Help! C&P seems thrown off when it’s not!

I am in desperate need of some help here. I’m still a newbie, but I’ve done about 12 large projects on my C&P 10X15 OS without any problems. Today, I printed up a run of about 200 enclosures for a wedding suite. I switched to color #2, ran about 20 of them, and then my plate started inking a bit muddy, out of nowhere. Even though I had run the press for a while to let the ink distribute well, I thought that maybe I would take the chase off and let the rollers run for a minute or so and clean off the plate a bit.

After I let it run for about a minute and a half, I replaced the chase, set in a sheet of paper, and started her up. After the press opened, there was no imprint, so I thought that maybe it hadn’t inked properly the first time around— so I let it go again. Still no print. Hmmm. Upon further inspection, I find that the press is nowhere NEAR closing as it should. The throw-off lever is not engaged, but that’s almost what it looks like it’s doing. When I do engage the throw-off, the distance between the platen and the press bed is about twice of that when the throw-off is not used.

I have played with the throw-off for the past 2 hours, watching it closely to see if anything looks “off”. I can’t see a thing. However, the throw-off “pin circle” (according to my parts list, that’s its name… it’s the saddle-looking, bell shaped part) will not completely move to the opposite side when I push the lever. I’m not sure if it ever did, to be perfectly honest, as the back of the press bed touching the backshaft’s bolts keeps it from going any further. Either way, that’s only when I’m trying to ENGAGE the throw-off, so I don’t see how it would make a difference or cause my current issue.

My press didn’t make any strange noises, movements, etc that would lead me to believe that something happened… it’s almost like it just decided to stop pressing out of thin air. Does anyone have any suggestions for me as to how to get the platen and press bed to come together again?

Oh, and the platen’s distance from the press bed is the same from top to bottom, so I’m hoping that’s a good sign.

Thank you for any help or advice you guys can give me. Please be nice… like I said, I’m still a newbie :) I desperately need to finish this project, though, so I MUST figure out a solution to this problem.

Stephanie

image: The press closed without the throw-off lever engaged

The press closed without the throw-off lever engaged

image: The press closed WITH the throw-off engaged, so you can see the difference in distance (it's a very small difference... less than 0.5cm)

The press closed WITH the throw-off engaged, so you can see the difference in distance (it's a very small difference... less than 0.5cm)

image: The backshaft's bolt to the throw-off pin circle, touching the back of the press bed... keeping the "pin circle" from shifting over completely to the other side

The backshaft's bolt to the throw-off pin circle, touching the back of the press bed... keeping the "pin circle" from shifting over completely to the other side

image: The pin circle moved as far as it will shift over. Like I said, I'm not sure if it ever DID move over completely to the other side, or if it's even supposed to.

The pin circle moved as far as it will shift over. Like I said, I'm not sure if it ever DID move over completely to the other side, or if it's even supposed to.

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Your backshaft is 180 Dergrees off, best james

Yep… that back shaft should have the throwoff connection facing AWAY from the press itself. You could try disconnecting the linkage and simply turning the shaft to see if you could correct this problem.

Has the press been recently reassembled? Looks like someone painted the backshaft. The two saddle bolts are of different lengths (at least they are on my OS 8x12 and I recall the same on the OS10x15 at the university) and the corresponding holes are of different depths. It is important to get them right, so just rotating the shaft on its axis may not be enough. You may need to swap the shaft end for end. That’s when you may regret the paint on the backshaft. It may bind coming out of the side frames. Even a tiny amount of rust on my backshaft made it interesting to remove.

What I don’t understand is why all of a sudden!
I can’t wrap my head around that. 200 impressions and it’s fine then…what!?
I wish I could help, I can only sympathize.

Connie

Thanks so much, everyone! The backshaft didn’t even look different to me, but then again, my 8.5 month-pregnant brain doesn’t have the best memory lately :) I have no idea how that happened, especially without making any odd noises, or WHY it happened after everything was going great.

No, the press wasn’t recently reassembled… I disassembled, cleaned, and painted a lot of the major parts last May or June when I first bought it. I’m hoping the paint doesn’t prove to be an issue, and that maybe everything will work out rotating the shaft on its axis. It apparently moved itself that way, so hopefully it will cooperate and go back into place the same way? We’ll see. As long as it doesn’t do this to me again… :)

Connie, I can’t wrap my head around it, either! A year of perfect printing, sans a few adjustments and an out-of-round flywheel, and then she does THIS to me in the middle of a long run? I was flabbergasted.

Thanks again, everyone. I really appreciate the quick help. I’ll let you guys know how it turns out when I get out there this afternoon and fiddle with it.

Stephanie

Looks like the shaft went “over center”, which would indicate that the connecting rod lets out too far when the press is off impression. Looks like disconnecting the link will allow you to turn the shaft to the normal position, but something is either assembled wrong (I don’t think it’s the shaft), loose, or worn.

Looking at my machine, I don’t think the shaft is the issue since the bracket arm is located perpendicular to the centerline of the shaft. However it might cause a problem if the linkage is not plumb between the pin circle and the shaft bracket—introducing enough additional throw to have the shaft/bracket go over center.