black hole?..

You just have to stick your hands in and take it out. Wear rubber gloves. Make sure the power is off. You could use a tongs from the kitchen.

There is also a hole on the flywheel side, to the rear of the flywheel. Lots of getting greasy and wishing you had smaller hands. A worthwhile pursuit though; I was cleaning somebody else’s press and found a brand new set of nickle guides! On my press all I got was the small wrench from the tool tray, still worthwhile cleaning.

one other thing, when mucking around in the black hole be careful, a press i bought had quite a few razor blades in there.

then i’m doing it right… thank you very much for your feedback! i wish i find something interesting!

This is where it changes from “hands on training” to hands IN training!

I found a few guide pins and roller bearings. No guides or gold for me, just loads of old oil and die cuts :-( Might be worth sticking a magnet in there if you have one.

i use a galley magnet with a string tied to it, tape it to a coat hanger shove it down there, hang on to the string just in case.

all i got until now is just die cut labels and O I L. might try that magnet thing after all the paper is out—that thing is really full of oiled paper that reveals both sides, i just keep some that i find interesting.

i’m wondering what is a galley magnet dick—i do have some magnets that were used to mount metal-back photo-polimer plates. is this it?

rgds

Galley magnet is the size of a pretty small piece of furniture used to hold a piece of furniture in place or a reglet or something keeps the form from sliding around in the galley when being stored. Not fool proof but spares you a quoin or something you’d need to wedge. Most people I know just tie up with string but these magnets are pretty handy too.
Good luck,
markh

oh nice! didn’t know about that! now i’m confused on what’s the real purpose of those magnets that i have—are they realy magnets for metal-back polimers, or galley magnets…

can you post a picture of the magnets you have, that would help to determine just what you have. I would post a picture of one of my galley magnets but i’m not too good with a computer, can’t figure out how to do it..

Galley magnets are about the size of a quoin, around 4x8 picas but sometimes larger and definitely well below type-height, generally have pieces of steel on two opposite sides. The magnet is set onto the galley in its two projecting steel feet. The steel makes the bond much stronger than a bare magnet.
Some people do use magnets for rough positioning on proof presses, but they will shift.

A 4 x 8 cicero German galley magnet…

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I am skinny and can get my paw in there from front, side And side and i have amassed a few lays because of my dexterity , i have to warn as mentioned the profusion of sharps within old machinery ,have had a few scalpel blades under my finger nails over the years ,not an experience to be recomended !! On the subject , try to keep ths bit beneath the preess clear as there are bit like the counter that are troubled bt too much crud in the machine base it can in extremes cause probems with engaging the impression lever but there does have to be a fair load of stuff in there for this to cause grief.

Oh yes you can get at some of it from the rear too but you have to be quite agile to do so , am i so lucky to be a rake in the human guise !!!

Has anyone ever tried using a pump designed to handle oil? I’ve done it using the hands in oil way, but was just wondering if it would be possible to use a pump. It would have to positioned so a hose wouldn’t be blocked by paper.