Category: Troubleshooting the press
Later topic: Albion Platen Balancing and Packing
Earlier topic: C&P Throw Off

Craftsman Roller Height

Hey all,

I’ve got a 10x15 C&P Craftsman I’ve been printing type on. It has some old rollers and (had) some Morgan adjustable trucks that came with the press – not sure how old but could be decades. The inking was ok for type but too uneven for polymer. It seems like the trucks or the rollers are not totally round anymore.

So, I bought some Derlin trucks from N/A Graphics. Now my rollers are way higher off the bed than type high! I can put in the lollypop gauge and still slip a 2pt piece of leading in between the lollypop and the roller!!

I made sure the Craftsman’s adjustable rails we not adjusted out from the bed at all.

Could these rollers really have shrunk that much? Do I just need to get new rollers?

Side issue – I also discovered that one of the rails is cracked in half – still functional if not adjusted out but otherwise un-functional as intended – so if anyone’s got Craftsman parts, I need a left rail and a gripper finger!

Thanks for any insights or referrals.

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Someone more knowledgeable about the Craftsman may post- I’d check the diameter of the rollers and trucks- would think rollers should be maybe .008-.010in or so over the trucks. Then check the rail height by putting a straight edge across and measure distance to bed- should be type high. Rollers could be too small possibly, manual here: https://d1mkprg9bp64fp.cloudfront.net/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/2012/...
says trucks should be 1 11/16 in. form rollers 1 3/4 in .
That would be .063 larger than trucks- I think that’s a bit too hard a hit for polymer plates. The cracked rail can be welded and machined, if you can get it off and find someone to do it. Let us know how it goes

If you have adjustable rails, why would you want adjustable trucks? This sounds unnecessarily complex to me.

Because if you adjust trucks to make up for a difference between rail height and form height, you will get slur. And if you adjust rail height to make up for a difference between roller and truck diameter, you will get slur. This is not so much a problem with metal forms, but with photopolymer, it is critical.
Morgan trucks really are not the best for photopolymer, but even so, the tires were meant to be replaced regularly. And if you over-expand them to make up for low rails or high forms, they will probably end up eccentric. Wandering voids in inking would be an indication of that.

Thanks for the measurements Scott Baldwin.

Just to clarify – I did not want the Morgan adjustable trucks. They came with the press. I replaced them with the Derlin trucks. The Morgan trucks were old, worn out, and kind of fussy.