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 […]
MoreStauffacher at age 95
Jack Werner Stauffacher, a San Francisco typographer and printer, is still at his work at age 95. Pino Trogu, who is an Assistant Professor of Information Design at San Francisco State University, keeps me updated on Jack’s activities. Pino worked with Jack with a project yesterday on Jack’s SP-15 and the attached photo shows Jack […]
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 […]
MoreProblems and Problems for an old 320G
Hi! We’ve got an (obviously) new-to-us 320G and it had been sitting in a cat friendly/very stinky basement. It’s come a long way already cleaning wise, but we’ve still got bugs to work out…… Our carriage is a BEAR to move down the bed. We have cleaned and oiled and greased a lot of parts […]
MoreWhen Vandercooks Weren’t Selling
Of potential interest is this production record sheet for the week of 2/26/73, only 42 years ago almost to the week. It shows what Vandercook was working on and shipping about a year before it all collapsed. 1973 was not a good year as they posted a million dollar loss. Sales of the RO4 were […]
MoreRecaro Proof Press
Does anyone on here have any idea where i can find information on a Recaro Proof Press? I have one at my shop, over the weekend, someone stole the print head from it. It was in a secure area just outside my back door in the warehouse section of my shop. It was being stored there […]
MoreLooking for a starting point for Ink/Pressure issues UNI III AB
I recently attempted to print a very light color of borders that extended from the top of the bed about 10 inches. The ink was mostly composed of white and revealed things about the press that are perplexing. I have several issues going on, and perhaps this was, unwittingly, a test of all of them. […]
MoreMoving a Composing Room Cylinder Press
Does anyone have experience moving a composing room cylinder press? I am hoping to move one, which I think is a #17, but I was not sure if there is an intelligent way to move it into my space. I’m specifically wondering if the cylinder can be easily removed from the bed and easily reattached afterwards as […]
More15-21 rail “sweepers”?
Are these things meant to keep the rail clean and, if so, are they supposed to have some other material like felt on the bottom of them? Is this something I can do myself – any ideas? They are very worn on the bottom and don’t really make contact. – Seedpod Press
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