Chandler and Price

You’ll need to remove spaces and # from the filenames for the photos to appear on Briar Press.

What size is the press?

I’m sorry It’s a 8x12

Congrats! I’m not positive if the serial number is in the same place on the new style as the old style, but mine was on the platen behind the chase. A good newbie lesson about the chase on one of these… lift the lever to remove it from behind the chase, that way you don’t smash your finger when it comes back down.

As for cleaning it, don’t get too scrub-happy. A lot of that old gunk will actually help to preserve the metal. Many people want the “museum look” for their press, but remember that it is an industrial machine, not a sportscar. You will want to find all of the oil holes (there are charts on briar press somewhere) and clean them out with a q-tip. After cleaning flush them out with a light weight oil—I used a 20 weight motor oil—to get out a lot of the crud. After a few rounds of the light weight stuff give a few drops of 40 weight oil in each hole for your general lubrication. This oil is a little thicker and will last longer on press. You will want to keep it well oiled as long as you use it, but this should help get you started.

Thanks !!!

You can just order a v-belt that is the right length. You might have to order online, but it shouldn’t be more than 10-12 dollars. You’ll need a v-belt pulley for the motor if you don’t already have one. The smaller the pulley the slower the press will run. You may want to get a stepped pulley that will effectively provide variable speed operation. You don’t need to take the wheel off to install the belt—it can simply be pulled over the flywheel. Don’t make it too tight—just tight enough to keep contact with the flywheel surface.

Thank you so much!!

There is some C&P literature available online, but it’s scattered all over the net (and some of it has disappeared now and is only available through The Internet Archive). When researching my own 10x15 NS I started to put together a small page of links to what information I could find. See:

http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/presses/cp1015/lite...

The parts list at Boxcar Press, oiling chart at Briar Press, and serial number list at Press Eight Seventeen are especially useful.

Tarheel Roller and Brayer Company makes rollers. www.tarheelroller.com
NA Graphics www.nagraph.com has general supplies and a few parts (e.g. grippers)

Have fun and be careful.

Regards,
David M. MacMillan

Thanks!!!

See the following schematic….

www.garloo.com/chandler_and_price_diagram.htm

The area BEHIND the chase is the BED where the serial number is stamped in the upper left corner. The PLATEN is where the tympan paper and packing and gauge pins are placed to enable feeding the stock!

The bane of any machine is neglect which includes allowing dirt, grease, oil, etc. and on printing presses ink, to build up. SImply cleaning out the oil holes and squirting in some oil isn’t enough. Dried lubricants and/or ink can prevent parts from moving correctly or freely no matter how much oil is in the bearings. A case in point is the roller springs. Hardened or gummy ink or other substances can prevent them from going through their full range of motion and cause all sorts of inking problems.

You don’t have to strip the press and polish the metal to a mirror finish and prime and paint it. But you should clean off all the crud down to the paint, clean off the rust and any bearing (metal on metal) surfaces, disassembling as necessary to get to the parts. As another example on my first press, an 8x12, there was so much ink caked onto the chase locking lever (among other places) that you couldn’t read the patent date in the casting and the lever did not close on the chase properly.

Taking the time to respect your machinery by cleaning it will teach you about the press, help you troubleshoot later if you need to, turn up problem areas such as cracked castings that should be fixed before a catastrophic event, allow the press to operate as it should and therefore allow you to produce clean, high quality work. I have a few posts on my blog about the cleaning and restoration of my 10x15 that may be helpful.

Rich

Front Room Press
Milford, NJ
http://frontroompress.com
http://frontroompress.blogspot.com

Thanks so much for your advice.

Clean the oil holes out with a drill bit. When you twist it it pulls the crud right out.

Oh…help me with this one! Who shipped it for you and are they available to take questions! I am in the process of moving the same piece and would really like to talk to someone about it….or better yet, forget about everything I have arranged and let them do it!
Thanks,pj

Your serial number is located on the upper left hand corner of the chase bed, just below the inking disc. This page has a picture of where it’s located:
http://excelsiorpress.org/rescue/index.html

Here is a page with a list of serial number and production years to tell you when your press was made:
http://press817.com/C&P%20serials.pdf

And this link has some good information on frequently asked questions:
http://www.greendolphinpress.com/letterpress-faq.html

Good Luck