I recently helped someone with his SP-15. One of his problems was that one of the roller height adjustment knobs had broken due to an impact. His press had knobs of solid plastic, sort of pear-shaped with a tapered stem. I installed a replacement knob which was round with a brass threaded insert.
He also had a complaint about the fact that the handle on the crank for manual ink distribution didn’t spin, making turning the crank harder than it could be.
The crank handle was the same type of pear-shaped knob as on the roller height adjustment, and when tightened onto the shoulder screw that passed through the handwheel, it could not swivel. The stem of the knob would tighten against the handwheel.
I swapped this knob with the one I had just installed on the height adjustment (they both have ¼NC20 threads). The brass insert in the knob tightened against the shoulder of the screw and so was free to pivot properly.
So his press (still) had matching knobs on the height adjustment, and a inking crank that swiveled properly. He was ecstatic.
But my question is, was this the wrong knob on the crank to start with? The parts diagram does not show the hand inking mechanism.
It is hard to tell if the original knob in its new condition tightened against the handwheel or against the shoulder screw. I can certainly see the hole in the knob stem wearing with age enough to tighten against the wheel the way I found it.
Perhaps I’ve just stumbled across a fix for anyone else whose inking crank knob won’t turn. I believe that the knobs now sold by NA Graphics as part of the roller height adjustment are the same style I used.
Another option would be to place a washer between the knob and the shoulder screw. The hole in the washer would have to be a close fit to the 1/4″ threads.
The attached photo is from a brochure showing a hand wheel with a knob as you described.