I’ve been doing some printing on my newly acquired Reprex #2. At a glace the Reprex #2 looks similar to a Vandercook SP-15 in size and shape. Then when you get close you start noticing the differences. A large lever protrudes from the backside of the press.
When putting the press in trip one must first switch the press into trip with lever on the front of the press as on most presses. Then one must switch the larger lever on the back of the press to trip (see attached photo below). This two step process takes a bit of getting used to.
The press has been printing wonderfully although I have had a few issues. Occasionally, the press will automatically go into trip when printing. I quickly discovered this does not happen when I print with a kiss and tends to happen more when I apply added impression. If you have any thoughts or opinions on this issue I’d be happy to hear them. I’m still experimenting with possible solutions and I’ll let you know when I find one that works.
The paper guide on the press is unique. At first I thought it was on backwards, but that’s not so. The odd shape to the paper guide is meant to help quickly position paper and it works well.
UPDATE: Now that I have been printing with this press for a few years and I learned that this press can indeed print with a kiss or with a good amount of pressure. If one wants to print with a good amount of pressure you need to make sure that you apply ample pressure but not so much that the press goes into trip. The key is to make sure the form doesn’t have any high points and is even across the bed of the press. I normally start of printing with a kiss then starting adding a a piece of paper or two below the form to work up the height. I hope this helps. View one of my most recent prints (printed on this reprex) at the Haiti Poster Project.
We print on a #2 at Foothill College where I teach. Our practice has been to leave the trip/print lever in print position. The large lever on the other side engages and disengages print as the cylinder travel to the end and back. It goes on trip when it hits the stops at the end of the impression and resets to print in the home position.
It was explained to me that all Reprex Presses were designed to automatically trip off print whenever the type matter was too high. This feature is built into the gear mechanism to protect the impression surface. Is is rather difficult to get a deep impression with our Reprex 2. You can hold the large lever by hand but that can damage the cylinder. It sure will put a dent in the tympan. I hope this sheds some light on your printing.