Arab Printing Press - problems
Hi everyone,
I had my lovely Arab delivered today (yay!), however I’ve not been able to print because of a few problems.
I don’t think they’re big ones but I’d like your advice.
001.jpg, 002.jpg and 003.jpg - I’ve inked the disk etc, however, the ink disc doesn’t rotate each time I treadle. It looks as though it’s missing the notches under the ink plate that turns it each time. Not quite sure what I should be adjusting to fix this.
004.jpg - I have two rollers on. The top roller touches the sides the whole way down. However the roller on the bottom seems to come away on the left hand side and only it’s right hand side touches the whole way down. In saying that, my type still isn’t getting any ink on it even though the top roller touches the whole way down. 005.jpg
006.jpg - A couple of times the rollers have fallen off, do I have them on correctly?
Hope this all makes sense. Arrrggghhhhh!
Thanks in advance everyone!
001.jpg
002.jpg
004.jpg
003.jpg
006.jpg
005.jpg
The ink disc rotator pawl appears worn. Shim it out or rebuild its edge.
The roller saddles/shafts might be sticking in their bores. Clean and lubricate.
Additionally, are the trucks and rollers those previously used on the press? If not, look to the trucks/rollers being wrong-sized.
(Drat! Dial up!) Have you checked type-height?
Just had another look at the ink disc pawl. (Lightened the photo) The support bracket is bent; that’s what causes the pawl to miss the dogs. Do not attempt to re-bend the piece because it is cast iron and will surely snap. Simply loosen the hold-down bolt, shim to vertical, then fasten securely. Have you solved the roller/truck problem?
You are good Forme
I did not see that the bracket was not vertical. I guess I accepted the perspective of the photo and did not see the misalignment. Your simple suggested solution of shimming the base of the bracket was right on.
For the rest of the community: Forme has his very strong opinions, but he knows his stuff. Listen and heed and benefit.
inky
Hi everyone,
Since posting, I have had some wonderful advice. Firstly, I had the rollers on the wrong way around! doh, once I put them on with the two rollers at the top and the third/empty roller at the bottom, they ran from top to bottom touching the runners the entire way. However, one problem that I discovered when I did this was that the third/empty roller holder was flipping around and once the rollers got back up to the plate, they were about an inch above it! Apparently a third roller will stop this happening.
064.jpg
ROLLERS NOT TOUCHING TYPE
I’ve since spoken to the gentleman that I purchased the Arab off, he seems to think that perhaps he picked up the wrong set of rollers when he brought the press to me. He is going to send some with smaller diametre runners.
INK DISC PAWL
I was advised to undo the nut underneath, however because it’s not metric I’ve had to purchase the appropriate tool off the internet, hopefully it will be here by the end of the week. My husband attempted to undo it with an adjustable spanner on the weekend, but it was so tight it would have involved hitting the end of the spanner with a hammer, we didn’t want to risk rounding the nut off so we will leave it until we receive the new spanner. I will keep you updated.
i am one step behind you - restoring an arab and wondering about rollers and my missing parts.
i have two rollers but one big washer for the end of the roller (roller stock runner? part 38?)
i need to know if i really need the third roller or not. i have roller stocks but will take a long time to send it off for rubberising and if i dont have to then i wont.
and also, where do i find that washer?
much thanks!!!!
oh yeah - where the heck is the serial number on on arab?