The “catch” that holds the “vibrator assembly” isn’t doing a very good job of securing the vibrator assembly in the “up” position. I can’t tell whether its spring loaded to keep the pressure on or whether gravity is suppose to do the job. Its dirty up in there and i will clean it, but if a spring is missing, I will need to find where each end of the spring attaches. (I think vibrator assembly is the correct name – its the stainless steel drum that inks the rollers and that has a handle on the operator side to lift it.)
Thanks, lad
After talking to Fritz, I decided to find a way to add a spring to the latch. With a bit of pressure, it will firmly hold the vibrator assembly. So, i found a piece of metal about 2″ long and about 3/8″ wide. I then drilled a hole in the cover that is over the far side cylinder carriage. I then drilled a hole in the metal strip and installed it with a screw using a nylon lock washer on the under side. The metal strip is firm enough to hold down the latch, but thin enough to be flexible. Its not very elegant, but functional. In time, I may paint it gray so as to not be so shiny. See pictures.
I would be possible to drill a hole in the latch and mount a spring from below, but its not very accessible. Thus, i chose to add a spring from the top.
Lad
could just fitting a fibre washer or those locking washers between moving parts where are bolted through just help in order to provide a bit of grip to hold it up???
Or somehow devise a second securing latch……….
SP really means simply cheap. So the SP-15 and the Challenge copy should have been the SC-15, and the holding device (holding excuse?) for the vibrator assembly is poorly designed. The Universal series uses a spring loaded catch that is an improvement, but still a problem. I suggested to Lad that the surfaces on the catch assembly have become worn and rounded and should be filed square again, and if painted Vandercook gray, a bungee cord could be rigged. I have new bronze (not brass) rider roller ends in stock for the SP-15 and those wear unevenly sometimes. Short of doing an engineering redesign, I don’t think there is a straight forward solution to making the catch work so it is safe to use with confidence.
Fritz
This is just a flimsy mechanism. There is no spring on SP series. It is gravity as Lad suspected. And dangerous as Ray noted. When the oscillator falls, the points on worm gear can chip and the worm crescent can crack apart.
Ray, I believe the brass part you are talking about is the journal ends on the smaller steel rider.
We have the same problem and have been looking at how to get all of that apart so we could take it to a machine shop to get things reground or something.
It is actually a pretty dangerous problem as ours will come slamming down with very little movement of the cylinder.
Also, a number of years ago it happened (sort of the first time it ever happened) and when it slammed down it broke what appears to be a brass piece on the end. We had it drilled out and replaced which cost us about $100 (back then) and about a week of downtime.
I’ll try to jump on working our ours and look forward to hearing if you get yours fixed.