I worked on a couple of letterpress t-shirt concepts last night that I thought I would share with you. These will be given to the people who support my Mobile Studio project on Kickstarter. I could really use your support right now to get this thing rolling! I plan on working up another design or two over the next week and figure out which one I will decide to produce once the project is funded. So if you love the design please support the project by pledging.

Just follow the link: SELF-MADE The mobile letterpress and printmaking studio

I finally took the plunge and started my mobile studio project. After seeing the popularity of a mobile letterpress studio that Kyle Durrie put together I decided to get my project rolling. Please check it out! I would love your support. SELF-MADE

Not the most ideal us of a Vandercook Universal III, but in a pinch they can be used for die cutting. I needed to finish up a project for a client last night and have yet to pick up my new (to me) platen letterpress. I would have rather printed on it but due to my time constraints I made my own steel die jacked and carefully set up my Vandercook to do some Die cutting! There is not much out there on the interwebs about Vandercook die cutting so I thought I would post this up.

I have been working on my kickstarter video a bit so I can get this project uploaded to their site and see if people want to back it. Here are a few more poster ideas that I have been working on. All things that I will be able to cut out of linoleum and print on my Vandercook Universal III. While it is not the press that will be in the mobile studio it is the press I will be printing all my posters on to fulfill my promises to those that will be donating to the cause. Enjoy.

After getting the kids in bed I hit the garage to clean the Vandercok Universal III. I started by finishing up the carriage as best I could. I took an old tooth brush and some roller wash and went to town getting in all the nooks and crannies. I have to say that it worked out nicely. From there I decided to tackle the adjustable bed. On Vandercookpress.info they recommended to clean it just in case. So that is what I did. It went really smoothly and I was done in under 2 hours. They say that an adjustable bed adds 500 lbs to the weight of  the press but I can’t see how that was true. The metal wedges are heavy! But I was able to lift them out and put them on the floor. I didn’t weigh them but there is no way I was lifting a 200lb piece of steel! Maybe if you include the bed extension and all the hardware but the adjustable bed pieces alone cant weigh over 300lbs combined. Check out the photos and if you have questions drop a post and I will do my best to answer it.

I recently ran a job on my Vandercopk Universal III just to get the bugs out. I love this press but I don’t love the process if dialing it in. It is very different from working on the C&P 10 x 15. This Vandercook has a whole new learning curve.

I have questions, so I have been taking them to the experts over at Vandercookpress.info. I have to say that I hae learned a ton of info about working on this press.

What I knew I needed was a new shaft and brass fitted nut for the adjustable bed. Just found out that that runs $720!!! Ouch! I will have to see if I can get the plans and have a local machinist put it together for me. At least they can see how it sets up on the press and bench test it here for me. I also knew that I needed new rollers that will run me $208 each.

What I didn’t know is how much work it will be to get the press into alignment. Right now I am in the trouble shooting phase. I have taken off the side covers on the cylinder carriage and started cleaning things up and checking the trip and print settings.

Here is a follow even though it is a bit late. Here are the other three.

Well, after a couple of sleepless nights I am back up and running with a functional letterpress again. The Vandercook Universal III still has some work that needs to be done to it to be fully functional but it is ready to start running some limited work. I decided to let her cut her teeth on some linoleum for the first print project so I spent a few weeks cutting linoleum after work to get art for six four color posters. I have three of the posters completely finished and the other three will hopefully be done tonight. Take a peek at what I have been up to!

18″ x 28″ poster printed in 5 colors with 4 plates. I played with a split fountain on the bottom words to add a bit of richness to the type. All type and illustration was designed, illustrated and cut by me.

This is a very rare Vandercook proof press. Only eight registered world-wide and this is the only one that that I have seen that is designated “E”. The Vandercookinfo.com website speculates that “E” stands for “engravers” press. I e-mailed Fritz Kline of NA Graphics out of Colorado and he was kind enough to pull the original purchase cards for my press.

