New Trucks and a Chase!

I found the "Golding Guru" through Briar Press (there are links to both of the pages to the right). Lucky for me, he happened to have 2 original Pearl trucks and a chase. Here they are right out of the package: 

The two "new" trucks don't have the slit in them for the pins on the end of the roller. The roller that was missing the trucks had pins on both sides, so I had to remove them both. The first slipped right out, but the second one put up a bit of a fight. Here is everything put together. Say goodbye to the exploded rollers though, I'm sending them off to be recovered.

We also took off the tympan bales and grippers to give them a thorough clean (and some straightening). Here's pop putting everything back together. 

He has also got the motor running, despite it's old age, it looks like it will work great.  The picture I've poster next to the motor shows the awesome little roller rack installed under the press. My friend Ryan the woodworker is going to hook me up with brand new feed and delivery boards (I just picked out some lovely hickory with him today - it's creamy yellow), maybe I can get him to make me a door for the underneath compartment to match . . .

Cleaning Up

2 parts vinegar, 1 part lemon juice. This is the best thing I've found for getting rid of rust, look at my shiny, shiny ink disk.

Here are the three rollers and four trucks that the press came with (missing two trucks). Two of the trucks have a slot for pins that come off of the roller core so that the trucks and rollers will spin together. The roller that is missing its trucks has pins on both sides, while the other two rollers only have them on one side. 

Also, I've listed a link on the right to an AAPA information page about golding presses. There are diagram charts, catalogs, and other links that have been very helpful.

In other news, while I was away my dad did a lot of work getting the base of the press back to how it should be (and I hear he broke three ropes doing it!). Everything is nice and tight now, and the flywheel turns so well, the press practically runs by itself when you push it. 

Bringing Home the Pearl

Early September I bought this Golding Pearl Improved #11 press at the University of Utah's redistribution center. It was in pretty good shape, but had a few problems and missing parts.  My lovely parents are nice enough to allow my new hunk of junk to live in their garage. So we tied it down as tight as we could and hauled it back to Ogden. As a bonus, I got a couple parts that don't belong to my press: a motor mount and some sort of roller. I also got a monster of a motor.

At some point in its life the press was detached from its base, and so over time it started to slip around, which started to split the two pieces of the base apart, and put pressure on the fly wheel. You can see the slip in the photo here. Other problems: rusty inking disk (and lots of other things), petrified double stick tape on the platen, two hard rollers, one exploded-hotdog-in-the microwave looking roller, a few bent pieces, two missing trucks, and a missing chase. Other than that, it's great!