I have had a lot of slurring today that I have not been able to get rid of no matter what I try. The ink looks really uneven too. I have brand new rollers and printed 2 jobs last weekend that were perfect. Nothing is different today except that my print looks horrible. After a few hours I realized that when in print the bearings that roll over the bed bearers were not rolling in certain areas. They always rolled back or when in trip. Right where they stopped rolling it became harder to roll the cylinder out. (I’m not using too thick of paper either or trying to punch too hard)I don’t think this is suppose to happen and have no idea how to fix the problem. I’m pretty sure that this is the issue with the slurring because my image is more slurred at the top of the print which is where the bearings stop rolling.Does anyone know what’s wrong, how it happened and how I can fix it? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!Amanda ThomasÂ
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A proof press resource
The rider roller indicated in the picture is not supposed to ride firmly on the bed rails. The assembly blueprint indicates a .003 to .005″ clearance between that bearing and the bed rail when the cylinder is in the middle of the bed. It serves to keep the cylinder assembly from rocking when making an impression.
Well, I finally figured it out. I had too much ink on the press. Go figure. I feel like an idiot! It was the only thing that I didn’t check as I guess I’ve never had that problem in the past. Good to know that my press is still working and everything is normal. I hadn’t payed much attention to the bearers before and when I couldn’t figure out what was wrong I started watching things much more closely.
Anyway, thank you for the response to my entirely pointless question! And as for the hair on the press bed I’m guessing that much be a dog hair! I left the press uncovered for a few days.
I think those bearings are behaving normally. The bearings that are active while on impression are under the rails. They keep the cylinder bearers down in contact with the bed bearers. But if you are meeting resistance, that does suggest overpacking for the thickness of paper (or the form is over type-height).
Lots of things can cause slur, and it can happen during inking or impression or both. Tight packing, a solid lockup with no bounce, corrct roller settings, and compatible ink and paper are some solutions to different causes of slur. And there are some kinds of paper (like Roma cover for example) that just don’t want to be printed dry on a Vandercook.
Cleaning up and trying a different ink might be informative.
What kind of hair is that on the bed? Badger? Maine Coon?