After removing the rust from my 1925 (new to me) 8 x 12 Chandler and Price printing press, I needed to figure out how to animate it. Operating the press only with my hands and arms is not practical or efficient. My options were to buy a foot driven treadle (like old sewing machines had) or a belt driven motor. I decided to go for the motor.

So, I acquired a motor, which happened to be sitting around Hound Dog Press (lucky me – they are very generous). The next step was to find a pulley for the press so I didn’t have to use the fly wheel (the big wheel on the left side) as the belt driven pulley. I found an 11.5 inch pulley on Etsy – it was being sold as a “Steam Punk” accessory for crafts! The bore hole was too small, so I had to bring it to a machinist to make it bigger.

We now have the motor, pulley and belt – now I had to secure the press and motor in place. I opted to build a platform that could act as a pallet if I ever needed to move all 1200 pounds of press again – this would make our lives much easier.

So after a couple very helpful, strong men assisted us in moving the press onto the platform, I could place the motor in the correct spot, mount it to the platform and install the belt. I also refinished the feed boards. Click on the image above to see the press in action!

Needless to say, I wasted no time at all putting the fully operational press into action! I printed four separate “jobs” in two days – here are a few! It was pretty easy to print a polymer plate, handset type and a wood engraving block – I’m very pleased!

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It was a cold day to move a press: a 15 degree Farenheit start at 8:15 am. We started out plucky enough and arrived at the King Library Press in Lexington at the University of Kentucky around 9:30 am to pick up the press.

Those wood runners on the bottom of the press look sturdy enough. They weren’t. One split as we got it into the elevator on the pallet jack. OK, don’t panic. We pulled out the trusty J-bar and pipes (Thank you Wesley Tanner!) to maneuver the press the rest of the time without a pallet or pallet jack – it made things so much easier.

Then we used a come-along winch to pull the 1200 lb press onto the tilting trailer. That was a little stressful – was the trailer strong enough – would we get the press positioned over the axle just right – would the rigging straps hold – would the press tip over?

I was so lucky to have a great team helping me! Melanie VanHouten of Josephine Sculpture Park and Dan Price, esquire, husband and amateur astronomer. We problem solved the hell out of it!

Everything went smoothly after we got the press strapped onto the trailer.

SUCCESS!!! There is now a happy little (super heavy metal) Chandler & Price printing press at Starpointe Studio! It’s ready for a documented restoration and we are ready for some rest!!

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