My Universal II has all of a sudden stopped locking when it returns to the feedboard. Therefore when I press the trip pedal nothing happens (grippers don’t move) and it makes a sharp ‘bang’ noise releasing the tension of the pedal…
Thoughts? Trip spring?
Please help. Thanks,
Adrian
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“Arm that pushed the knob.” Knob being the pin that comes out of the center of the cylinder, and arm being the lever that pushes it? On many Vandercooks there is a shouldered screw that the lever pivots on, and if that works its way out to where the lever is pivoting on the smaller threaded portion, the grippers won’t work properly. It is just a tiny difference in distance too. I check that screw often.
So it turned out to be the linkage, but not where i expected it to be. The arm that pushed the knob (technical terms?) to release the grippers was slipping off half way so a large wrench later and I’m back in business.
Sure to return to the blog for more help in the future.
Cheers
adrian
The Uni II is rare from what I have read, only 55 ever made.
I checked the linkage and it is all good. It seems like the grippers are locked when it returns to the feedboard. The cylinder will advance and return without incident or anything out of the ordinary.
It can be held right where it is supposed to be…
I will start digging in the grease for a spring and take the whole thing apart, again.
On that note, I did take it apart a few months ago, if the cylinder was re-set one tooth off could it be a problem now which has taken a while to show itself?
Sorry, never saw a Uni II, but if you are thinking of a trip spring as on the SP series, it wouldn’t have them. Universals, 219s, 4s etc have a rack-and-pinion to move the cylinder from trip to print, with no springs involved in trip/print mechanism.
When you say it is not locking at the feeboard, is the cylinder coming all the way to normal rest position? Or stopping short or bouncing back? The grippers won’t work properly if the cylinder isn’t where it is supposed to be.
I would follow the linkages from the pedal to the grippers. As I recall, on the very similar 219, the path takes several turns and some connection may have come loose or broke. And there is a spring somewhere in the 219 under the bed that affects the gripper motion, near the far side of the press. I had to feel around in the grease to find it.