Can we talk about the day everything went wrong with my book press?

Last Tuesday I had a perfect run of 12 bindings in the morning, then after lunch my press started squealing like a stuck pig. I thought it was just the hinge, so I oiled it up, but the noise got worse and the spine creases started landing crooked. Turns out the platen had shifted a quarter inch, probably from years of use and me never checking the alignment. I spent 3 hours tearing it down, realigning the bolts, and testing on scrap boards before I trusted it again. The weird part is that same press gave me my best batch of journals the day before, all sharp corners and tight joints. Has anyone else had a tool fail spectacularly right after a great streak, and did you manage to fix it or just replace the thing? I'm still half convinced I need a new press, but this one has been solid for 8 years.

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gavina7316d ago

...so I actually read this article a while back about how woodworking tools and book presses specifically can fail right after their best performance because that's when the stress is highest, all the joints are working perfectly and something gives way under the load. It kind of reminded me of how my old car would run like a dream for a week and then blow a gasket, like the machine was taunting me. Anyway, I've had the same thing happen with my guillotine cutter, it gave me a flawless stack of paper and then the blade started chattering on the next cut, turned out the whole carriage was loose. I'd say don't rush to replace the press though, eight years is a good run but a quarter inch shift is usually just a wear and tear thing, not a death sentence. I took mine apart, cleaned everything, and used a little locktite on the bolts this time, and it's been fine for two years since. If the squeal comes back after you've recalibrated it, then yeah, start looking at a new one, but I'd give that platen another shot first.