Hello, I recently bought a Vandercook 4 from the Hick’s Bros. Everything seems like it’s in working order except the cylinder needs to be adjusted – the rail on the operating side is bearing down hard and there’s a gap on the non-operator side where you can see daylight between the rails. I think as […]
MorePatent Pages Premier
Terry Chouinard sent me this advertisement he saw in the BBS Specimen Book (No. 25) for a “Vandercook Gordon Press Vibrator.” He asked if Vandercook made any other equipment for production presses? Good question. After all, their presses were marketed as pre-press equipment. But nothing in the catalogs I’ve seen references anything like the Gordon […]
MoreVandercook #3, paint on rails
Hello, I was wondering if anybody had any tips for removing a single coat of paint off of the rails of a vandercook #3. Would a solution such as Citristrip do the job without damaging the rails? Thanks! Kirk Sycamore Street Press
MoreHand gripper redux
Goudy said: “The old fellows stole all our best ideas.” Proving it again is this No.4 with a custom-made hand activated gripper bar, similar to the idea for a No.3 discussed on this forum Summer ’08 (archive links here and here). The pedal and chain linkage are still intact, but don’t work, I was curious […]
Moreadjusting roller height on vandercook 215 proofing press
hello everyone, i have a 215 ready to print – soon as i figure out how to adjust the height of these rollers. i don’t have a manual, any other press i’d used have knobs at the ends of the rollers but this model doesn’t have anything so obvious. looks like maybe a hex key […]
MoreRocker Weekend
Here are some photos from my December visit to the Museum of Printing History in Houston, where I spoke about the Vandercook centenary and consulted on their recently acquired circa 1909 Vandercook Trip Action Proof Press, commonly known as a “rocker.” It had belonged to a company in Cincinnati whose owner said that his grandfather […]
MoreCentenary bundle
I’ve just put my contribution on flickr and thought it would be great if others could upload theirs to show the great un-washed masses what a super project it was…
MoreVandercook 219 Power Grinding
Hello! I have two pictures (pictures below) of a piece that is grinding on my vandercook 219. There are fine metal shavings under the press after about an hour of running. I see no way of adjusting this to lift it up. Any suggestions? Pictures: Nick
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 […]
MoreA Question about Cylinder Rack Shims
I’m having some issues with low ink distribution in the first inch or so of my form. I noticed that the area coincides with the first few inches of the cylinder rack which is separate from the rest of the rack and slightly raised with some plastic shims. Does anyone know the reason for that […]
MoreBalancing the Cylinder on an SP-20
Is anyone familiar with balancing the cylinder on an SP-20? Our 20 never seems to print well and we’ve balanced the base & made sure the rollers are seated properly to no avail. I’ve asked around locally & balancing the cylinder came up. Any instruction would be greatly appreciated–a step-by-step breakdown would be even more so. […]
MorePlease excuse the mess
This site is in redesign. The blog and the older static (html) pages have merged. This will make images and data tables load faster and give you the ability to search key words, categories, and meta tags on all pages. The page hierarchy has been reorganized, some have become sub pages while others are now […]
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