When do you stop?

It has been cold, and the progress of getting the place for the press clean is slow. But there was a good day a few days ago and as I looked over the back side of the press I felt that some good cleaning would be all thats required. After all, what could be wrong with the simple spring with the attachment to the chase clamp and handle? And with all that grease and dirt on it, it would just jump like crazy when I got it off - and who knows what a pain it would be to get the spring back on after.
But then some sort of a guilt mechanism clicked in place and I removed the spring attachment to the handle, and then the handle hinge bolt. Sure enough the spring jumped around just to prove me right. After cleaning up the spring though, here is what it looked like:

I'm sure glad I took it apart, it's worn almost half through! When that spring lets go the chase is loose in the press - that would make a mess! There is a lesson in that.

Anybody Need a Motor?

The motor that came with my press:

It's for sale!
Offers?

Saddle Post Spring Detail

Turns out there are two different springs. one. the shorter one for the double saddle post & rod:
Length 31", 190 turns of 0.079" diameter spring material, wound to 0.465" inside diameter (0.620" outside diameter).
The longer spring is for the single saddle post & rod:
Length 34", 196 turns of 0.070" diameter spring material, wound to 0.467 inside diameter (0.608" outside diameter).

To be able to get the spring off the rod you need to be able to compress the spring a bit while removing the cotter pin at the end. I found a pice of 1/2" PEX pipe (for residential water pipe use) handy as it has just the right inside diameter and enough wall thickness to push in the spring. Once you get the pin out and release the pressure on the spring be ready to have the spring jump right into your face. A set of leather work gloves on your hands go a long ways to contain the spring force, letting it go more slowly.

Notice that on one end the springs have a little straight tail, that is the end near the saddle post (keeps the spring from yurning).
 
It'll be fun  getting the springs back on...

More Rust, Dust & Gunk Removal

For a few days It's been very cold. Since the press is still out in the driveway I haven't got much done. Today was a good day. Worked most of the day on the press, removed the saddle stud & rods and the gripper bar. Noticed a difference between the double saddle stud and sthe single one. The double saddle stud springs are shorter than the single saddle springs. I wonder if that is because the single saddles were not used on the press (by the previous owner), thus never got compressed or cycled? Or is there a technical reason for it? Tomorrow I will measure and document the springs. Made good use of degreaser and cleaners today. The platten cleaned up real nice with the rust remover.

Made a decision on the oil holes today. While I have things appart anyway I will redrill the top part of the oil holes and get oil hole covers to try to keep these locations from accumulating dirt, and make them more obvious for long term maintenance.

Interesting Encounter, Speed Calcs

Had an interesting encounter today at the farmers market. When I was looking to sit down to enjoy my danish and espresso, there was no table free. So I shared a table with an older couple. We got to talking about things and surprize surprize the gentlemen used to feed a C&P letterpress many years ago in a little town west of Red Deer. I asked about the speed and he insited that they were doing about a hundered pieces a minute top speed. Hm, that seems a lot. The other production number I have heard a few times is about 2000 impressions per hour (iph).

I am going to aim for half of that, 1000 iph. My press has a 24" diameter drive pulley. The smallest I am likely to get for the motor side pulley is 2" diameter. So that works out to a 12 to 1 speed ratio.

Here is a picture of the press as it arrived, with all the ties and chains removed, free at last.


With 7 turns per impression on my press, that is 7000 rotations per hour, or 116.7RPM. On the motor side that is 116.7 times 12 = 1400RPM. For an 1800RMP motor, operating at 1400/1800 = 78% speed of maximum is not that bad, but there is something else I have not mentioned before. I would like to increase the time available for the paper removal and placing task (while the platen is open) by manipulating (reducing) the drive speed depending on the press position (when the platen is open). During the three truns of the drive wheel while the platen is open I'd like to reduce the drive speed to about 40% (for a 1800RPM motor that would be 720 RPM). And during the four turns while the platen is closing/opening I'd like to run it at full speed. My press was equipped with a 1800RPM 1/2 HP motor, I have the original motor but not the motor pulley. My plan right now is to use an inverter duty 3/4 HP motor and VFD to be able to handle the cyclic acceleration/deceleration.
An 1800RPM motor actually runs at about 1750RPM at full load. Assuming that it will take half a turn (on the press) to accelerate from 720RPM to 1750RPM, and half a trun to decelerate back to 720, that makes one turn at an average speed of (720 + 1750) / 2 = 1235RPM.

