Custom Roller Trucks?
Does anyone know where I can get roller trucks made? I have a No. 8 Golding Jobber… The rollers were sent out for recovering with multiple issues from the company I sent them to… The trucks are much lower than the rollers and I am guessing that I will need them custom in order for them to work properly. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Any local machine shop should be able to make them. If you take them the rollers and tell them the amount smaller you want the trucks they can machine them from whatever material you choose. Take an old one as an example for the width and fit to the roller axle and roller hooks if they are the bearing journal for the roller.
twopaperdolls- it sounds to me like the problem is that the rollers are too large or small, not the trucks being the wrong size. When ordering rollers, you should send the trucks along with the cores and have the rollers made to match.
Recently, I’ve recieved a raft of e-mails and questions from newbies who are getting rollers back from the makers that are much smaller or larger than the trucks. In one case this last week, a maker sent back rollers that were a full 1/4” larger than the trucks….. and the printer was outraged, until he realized that he hadn’t specified the diameter, nor sent the trucks along to be matched.
If you DID specify the exact diameter, or sent the trucks with the cores, and they came back over or undersized anyway…. you should be on the phone with the roller maker, demanding that he supply the right size. A reputable maker will almost always offer to grind or recast the rollers.
If you didn’t do that, then the maker is not at completely at fault. He probably supplied the “standard diameter” listed in his book for that machine.
No matter what happened, the best course is to get the right rollers, not to make different trucks. By making larger trucks, you run the risk of them jamming at the bottom of their travel, or other clearance problems. If you cut down the trucks to accomodate smaller rollers, then you can encounter ink coverage problems.
By the way…. which company did you send them to? If they are problematic, other printers might want to know.
Some older presses, including some Chandler & Price and some Goldings, were made with the rails less than type high. Presses like this, mine included, require either rollers that are smaller in diameter than the trucks or, if the rollers are made the same diameter as the trucks, require the rails and/or trucks be taped to raise them to type high.
I’ve not yet been able to discover why this was done by the makers but it was. Though some will disagree, it does not affect the printing. An old C&P catalog I have (circa 1915) specifies that the trucks and rollers not be the same. What is important is that they be type high (in practice very slightly below). So check the height of the rails before you do anything and compensate accordingly if necessary.
Rich
Front Room Press
Milford, NJ
http://frontroompress.com
http://frontroompress.blogspot.com
Winking cat is right, the trucks and rollers should be the same size as the trucks. You can send the trucks back with the rollers and tell them to make this correction. They shouldnt charge you.
Sun Roller in Arlington Texas has made a few sets of rollers for me over the years, and they were not only good rollers, but way under $200. I keep hearing that people on here are paying around $400 or more, that sounds crazy to me.