Vandercook No. 17

anyone ever printed on a really old Vandercook in the No. 17 family? i really want to be able to print larger and have found one of these for a really good price. an sp-15 is kind of out of my price range for now.

I haven’t, but would recommend trying to contact one of the folks on the vandercook census (http://vandercookpress.info/vanderblog/census/) and ask them! It looks like the 17s don’t have grippers, which would mean no registration, but still, it’s a vandy!kelly

I have contacted them all!They do have grippers, just an unusual way of paper feeding, such as the angled feed board …”To feed the paper you return the cylinder to the left side (as you are facing the press) and carefully drop the sheet onto the little toothed ledge near the cylinder. Crank the press (while the lever is on print) and at the ink plate end, grippers will come up from underneath and grab onto the sheet, pulling it to the cylinder and form as you crank it back …and the ink plate is at the right end, which functions in place of the ink drum on later models. Basically you ink the plate and then crank the press on trip to distribute the ink. the function of the distributor roller is exactly the same as the later models.”as I was told by an owner & operator of a Vandercook No.17, who I found on that census list, JoDee Stringham. She is the expert here as I do not even have the press in my possession as of yet, nor have I ever personally operated one.I am thankful for everyone’s help that I have contacted so far, I would recommend that vandercook website you mentioned, Kelly, to anyone who has never visited it and has any interest in Vandercook presses.

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