So here is what my prediction is for overall rate:
3.5 turns at 1750RPM (at the press that is like running at 1250iph)
2.5 turns at 720RPM (at the press that is like running at 514iph)
1 turn at 1235RPM (at the press that is like running at 882iph)

Working out the average speed for the time weighting that each speed applies:
(3.5/7) * 1250 + (2.5/7) * 514 + (1/7) * 882 = 934.6 iph average speed, pretty close to the 1000 iph I was aiming at, and I gain a safety advantage with long platen opeing time. Let's see what that would actually work out to: 720RPM / 12 is 60RPM at the press, that is 1 rotation per seconds, so for the 2.5 turns the platen is open - that makes it 2.5 seconds. Plus the bit of time the drive is speeding up and slowing down. So maybe close to three seconds time for the paper shuffle. That seems lots. We'll see! One other feature I have been thinking about is to have two buttons on the feed table that have to be depressed before the press will return into the high-speed mode (or possibly if they are not pressed bring the press to an emergency stop via dynamic breaking). If anyone can think of holes in this reasoning, I'm open for suggestions.

Some Days are Easier than Others

Today was another day of rust removal. Now my order at Acklands came in and I have better emery-cloth and some rust remover to try out. Had bought a new set of wrenches at Home Depot, an open end - close end ratchet combination set in the typical heavy plastic packaging that you need a set of shears to open. When I came to use the 9/16" wrench I find the ratchet did not work, and looking at it closer it was a used wrench of a sightly different style (still a Husky). Back to Home Depot for a refund, but that was not so easy. Even though the packaging claims lifetime warranty there was a lot of waffling going on, I felt they were of the opinion that they were letting me get away with something. Frustrating.

Here is my friend Tom at the top of Rogers Pass, with the press in tow.

Then a slight, could have been bad mishap. I had attached the thow-off leaver linkage and left the lever pushed forward. Then I worked on cleaning rust off the platen and the tympan bale areas. I left the top bale folded down while I got busy with something else. As I turned the flywheel cleaning the main rocker shaft I felt a bit of resistance on the flywheel. Hm that's not right. As it turns out there id just the right amount of extra space left in the throw-off position so that the bale just gets squeezed a bit - without damage.
 
Note to self:
1. Never leave anything on the platen that could cause damage.
2. Always turn over the press for a full cycle by hand, and check if anything seems to take too much force!
3. Never leave the platen bales open!

Turn Over! Lubrication.

After a fair bit of reading and searching I have found the right lubricant for the press. It is a way-oil with just the right properties. (Way-oil is made specifically for metal working machinery where the oils has to stay in place even on vertical sliding surfaces and has to maintain lubricating film properties even under high loading and slow movement). Likely a better oil than was available at the time the press was built or in production. I am hoping use of this oil will extend the usefull life of the press far beyond my own.
When I first laid eyes on the press I was looking for evidence of oil remaining at the journals ind linkages. There was a lot of oxidized oil heavily caked with dust and dirt in those places, a good sign. When I removed the retaining bolts for one of the connecting rods, sliding the rod off a bit, the journal area was still shiny with good oil. I filled every one of the oil holes and proceeded to move the flywheel back and forth just a few inches. Hearing no noise, and feeling no resistance, I increased the rocking motion untill I finally made a whole turn. Seeing the oil in the oilholes sink down a bit gave me the assurance I was looking for: The oil was flooding the journals. The press moves with absolutely no noise, smooth as silk! The only thing you hear is the little clack of the ink disk advancing ratchet action.
I had to buy a 5 gallon pail of the oil and if it works out as I'm thinking now, I will package the rest of the oil in half liter bottles and make it available for anyone who would like to try it. But I have to try the motor test run first.

