Kelsey Chase Screws

Hi all, saw that my chase has screw holes in it - got the press with quoins, wonder what advice you can all give me regarding the use of screws vs. quoins?? Found screws for it on ebay, but want to check here before I buy them. Thanks!

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They work really great, there are actually 2 parts to the screw setup, there is a piece of metal that goes on the inside of the chase to provide pressure to your lockup, you will need that as well.

You use the screws along with chase irons (strips of steel that fit inside the chase and protect your forme from the screw ends) to lock up the chase instead of the quoins. Mainly they give you a bit more space in the chase than the quoins would. They’re not necessary, but kind of nice to have.

Oh, and while there’s nothing wrong with buying those off eBay, you can just as easily get them at any decent hardware store. I don’t remember the size off-hand, but they’re a standard set-screw. I’ll try and remember to look at mine when I get home tonight and post an update.

My Kelsey didn’t come with screws or chase irons so I bought a bag of set-screws and a 3’ strip of 1/8” x 3/4” mild steel bar from Lowes for probably less than $10. I cut my chase irons from the bar stock with an angle grinder and was done.

The irons would work better with a row of divots for the screws to bite into as the irons like to walk a little when you’re tightening the screws, but it hasn’t been that much of a problem yet. This could easily be done with a hand drill or drill press. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN

Corroborating the above, plus, from U.K. perspective, the 3 smaller size, Adana,s all came with Grub screw fittings, originally with normal flat screw driver slots.

The Die cast Alloy/Zinc chase frames, (threaded) and grub screws, always got damaged, so we replaced/substituted with *Allen* style grub screws, coupled with >T< bar style (Allen) key, but with, BALL ENDED, style key which makes for very successful and Gentle, “Lock Up” because the Key can tilted 20/30 degrees, when the forme/chase is flat on stone or work surface, avoiding the very syndrome that killed the Grub Screws and Screwdrivers. ??

HeidiRenee,

The set screws can be found at your local hardware store.

Tom & Terri
T & T Press Restoration

www.tandtpressrestoration.com

the screws are 1/4-20 by 1/2

you can find them at Lowes, Home Depot or a hardware store.

As other suggest, I made my own chase irons out of flat stock bought at Lowes, Home Depot or a hardware store

LD

For a number of screw chases the screws are along the bottom edge and not the top so you could have a registration problem if doing a job that requires accurate positioning.
Using the screws gives more space inside the chase when needed.

Re using screws, I did find on my Adana that there was a tendency for the flat metal strip to ride up at one end, driven by the rotating end of the screw then being tightened. Moved to narrow margin quoins, and never looked back. PS the screws through gifferent Adana chases seem to come in two different sizes, but maybe someone was re-tapping worn threads ….

Measure hole distances and use a drillpress to put dimples in the back of the chase itons so they dont ride up the screws.
Grinding a slight taper on the tips of the screws helps (Dont forget to chase the threads with a die afterward!)

In my 8 years at Kelsey, I must have drilled, tapped and inserted thousands of screws into chases from the Junior size up to the 9 X 13. Please just give the screws a try to make me feel that all that work was worthwhile.

PW