2 different Pilots, 2 different problems

Hello Nifty
on 9 Dec 12 (18:47)
Updated 9 Dec 12 (18:58)

Well, we’ve recently come into the luck of owning two Old Style C&P Pilots. Both are in decent shape, one more than the other (the most recent is going to take a while to de-rust because it’s been sitting on a porch for several years while the first, mentioned in a previous thread, had been “repainted” …), but both have two issues.

Our first (the painted one) has been cleaned and has rollers, a base, and finally tympan paper. In the cleaning process, we noticed the left roller arm had a small plate of metal screwed into the bottom, but I’ll admit I didn’t think much of it at the time. Apparently, it was an attempt to fix a crack. While the press moves smoothly, once I put rollers on and was testing them out, the nuts on the inside of the “repair” catch the spring and make it stiff and hard to pull the arm over the curve of the rails to ink the form. The rollers do roll, but they catch just a little right after clearing the ink disk.

Once we noticed the stiffness, we loosened one of the screws and this seemed to help, but we decided to remove the plate and check exactly what it was bracing anyway. There seems to be a crack, not an entire break, along two sides of the roller arm (I have no idea how that would happen, since the crack is on the inside and not the outside), but it doesn’t appear to be a break all the way through the metal. I would certainly NOT have drilled holes into the arm to fix this problem had it been my press to begin with, but someone before me decided this was a good solution.

I’m worried about stressing the arm and crack further with use, especially because of the sudden catching motion of the two nuts against the spring. I’m guessing I should find someone to weld the arm just to make sure because I can’t tell if it’s welded or not.

The break and the shoddy “repair” are the first set of photos below.

Does it look like it’s been welded at all? I can’t really tell. It may have been welded and then the support added “just to make sure,” but I’m not really experienced with what a weld looks like. Is it something I should just get rewelded? Do I need a new roller arm cast?

Suggestions welcome!

—-

Okay, so our second Pilot is a bit of a rust bucket, but that’s nothing lime and vinegar won’t take care of. I’m not afraid of rust anymore after cleaning our first Pilot. However, when we were cleaning this one up, we noticed that the yoke rod was missing and the yoke spring was rusted into pieces (206E & 206R in the New Series Pilot manual). There’s just a tiny piece of the yoke rod left and the spring isn’t worth keeping.

See the last two photos. Rusty and sad, right?

What do these parts do? Will I be able to find replacements?

Hello Nifty
on 9 Dec 12 (18:48)

Updated 9 Dec 12 (18:59)

Pilot #1 Photos:

Additional photos and photos in a larger size on my DropBox:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/886334/C%26P%20Pilots/pilot1-rollerarm-repair-00...

I just want to make sure that it’s either been welded and we can print with it or we should get someone else to look at it and weld it again to keep it safe. To really print properly, we’ll have to find a way to remove the screwed in plate. It’s a terrible solution that catches the spring and makes printing difficult; I’m worried about stressing the spring and the break every time the roller trucks hit the curve of the rails. I guess we could find something flatter to replace the nuts with to hold the screws in place, but, it’s still probably someone’s half-hearted attempt at avoiding a repair.

I guess the other solution is to find another roller arm, but I’m not going to hold my breath for that one unless someone can recast it for us. ;)

P.S. Don’t be shocked by the previous owners shoddy attempt at recreating the pin-striping. It’s a bit of an eyesore, but we’ve decided to love ‘er anyway.

pilot1-rollerarm-repair-004.jpg

pilot1-rollerarm-repair-001.jpg

Hello Nifty
on 9 Dec 12 (18:49)

Updated 9 Dec 12 (18:52)

Pilot #2 rusted 206E & 206R parts:

Not sure why my images only show up sometimes and not others. Here’s a link to them on my DropBox:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/886334/C%26P%20Pilots/pilot2-206E%26R-001.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/886334/C%26P%20Pilots/pilot2-206E%26R-002.jpg

pilot2-206E&R-001.jpg

pilot2-206E&R-002.jpg

Ink Spot
on 10 Dec 12 (09:25)

I can help you with both conditions. I will repair the roller frame without mending plates. This will require some disassembly. If you are up to it, contact me and I will walk you through the process of disassembly. You send me the frame and it will be returned good as new. The yoke rebound shaft, spring and cotter pin need to be replaced. I have the assembly in stock.
Tom
tandtpressrestoration
[email protected]
651-730-0986

Hello Nifty
on 10 Dec 12 (09:53)

Awesome! I’ll try to give you a call today and send you an email shortly. :)

dickg
on 10 Dec 12 (10:53)

i’ve heard lots of good things about tandtpressrestoration, i don’t think you can go wrong.

Hello Nifty
on 10 Dec 12 (12:22)

Thanks, Dick! I’ve read good things about T&T, too, so I’ll be excited to get in touch with them.

We were really bummed by the patch job (first Pilot). It looks like a lazy, silly thing to do since no care was taken as to how the screws would affect the function of the rollers. Our guess is once the crack happened, then the scary paint job was applied and the press sat as a display piece. It’ll be great to fix ‘er up and get it printing again.

The second Pilot is, thankfully, just a matter of parts. And rust cleaning. Oh, the rust … everywhere but the ink disk (of all places). ;)

Now to see if we can scrounge up the money from between the sofa cushions before I go on unpaid maternity leave from the day job for the first part of the new year. That’s the real challenge …