Vandercook 232P Drivetrain Overhaul: Part [1] The Gist

Our beloved Vandercook 232 Proving Machine (proof letterpress), aka Hilda, broke. Specifically, it was her clutch that went bonkers. We use the word “bonkers” here because we really didn’t know much about clutches… It was slipping…

It sounded like things were grinding and the press struggling at times. Casual inspections only yielded to us that the link between the receiving end of the clutch was slightly loose against the worm-gear shaft. The surfaces of the clutch and the receiving plate appeared alright.

One thing let to another (more on this later), we decided to slap on a new modern AC servo motor instead of the “newish” old induction motor and connect it to the existing worm-gearbox directly, getting rid of the clutch mechanism all together. SIMPLE! … So we thought… Almost ten months ago…

Anyhoo, we only have a few videos to show now and one is us soldering the magnetic sensor unit that we ended up having to design/make from scratch:

… and after almost eleven months, Tada!

Here is the gist of the servo base design:

More to come soon! In the meanwhile, please check our YouTube channel on this: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk5rQBc5hAiOnXP20gMBgITfYBZh5ZwTp