Roller storage

Usually its best to store them on end, so nothing touches the rubber. Cool dry place. COLD can make them swell. you can make a roller rack.

I made a roller rack for the ones out of the big Heidelberg cylinder. Two pieces of 1”x3” about 48” long. Drilled a series of holes along the center of each far enough apart so rollers don’t touch. Hole is a bit bigger than the ends of the cores. On one of the boards I cut the holes into slots. The boards are mounted so the one without the slots is at the top.

Put one end of the core of the roller up into the hole, the other end slides into the slot at the bottom.

On the Heidelberg rollers there is no problem as the ends of the cores are stepped so the actual rubber doesn’t rest on the rack. On rollers with a straight core I’d be concerned the weight of the roller will push down on one end of the rubber roller and mushroom it. You’d have to incorporate a stop of some sort to hold the core up and keep the rubber roller from resting on the board.

Smaller lighter rollers may be best stored horizontal where their weight isn’t really enough to bow the core over time. Just block up the ends of the cores to keep the rubber from touching anything.

Ah Okay, I see. So longer rubber rollers like the ones I have from my Hauer Rekord should be stored vertically, and from my Adana 8x5 the can be stored horizontally? What about greasing the rubber for preventing drying out. Should I be doung that? Or isn’t that important?

Probably the ultimate storage environment for rubber is in a cool, dry place away from heat, light, and ozone sources such as some electric motors. If you want to see what sunlight can do to rubber, just look at the cracks in old car tires. The cracks form because the rubber has become less flexible due to action of the sunlight. The tires have become harder so they crack instead of flexing.

I would not apply any type of oil or grease to stored rollers.

Rollers don’t become harder because they dry out. They become harder because they slowly oxidize, due to light and/or ozone.

Thank tou Geoffrey for your contributuon. Much appreciated. And usefull ;-)

Coen, you’re welcome. Thanks for the feedback. Glad I could be of help.