“fingers” on my Pearl Platen Press broke
All, the “finger” on the right side of my Pearl platen press snapped off, and now the rollers will not roll behind them as they should. Is this piece critical for operation of the press? Where might I locate replacement fingers? Any help from this community would be greatly appreciated!
Best, Nan
fingers.jpg
finger.jpg
Hi Nan,
They are called grippers and they are not 100% necessary. Some forms that have a lot of ink area will cause the paper to stick, The grippers pull the paper off the form so it stays on the bed and is easily removed. You may be able to have your grippers repaired. They can be brazed if you have all the pieces. Yours are upside down and also bent improperly and it likely is the cause of the breakage. The flat part should not have that curve. Someone bent them. After straightening and turning them right side up the adjustment screws should be rotated closer to the bed rather than the platen. You can remove them to have them fixed and then straightened and remounted properly. Take a look at the gripper on this 1890 Pearl on my website to see what I mean about being straight. http://www.perennialdesigns.net/wp-content/gallery/pearl-comparison/roll...
John
duplicate
Thank you, John!
I generally have my grippers removed as I never print on “Bible” paper with sticky ink. Also, I have a couple of characters I damaged on the grippers as well when I was getting used to them.
That part certainly COULD be brazed or silver-soldered maybe, but if it was my press, I might take both parts out out to my blacksmith shop and forge weld a piece to replace the broken-off end. While I was at it, I would lay them on the anvil and straighten them out. Brazed parts that flex, as this one would tend to do, will eventually break again. I understand though, that not everyone is a blacksmith.
More likely, though, I would repair the broken part and then put it away somewhere in case I ever wanted to sell the press. Grippers are more trouble than they are worth.
A quick-fix might be done with JB Weld epoxy and a couple of small pieces of scrap metal stock on either side of the work piece over the break. If done right, it might last forever… or it might not.
You can get replacement grippers from Fritz at NA Graphics:
http://nagraph.com/suckers-grippers-press-parts.html#981