Chandler Visual Assessment

The light rust can be cleaned off; I’d make sure the press can be turned over easily by rotating the flywheel by hand. Where is the motor? That should come with it, along with rollers and chases. This looks like a project…maybe not good for a novice unless you’re up for a challenge.

If you are indeed a novice with platen job presses, it looks to me like the flywheel shaft has the crank in it for a treadle. If so I would strongly suggest you get a Hern Ironworks treadle, have a copy of their hook made by a blacksmith (as the Hern hook is, I believe, cast iron and not finished properly to fit the press without damaging it) and clean up the surface rust, oil it up thoroughly, get some rollers, and do some printing with the press before motorizing it or spending a lot of time refinishing it. There is nothing like hands-on operating experience to get you started. Print lots of short-run jobs without using the fountain that is installed, to start with.

Bob

I’m not seeing a pinion gear where it should be; is it pushed out of sight against the frame?
(The pinion gear is on the drive shaft, on the right side, and transmits motion from the shaft to the larger gear on the right.)

This press appears to be missing the throw off handle which is a critical component. The feed table is not shown and the delivery table is at a weird angle without the back stop. The grippers look very much out of place—way too long for this press. It all adds up to a hack job by someone who appears not to understand this press. And the gear guard is only partially present and I wonder how that happened. The New Style C&Ps came with a full gear guard. There appears to be the remains of an electrical control tacked to the front edge of the feed board and that begs the question of how this press was powered. I would urge caution on this press.

Wow thanks a lot for all your responses. I went to see it but wasn’t lucky enough to find the owner; got a glimpse of it from a close distance though, and my novice eye logically couldn’t catch anything that seemed odd.

I, however, was able to see the difference with another press which was in the neighborhood and that I met with by chance (made me want to buy it even more), whose pictures I’m attaching. It’s also a Chandler.

This new press is currently disassembled but the seller offered me to put in operation before giving it to me and even giving me a crash course. He hasn’t used it lately but did use it frequently not long ago for die cutting.

The owner acknowledged that the current assembly-status of the machine wasn’t complete enough for me to make a full assessment (assuming I could), but that he had all the original pieces and even showed me some.

I already made and offer for it. =) But could you please give me your comments on it as well? Thanks a lot in advance!

PS. Can you tell if these machines are both the same model? If so, would you advise buying the other one (from the first set of pics) as to have spare parts or something? Thanks.

chandler_3.jpeg

chandler_2.jpeg

chandler_1.jpeg

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I suggest examining the exposed bearings ( such as the one on the side of the big gear in “chandler_1” and any others you can see) for any obvious wear or scoring. Die cutting can be hard on bearings of those presses especially if they weren’t oiled regularly with quality oil. I would also find a completely-assembled C&P and take some photos of it at all angles to compare with this one when it is assembled, to be sure all is there and well. As it it is a bit of a “pig in a poke”.

Bob

Where are you located. I have a complete chandler and price you can look at to compare presses or I can send you pictures. I am in Kansas City mo
Jeff