Hello I’m the new owner of a Universal III P which arrived less the carriage drive motor/gearbox/clutch assembly. I have a very good machinist/electrician who has suggested he could adapt a small variable speed motor gearbox combination to fit. Trouble is he has no idea about motor hp, gear ratios, whether the motor would have […]
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Universal III automatic / control relay switches
We are having some trouble with our Vandercook Universal III Automatic. We THINK it is in the relays. It will sometimes not start moving when it should. Switching the forward / reverse back and forth will sometimes help. It helps to set the press speed faster which is what makes us believe the problem is […]
MoreUniversal III Power Carriage, Braking Problem
I’ve read up on all the relevant old post I could find, and I still have a few questions about this. I’ve adjusted the clutch, and it’s still hitting at both ends on the lowest speed. Not very hard (yet), but enough to bounce of an inch or two. Sometimes the breaking dial helps, sometimes […]
MoreVandercook Universal III adjustment help
Here is a shot of my Universal III. I am trying to accomplish 2 things. 1. rollers are maxed out at their lowest point to ink the form I want to be able to have adjustment height. 2. Cylinder picks up ink on the trip back to the feedboard. I want impression without picking up […]
MoreUni I – Power carriage stuck at feed board
I’ve been having some inconsistencies with the braking and starting of my Universal I. Dave Seat was here about a month and a half ago and made some adjustments to the microswitches to prevent the hard hitting at the feed board I was having (and more importantly showed me how to make proper adjustments). Yesterday […]
MoreVandercook Universal III Electrical Issues?
Hi all, Someone at Briar Press suggested that I post here since you are the Vandercook experts! As a new Vandercook Universal III owner, I’ve got a couple of issues going on that I’m hoping some of you can help me out with: 1. The power carriage seems to go out and back just fine […]
MoreUniversal 1 Motor Questions
Hello all — In the middle of a big job this weekend, my Universal 1 Power started making a persistent new noise –something between a chatter and a squeak. The noise occurs as the carriage is moving, a little more on the return. The noise occurs whether the motor is driving the carriage or whether […]
MoreUniversal III P just stopped
First, I’m looking for someone in the general vicinity of Delaware that can troubleshoot and possibly repair an automatic Vandercook Universal III. Know anyone? If not, is there some kind of electrician I might try contacting. Obviously, I need more than someone to hook up a 3-phase here. We were running our III the other […]
MoreUniversal III Register Rack Question
We are cleaning up a newly acquired UNI IIIP, and have noticed something which is disturbing. Under the register rack (X-2831), is a shim that looks approximately 2pts thick and resides nearest the feed table. A smaller shim is at the end nearest the floating rack. We are assuming that these have been put in place to solve a […]
MoreI locked up my Uni I
I was running some small posters yesterday on my Uni I AB. Things were going smoothly until the powered carriage was moving towards the end of the bed and got stuck midway. It just stopped. I run it pretty slowly so it wasn’t a very sudden stop it just was rolling along and then wasn’t. […]
MoreUniversal I AB – Power Carriage Fuse Problem
I’ve been working on a thorough clean-up of my Uni I which was very grimy and dirty. I’ve already tore down and cleaned the adjustable bed which was frozen. That went smoothly thanks to the fine documentation from previous posts. Currently, I am dealing with a problem of immediately blowing a fuse when I put […]
MoreUni III Power motor query
Dear Vandekin I am in Memphis cleaning & repairing two Vandercooks, a 4 and a Uni III. The operator of the III tells me the motor jumps (or rather jolts) itself randomly during a press run and there appears to be a little bit of slack in the chain. I tested it out and sure […]
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