Here is what it says for my Vandercook 32-28E
MODEL: 32-28E
SERIAL: 14745
OUR ORDER: H 8924
DATE SHIPPED: 1-31-51
USER: SOUTHWESTERN ENGRAVING COMPANY
ADDRESS: 5TH FLOOR WORLD BUILDING, TULSA, OKLA “G”

NATURE OF WORKS AND PARTS FURNISHED:
POWER PRESS WITH S. EQ.
AC 220-60-1
TIME SAVING FRISKET FRAME
REGISTER PLATE BASE
AUTOMATIC FRISKET
EXTRA INKING UNIT COMPLETE EXCEPT FOR STEEL DISTRIBUTORS
SET OF 2 SPLIT STEEL VIBRATORS FOR FORM ROLLERS AND ONE SPLIT VULCANIZED OIL VIBRATOR FOR INK DRUM
SIDE GUIDES FOR 2 COLOR WORK
TRAVELING SHEET DELIVERY TRAY AND REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR MOUNTED PLATES

Unfortunately not all of the pieces for this mentioned on the card for the 32-28E letterpress are still with the Vandercook. What it does still have can be seen in the images. The frisket frame, 2 color guides, traveling sheet delivery tray, vibrator roller for the ink drum and extra inking unit are not present anymore. The previous owner (second owner of the press) said they were not there when he purchased the press.

It does need a cover for the inking power and the carriage advance controls.

THE GOOD NEWS:
This letterpress has a power cylinder and power inking cylinder. Two pedals. One for grippers one for cylinder control. You can control the speed with a turn of a wheel. The bed is REALLY large for printing whatever kind of project that you can imagine. It has a large steel plate in the bed and it can be easily locked in for photopolymer work with a couple of high-speed quoins. I am also having the handle welded that turns the steel rollers and hold them up for form roller access. The purchase card says it is wired for 220 but the motors are both 115/230V and their are only 2 wires for connecting power to. I checked to see if there were any removed or modified wires and all the wiring looks original. Two wires typically indicate that it is a 115v unit. So I wired it up 115 to a portable generator because it is in my storage unit and it runs without a problem! Both motors are running and the carriage travels smoothly down the bed and back.

Bed size: 32.25 x 50 inches
Maximum sheet size: 32 x 30 inches
Maximum form size: 31.5 x 28 inches (2 color 15.5 x 28 inches)
Floor space needed: 4 feet x 10 feet
Weight: 5500 lbs

Form rollers are there as are the steel vibrator rollers in the traveling carraige. I have the bed extension with the hooks for holding an extra frisket roll (no roll present). There is a plate base, I do not know if it is original and some kind of register pins. They do a good job of holding the metal plate in. I have the feedboard also.

The ink drum is in good shape as are the motors. The carraidge moves freely down the bed with ease. You can roll it by hand at the main motor with ease. Take a look at the video below.

THE BAD NEWS:
The panel was removed from right under the feed board and was not there when I purchased the press. A piece of aluminium could easily be purchased and cut to size by the purchaser to cover these switches. Also the handle that lowers the inking roller has been broke off by the previous owner when he put the press in storage 10 years ago after closing one of his facilities in St. Louis but I had the handle welded back together and it works like new.

It has some surface flash rust but all in all this press is super solid and should last another 60 years easy. The surface flashing will clean up easily with a bit of Kerosene and a scouring pad. You will NEVER find another press like this one for sale that is fully powered with a 30″ x 32″ print size.

PRICE: $8000.00 or best offer

NOTE TO PURCHASER: You would be responsible for removing the letterpress from my storage unit where it currently lives and transporting it to your location. I will not be able to assist with loading. I would recommend renting some heavy equipment skates to aid in getting the press out of the storage unit.

One thing I learned from moving the press is make sure you have the right equipment!. I transported it from the previous owners location to the storage unit via a roll back tow truck. It worked out extremely well because they had a BIG winch.

Now here are some pics and video of it running.

I am super excited to get my Vandercook Universal III this Friday. I am so excited, in fact, that I had to create this poster. I don’t know if I will start cutting this into linoleum or wait till I can get some photo polymer plates made.