Kelsey 5x8 handle attachment missing!

Belated thanks to those who helped with my earlier post about temperature in the workshop—it was very helpful.

I’ve used my newly-aquired 5x8 Kelsey on a couple of very small jobs. Started it up the other day, vigorously inking the rollers when the handle came detached from the back of the platen! It seems that one side (right) was held in with a plain 1/2” bar with nothing on either end—this eventually worked its way free. The left side was not attached with anything! Photo is attached.

Everything else seems ok and it seems that this would be a relatively simple repair to make. I looked at a couple of photos to see what was holding the bar in. We were thinking of getting a bar made with threads on each end an attaching lock nuts on the end. I hope I don’t have to remove the main spring in the middle, which looks touchy. My husband is handy with this sort of thing and we have access to a good machine shop.

So, does this sound like a reasonable approach or is something more needed? Any other suggestions? Thanks so much for you help!

image: press photo.jpg

press photo.jpg

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You seem to be thinking big solutions to tiny problems, first the shafts and/or shafting is almost certainly stock imperial size, so just acquire piece or pieces and just cut to length as appropriate, and then one of 2 options get your local engineer to machine tiny grooves at each end to accept external circlips (standard size) as on most Adanas or better yet for cents acquire several little washers as applied to childs toys etc which are in fact dished to push on and not come of. Unless absolutely needed. And re restraining the section against the spring pressure to facilitate repairs, acquire 2 or 4 simple cheap clamps as modelled on caulking guns for sealant applications, clamp/compress in place do the job, and then clip the clamps on to a high shelf, above head height and its a racing certainty within weeks they will be more than handy in the print room!!!!! Good Luck Mick

What happened to the good old nut and bolt???

P. S. to post above, should you acquire the 4 clamps as above further possibility, cruise on down to your local Trash 4 Cash, Rummage, Boot Sale or Jumble Sale, purchase ex kitchen chopping board, 1/2 inch thick Nylon type with hatched surface to hold your “T” bone steak (normally ) mounted on any suitable centre column,ex table leg etc! and Hey Presto with the aforementioned clamps, for a few cents ready made Blocking Press, Nipping Press, Padding press, and even hand made Paper press, with ability to squeeze accurately as compression occurs, plus should the need arise with the addition of a decent top block, the means to round of the spine of a book for rebinding with the appropriate book binders hammer? A nipping press is not an item, that is not normally an urgent requisite until you need one!!!!

On that model it has a simple angled chisel mark about 1/8 inch off one end. Use a sharp chisel and one good hit with a hammer, carefully tap back in it will stay in for another 70 years. And use a small brayer to work the ink on the disk first it will save a lot of time.

image: kelsey bar 001.jpg

kelsey bar 001.jpg

With respect and in view of the original post, where the postee is implying that one pin has fallen out and the other is missing completely, advising bruising a non existant shaft to retain, and then presumably doing the same to the existing one would appear to have more than one flaw, which part of the shaft are you going to bruise to hold in which part of the line bored entire bearing section (they have to be exactly parrelel) to work i.e. what fulcrums around what? usually the pin floats to even the pressure distribution, and secondly if you tap (or smash) a pin into effectively a blind hole, yes it will stay in for “X” number of years but SHOULD you need to remove it, HOW you cannot use a puller or an extractor or a drift with limited space. Fine on a shaft that traverses the whole machine, copper hammer, brass drift out in seconds!? Next Mr Hi-Tech nut and bolt solution!!! IF you were able to find any bolt with the correct shank to match the inner bearing surfaces and you then bolt up and pinch the 2 outer shoulders together chances are one of the (cast iron) shoulders will snap, and it would be almost inevitable that a mild steel bolt would be used, and how long will that last. If however it was decided to use high tensile or case hardened bolts to match the specification of the original pins, (which even on a little machine involves some considerable pressure think even tiny die cutting) finding such bolts with exactly the correct shank length to match the internal bearing surfaces would probably be like finding the “Marie Celeste” afloat in the Bermuda Triangle. Perhaps this is the very reason that most small machines are equipped with fairly hard traverse pins that are only held in the horizontal plane with circlips?>?>?>

Replace the shafts with the correct diameter and length. Hold them in place with new clips. If you need shafts and clips. we can help.

Tom
tandtpressrestoration.com

Thank you all!

Took everything to my local expert machine shop and they fixed me up with new rods ready for circlips—all installed and working fine—total cost $11.15…now on to figuring out the rest of what I need!

aschaffner

A S C would like to think that my post of 2/3/4 days before the above may just have been instrumental in your end result, and as my Dad would have said, 60 years ago study and take in every ones ideas, amalgamate them into your own course of action and do it you, have to run with it, and the price you paid seems good, here in the U K our very thin on the ground engineering shops are not interested in one off odd jobs they all want to play with their multi thousand £ pound (or multi thousand Dollar) computer driven C N C machines, consequently they quote telephone number prices, and you find your own way to the exit, this may be a way of saying, make sure YOUR engineer gets a Bigger Bottle of Jack Daniels at Xmas. It wont work here any more!!!

Michael, as a tee totaller you are doing well at encouraging us to drink more ! Hic ,

Well here in rural Vermont USA we have lot of small businesses and very handy guys! I put the press in the back of my car and drove to the shop—which does high end work too. A large bearded guy came out to the car with his micrometer, didn’t write anything down, thought my press was really cool and in good shape, and I had everything the next day. No Jack Daniels needed though I did promise to send him a Christmas Card printed on the press!