Roller problems with Kelsey 5x8
Hi All - I’m having problems with a Kelsey 5x8 platen press that I recently acquired. I haven’t yet printed with it, but as I was preparing to print I noticed that the rollers were jamming as they passed from the chase to the ink bed. The rollers are old and were somewhat beat up by the previous owner, but still usable. I’ve got trucks on both sides of both pairs of rollers. If anything, we think the problem might be with the roller hooks - the roller hooks on the right side of the press are flush with the trucks throughout the movement from the chase to the ink bed. But on the left side, the roller hooks do not stay flush with the trucks and appear to be applying different pressure at different points during the movement, causing the rollers to jam both as they move up to the ink bed and back down towards the chase. We think the problem is in the rollers, because when we remove the rollers, the press has smooth motion throughout the movement. We’ve checked the tension in both sides of roller hooks and there doesn’t appear to be any noticeable difference and both sides are moving freely. Any help or suggestions would be warmly appreciated!
I would suspect that you may have your roller hooks facing the wrong way. The open end must face down on all four hooks. If the open end is facing up, I do believe that the hooks will strike the gripper finger shaft at the bottom and the rollers themselves may come loose. Also check to see if there is decent spring tension to hold the rollers to the tracks, you may need to put a little stretch into the springs or buy new ones (from NA Graphics, current owners of Kelsey).
Thanks so much for the suggestions Mike!