No. 4 Carriage Return Issue

We have a No 4 (S/N 8655) that seems to take more effort lately to return the carriage to its resting position at the feed table.  There is no problem leaving the feed table in trip or in print.  Returning to the feed table seems fine in both trip and after printing an image until it gets to the position just before ‘locking’ into the resting position.  This happens just after the grippers rise on the return.  If I increase the speed at which I return the carriage, it settles into the resting position, but with considerable force and noise.  If I return the carriage at a slower speed, I actually use both hands to finish the return.  Is this most likely related to the trip-print mechanism or with the gripper mechanism?  Any suggestions on how best to diagnose and fix the problem?

John Johnson

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Paul Moxon, Moderator
Admin
11 years ago

Jonathan Jarvis’s photo didn’t attach because it was a tiff. The WordPress plugin only allows jpegs.

Jonathan Jarvis
11 years ago

photo here shows on a Western press a(a licensed Vandercook copy) the little holders with felt inside that can, if bent /damaged etc stop carriage fully returning to bumper

Paul Moxon, Moderator
Admin
11 years ago

The diameter of the MR-68 on my No. 4 is the same: 1 5/16″.
I don’t have the oliers or see them in the manual.

Jonathan Jarvis
11 years ago

just a thought-the little brass holders that hold felt to oil the bed where the bearings run can get bent damaged so they stop the carriage going back fully to come up against the bumpers…….

Paul Moxon, Moderator
Admin
11 years ago

It’s a puzzler, John, but glad it’s fixed in any event. Could it be that the roller (MR-68) on the bottom on the gripper trip lever is worn and/or gummed up and not turning freely?

You’ll find that locking the latch makes for quieter printing, because the grippers are not snapping.

Paul Moxon, Moderator
Admin
11 years ago

Resistance could be caused by a gummed-up gripper trip latch that interferes with it sliding easily. The mechanism is also found on the No. 3 and early No. 4s both of which do not have pedals—auto grippers are the only means.

Some No. 4s (and all 15-21) have another latch that hooks onto the vertical of the gripper trip latch. The location is shown in the color highlight on the left of the image before.

Eric Holub
Editor
11 years ago

You have grippers set to open automatically. Does this resistance also happen when grippers are set to be operated only by foot pedal?
If there is no problem leaving the feedboard, then it wouldn’t seem to be the carriage latch.

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