I was surprized about how the platen mechanism stays open for quite a long time. One press cycle on my press takes seven turns of the flywheel. For three of those turns the platen is wide open.

The drive wheel is 24" in diameter. Next I want to work out what speed motor I should get. The original motor is a 1926 half horsepower motor that looks like the size of a three to four HP motor today would. I will not be using it since I will want to go with variable speed drive and that requires the use of an inverter duty motor. Those have a lot better insulation than a standard motor and vastly better than what was done even just twenty years ago - never mind eighty years ago.

Rust Removal

Many many years ago as a first year apprentice I cleaned a lot of machine parts. And before embracing this endever I looked at some old presses, and I read a lot about the methods other people use. And then I went out to the local industrial supply store and got some emery cloth, scotch-bright pads and wirebrush. And then I met reality! The unmovable hulk of rust. A couple of hours every night, I promissed myself. It is quite satisfying to climb into bed with sore arms, sore hands and sore fingers - leaving behind another small reclaimed spot on the press. At this rate I hate to even project how long it might take. Long!

I've read about a shop that undertook a press recovery of a press very similar to my moder, also a C&P 12x18". You can read about it here. They really did some detective work on the surface treatment and paint. Their final result looks like a piece of art. My primary motivation is to make the press productive, create art with it - but not make it into a work of art. My paint job will be more utilitarian, but with some appropriate highlights. We'll see if I can do justice to it before I say too much.

It's Here!

It finally is real. The garage is nowhere near ready, but due to my friend Tom's extra-special efforts the press is there, sitting on the driveway

just outside the garage.















There was this little incident with a blown trailer tire, and that is a great reminder for all who might be tempted to do the same thing: Whatever you do, get a two axle trailer. The friendly U-Haul staff was trying to get us to accept a single axle trailer, when the one I had reserved the week before was not returned in time. Take my word for it, go two axle!

And there she sat in a high speed curve on the Coquihala Highway:

The emergency service arranged by U-Haul was great. Hope Towing rules!

It took me three hours to get her off the trailer, man is she heavy!


And now there are a lot more decisions to be made. 
The press had been in storage for 39 years and while there is a fair bit of surface rust, the important rotating surfaces, bearing areas and joints all had lubricating oil remaining (even though quite oxidized and sticky with dust and dirt). So the first task is to take apart all the bearings, remove the connecting rods and evaluate wear, clean lubricate and re-assemble.
I'm getting the idea that it might be worth while to measure and document all the components while I have things appart as well. I have not been able to find a schematic of the machine assembly yet, so maybe I could make a contribution toward that.
Tonight I removed the ink fountain, I will prepare it for long term storage as I will not likely use it for my rather short run work. And I removed the ink rollers and scraped the ink disk. Looks like the press was stored with some ink left on the disk. There is discolouration where the surface deposits were. I applied some penetrating oil and we'll see in a few days if I can emery cloth polish the surface defects out. It looks like the ink disk sits in position just by it's own weight. I wonder if people remove the disk off of the press to clean the ink - rather than cleaning it in position. That might be less messy. We'll see how heavy the disk is, and if it is reasonable to lift it out. After dinner I worked for 2.5 hours applying penetrating oil to bearing areas and looking over the press.

Getting Closer - Just Another Week

So it's just another week until I get to lay my eyes on what I bought. The trailer rental has been arranged. A double axel open trailer that should be able to handle the weight. I have to get a bunch of tiedowns to secure the press on the trailer, and I have been thinking about the process of getting the press onto the trailer. Tomorrow I plan on looking at the trailers and measuring some details. I think I should prepare some blocking for the rear of the trailer for when the weight of the press lands on the deck. There is supposed to be a forklift available, but even with a forklift - or especially with a forklift - there is only so much reach. The trailer is 12 feet long and has boards and rail around the front and sides. So the only way to get the press to the center is to drop it on the back and push-slide it forward. For that the back better be supported well.
More after the visit to the trailer place...