- Press bed.
- Racks and rails.
- Oscillator and rider rollers.
- Inking Rollers
- Gripper pedal and print/trip mechanisms.
Check, check, check, check, and check. We’re getting to some of the more cosmetic issues. While I admire gleaming restorations that I’ve seen elsewhere, I’m more on the side of getting it “print-ready” and then putting off the purely aesthetic touches until a rainy day after the press is back in operation. For example, the #4 I restored previously had been spray-painted–unevenly–metallic silver. I always intended to re-paint it–maybe the ever-popular machine-gray, or perhaps a bright red. But, a press prints no matter what color it is, and I never got around to re-painting.
The gripper-bar, though, is one of those pieces where function and aesthetics overlap. The brass adjustment knobs always pop when they’re shined up, and the gripper pins really do function better when they’re torn down, cleaned, and built back up. The bonus is that the underside of those pins often carry and transfer grime onto the gripped edge of a print, so the tear-down can address that small but annoying source of dirt. Some Before, During, and After photos here.
Before:
During:
Reassembled:
