I thought I’d give my Universal III a good cleaning after it had sat idle for a good deal of the winter while doing some home remodeling. I started out cleaning out the gear racks and noticed that the carriage latch was pretty loose and no spring tension. I pulled it off and found the […]
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SP-15 Parts Needed
I am looking for a couple parts for a VandercookSP15. The picture helps illustrate what I need (I hope). I drew arrows to the area in which the assembly is supposed to be. I need the assembly that has a couple screws (those I actually have) and some fiberglass sort of material and metal almost […]
MoreSP-15 Roller Bearing Block-clean?
We have had some trouble lately with roller height issues. On the SP-15, the user turns a knob to raise or lower the rollers. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. The bearing blocks have an allen bolt to hold the roller height, but these will not turn either way. I’m hoping that if we take the […]
MoreSP-20 drive chain issue
The chain on my SP-20 seems to be getting hung up or caught on something. In the 15-second video above, you can see it catch in the beginning and then towards the end. Is one of the gears failing? I need to run several jobs this week but don’t want to risk snapping the chain. […]
MoreVandercook #2 Proof Press
I have just acquired a Vandercook #2 proofing press. It seems to have everything but the base cabinet and it needs a lot of love! I am in the process of restoring it and have a question regarding the side plates that fit around the impression cylinder. On the side plates at the bottom there […]
MoreRecoating the ink fountain roller
Anyone know the specs or someone familiar with recoating the rubber roller that is part of the ink fountain on a Uni III? My roller is flared at both ends and the rubber is very hard from age. Thanks
MoreAutomatic carriage problem Universal 3 power
Need advise on trouble shooting our Universal III Power serial # 25118. This is how it is behaving: When set in CYCLE and RUN mode; the cylinder moves forward until the carriage cam releases the 4LS limit switch, then the carriage immediately reverses back to home position. MANUAL mode; using the FORWARD lever the cylinder […]
MoreUniversal III P Forward/Reverse Problem
I work as the technician at Centre3 in Hamilton, ON Canada. We are really lucky to have a Universal III Vandercook in our studio. Great press, however, recently the forward / reverse stopped working. This has basically rendered the press useless as it’s entirely driven by this and the cycle. Unfortunately the cycle isn’t working […]
MoreRemoving the handle from a Universal I
I need to remove the handle from my Universal I to fit the press through a doorway. I’ve searched and saw posts about removing the set screw and tapping out the taper pin. The set screw came out with minimal effort however the taper pin will not budge. One end of the pin appears mushroomed […]
MoreUsing the Ink Fountain on a Universal III
Im in the process of refurbishing a Uni3 that has a lot of options that are not existent on the Uni1 thats been my workhorse for over a decade. The one that has me the most perplexed right now is the ink fountain system. Does anyone have any literature on how to properly use the ink […]
MoreVandercook Universal III stopped moving
Hi all, My Universal III has been chugging along beautifully for a couple of years, when all of a sudden it just quit in the middle of a job. By “quit” I mean the rollers are still moving, but the upper carriage just won’t go. I took a short video which I’ll link to here […]
MoreCylinder racks Vandercook No 4C
Hi, I am working on cleaning and functionally refurbishing a British built Vandercook No. 4C. The press is complete and seems to be in pretty good shape – it mainly needs some cleaning work. While cleaning the cylinder racks I noticed a feature that I didn’t see on cylinder proof presses before: The cylinder racks on both sides […]
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