Plummeting SP15 part

Hi all,
As I was cleaning up my SP15 just now, the pictured part fell to the earth on the operator side of the press, I know not from where (but it was somewhere up by the feed board).

It is about 3” long, has one bullet-shaped tip and is greasy. Clues?

Many thanks!

image: ThingThatFellOff.jpg

ThingThatFellOff.jpg

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Start looking for a hole in a gear or arm or anything else nor held by a nut and bolt as you have a picture of a taper pin there i would refrain from running press till you have found its home because trying to locate it properly in its home can be frustrating if the home is a rotating shaft and the holes go out of line eithre by a few thou or worse 180degrees they always seem to fit till you have tapped it half way home and it goes no further. you should be able to push it most of the way back without a hammer if you cant you will either be putting it through the outer component the wrong way or the inner one ,this is why you should avoid running the machine , all in the hope you dont lose alignment .

Looks and sounds just like the pin which holds the crank arm in place on both my 320-G and my Number 4.

Mark’s right- it is the pin that secures the crank to the cylinder stub. Make sure you drive it back in from the right direction. As you can see it is a taper pin!

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

I bet you are both right.

You wouldn’t happen to know which end goes in first, would you? (I assume it matters … everything on machines seems to matter. Not to mention to madden.)

Thanks!

Oops, Daniel—I missed your post.

Thank you all so much for solving this!

Dont hit it with a hammer yet , pushit into the hole and see how far it goes by hand , remove it and try the other way , whichever way goes in deepest is most likely correct , note the word most likely , once you have a rough idea tap it in gently and you will see the dirt mark on the pin approaching its depth if you see its only a 32nd or so out you cad give it a proper knock , once home paint the top red and if i comes out again in fifty years time you will have an easier time of things .

Please note i hate taper pins and one day when you have a heidelberg platen you will see why if you have to work on it ,I am kind of nuts as i work on them all the time and my work title really should be the foul mouthed drill fiend !!!

The crank should have a set screw. If it’s missing you can find a replacement in a hardware (1/2 - 13 x 1/2”).

Yeah, Paul is right, the crank has a set-screw and the pin which you found on the floor. The set screw should be released before anything else if it’s still there. I imagine that will help you square the arm up when inserting the pin. The set screw is going to supposedly help keep things in place, but it seems redundant to me.

Is this press new to you/was it moved recently? Was the crank arm removed during transport? Because that would explain the loose pin.
I removed the arms on both the presses I have when they were transported, and had to re-install the pins upon arrival. One of my presses I didn’t hammer the pin in firmly enough and when I went to test print the pin popped out during the run. Nothing major, but it has to be in there firmly, I advise you.