCategory: Form rollers
Reprex No. 2 Missing drive gear
I recently acquired a Reprex No. 2 [No. 1] proof press. While everything on this Reprex appears to be in excellent shape, it is in fact missing the drive gear on it’s form roller. The original manual I have specifies that there should only be one drive gear, and the part number for this gear is […]
MoreSP-15 rollers hesitating
Right before the holidays I was finishing up a print job and noticed the the rollers didn’t want to turn with each other anymore. I thought it was the ink drying as a result of the heater blowing close to the press area and didn’t think about it again. After being off for a few […]
MoreSP 15 Rollers Condition
I bought a SP15 a couple of years ago. The rollers were/are clean and seem to work fine, but they are shiny and quite hard. However, after reading a recent post on Briarpress about cleaning rollers I wonder if mine are glazed and need to be deglazed (or possibly recovered). Certainly, the rollers are not […]
MoreSP-15 roller grinding sound (pictures and video)
I am having trouble fixing this sound. I believe it is being caused by the gear on the inner form roller when it travels over the form roller rack teeth. See the video to hear the sound. This happens in trip or print. Vandercook SP-15 grinding sound (YouTube) Here is a photo of the gear […]
MoreSP-15 Gear Roller Grunt
One of our SP-15s makes a sort of grunting noise as it travels down the bed. I suspect it is the gear on the back form roller, but I cannot see any issue with it. The other SP-15 is silent during this travel, and this noise is new, so something seems to be out of […]
MoreNo. 4 MR-111 gear
Greetings all, I’m in the process of getting my No. 4 up and running, and have a question about the gears on the form roller assembly. My understanding is that the MR-111 gears are not supposed to rotate when at the feedboard, but the back one on my press does (and the one on the […]
MoreUni I Drive Gear and Roller Height Adjustment
I have a Uni 1 manufactured in the 60s, still being cleaned but also being used to print. I have two observations/questions which I welcome help on… 1. The drive gear (if that is the correct term) oscillates when the press runs and the rollers are engaged. A woodruff key was missing and replaced but […]
MoreCHALLENGE 21MP
Hi All, I am helping to restore her Challenge 21MP. It seems the inking rollers and assembly are missing. Maybe dutifully taken off the press after printing and forgotten about. The cores and rubber are not as much of a problem to replace as the gear and other metal parts that attach to the rollers. […]
MoreRattling Rollers
I was operating my Vandercook 320 and all of the sudden, the metal rollers began rattling out of control either while in print or trip mode. The rollers are shaking about so much that they’ve even been tossed off of the rubber roller carriage at times. I’ve tried oiling the press, tightening screws, but nothing […]
MoreA novel solution to incorrect form roller diameter
I was recently trying to set the form (inking) roller height on an SP15 and found that I was unable to properly set the gear-driven one (nearer the impression drum). There was no way the back end (closer to the gear) could drop down far enough. I measured the rollers and found that, instead of […]
MoreSP-20 Inking issue
Hello all, I’ve owned a Vandercook SP-20 since April of this year, and it’s been, to this point a beautiful machine. About a week ago, I started getting a strange issue that I have not been able to decipher, and is not covered in any of the books I have looked at. Here is what’s […]
More