Rollers / Trucks / Cores

From Kelseys to Heidelberg Windmills, NA Graphics has rollers for you.

Press sizes are determined by measuring the inside dimension of the chase. Thus, a 10x15 C&P, also called a "platen" press, has an actual chase measurement of 10x15, and the "platen" measures 11 1/8 x 18 1/8, in inches. Please use the chase dimension only when ordering rollers for your "platen" press. Please do not measure the platen of your press for roller sizes--if you're not sure what the chase or platen is, please call us for an explanation.

Please note that our inventory of rollers is constantly changing, and though we try to maintain a working inventory of the most popular sizes and types of rollers, there are times when we are out of stock on certain items. To avoid disappointment, please call (970) 387-0212 to verify availability, especially if you are facing production deadlines or have a critical need.

Please use these prices as a relative and not absolute guide as to current charges. If you last bought Kelsey rollers back in the 50s or 60s for under $10 each, then prepare yourself for sticker shock.

We can furnish rollers for presses not shown in this list for presses like Heidelberg Cylinders, Little Giant, various table top presses, Pearls, and Goldings. For those wishing to have rollers recovered for rarer presses, it may be helpful to send your trucks, if applicable, along with your cores. Please call us at (970) 387-0212 or email us at info@nagraph.com. Your press may have acquired non-standard cores and trucks over the years, especially the table tops and C&P presses, so we may ask for detailed information for measurements before completing your order.

Our rubber rollers are made from Buna-N, a synthetic rubber that is widely used for printing rollers. We specify a softer material (measured in terms of a Durometer reading) that is in the 20/22 range. Regular letterpress rollers made by most companies are made to a Durometer of 25, and offset rollers are harder at 28. These harder rollers will not work well in letterpress, especially with numbering machines. We do offer a less expensive but harder Heidelberg roller at a Durometer of 25, but we do not recommend those rollers for any critical work where ink transfer is of paramount concern. These rollers are not affected by humidity or swelling or shrinking. Rollers on or off the press should not be exposed to direct sunlight.

Before You Ship Your Rollers...

Please check with us before shipping rollers. As a rule, it is less expensive to furnish new cores for Kelsey and C&P rollers. We recover Heidelberg, Kluge, and Vandercook cores. In addition, it is strongly advised not to ship rollers in wooden boxes, as these will invariably be damaged in transit. UPS also charges an additional fee to handle wood boxes. We maintain a stock of new cores at our roller makers for C&P, Heidelberg, Kluge, and some Vandercook presses, but not for table top presses--those are all custom manufactured (Sigwalt,Golding, etc.). PLease include your name, address, and what you want us to do on a note inside the box--we get numerous mystery packages of rollers and some we have no clue as to what we are supposed to do. We are old and decrepit and failed our last mind reading refresher course.

Roller Wash

Do not use gasoline, kerosene, benzene, mineral spirits (paint thinner) or similar petroleum distillates on any roller supplied by us. A water-miscible roller wash, which we sell, or that can be obtained from any other source, is the only recommended cleaner for the synthetic rubber compounds currently being used. Our traditional letterpress solvents are too harsh on these rollers and will cause premature failure, swelling, pitting, etc. Water miscible means that water can be mixed with the cleaner to reduce the strength and aid in the removal of paper fibers and paper coatings on offset presses. Use of any cleaner other than standard roller washes voids all warranties on new rollers. New rollers may last many years if proper care is taken with them.

Prices listed are per roller. Rollers are not sold in pairs or sets. Each roller for platen presses requires 2 trucks, and trucks are priced and sold by the each unless otherwise stated. Note that there is no charge for additional boxes--rollers are drop shipped from the roller maker, or if from our stock, in cardboard boxes. We do not use or charge extra for wood boxes.

Cores listed are for the steel shaft only and do not include the covering or any accessory parts. Some cores, like many of the ones used on Vandercooks, are complex and costly to manufacture. Every effort should be made to reuse existing cores unless damaged with the exception of C&P cores as noted above. If in doubt, call us.

"Kelsey 5x8 Form Roller, new core, rubber"
$75.00
RO58
All the Kelsey rollers we furnish are precision made using a professional grade of synthetic rubber called Buna-N that has a useful life of at least 5 years, and longer with proper care. This is the same material used on the larger letterpress machines. Kelsey used to furnish rollers made from an inexpensive urethane product that would eventually melt, often causing an incredible mess. All new 5x8 and 6x10 rollers from us have nibs on the cores to lock in the new style trucks we sell (like the C&P cores and trucks) so that the roller and truck turn together as one unit. Trucks from other suppliers that attach with a set screw are inherently lopsided and will contribute to uneven inking. Trucks for the 3x5 are $5.00 each, for 5x8 and 6x10 are $5.50 each.

Two 5x8 rollers with a set of 4 trucks totals $172.00. Add to your order with accurately cut new tympan, ink in either 5 oz. tubes or one pound cans, gauge pins and all your other needs with one-stop ordering.
Quantity

"Kluge 12x18 New Style Form Roller, new core,"
$215.00
RO428N
New core costs have increased substantially as the long time supplier of cores to the roller industry closed their doors in 2010. Douglas Machine in East Dundee, IL supplied the industry with after market cores for letterpress and offset and the lack of a low cost supplier has caused some substantial turmoil as roller makers seek alternative suppliers. Sound roller cores can be recovered at a substantial saving over using new cores, especially for cores like the Kluge that have special features, like the spring loaded bearing retainer on each end of the Kluge core. Other easier cores like for C&P presses do not have this pricing problem.
Quantity

"Heidelberg 10x15 Windmill Form Roller, new core, 25 Durometer, with bearings"
$213.00
P-37H11
New core, roller Durometer is 25. These are made with a slightly harder rubber than our regular Heidelberg 10 x 15 roller. Roller comes with 2 P-838 10MM bearings. Our old part number RO455. The cores on these rollers are not a direct match for Original Heidelberg rollers as they have a core diameter of 10MM. They will fit in the ink distributor or ductor position (no bearings used in these 2 positions on the press).

This roller uses a bearing for a 10MM OD core shaft and that bearing is part P-838. This roller will not work with bearings made for original Heidelberg rollers or those made by Lith-o-Roll which require a shaft diameter of 9.5MM, bearing part number P-11183.
Quantity

"Heidelberg form roller bearing, for 10MM shafts"
$8.50
P-838
This bearing is for our rollers listed as part P-37H10 as a single roller or P-37H11 assembly with 2 bearings and 2 runners (trucks). This bearing also fits Heidelberg rollers made by Syntac. It will not fit Original OEM Heidelberg rollers or our other Heidelberg rollers listed with the softer durometer of 20/22, RO-451 rollers that require a 9.5MM bearing. The reason these are much less expensive is that they are off-the-shelf bearings and do not meet original core diameter specifications, and thus fit cores made specifically for these bearings listed as our P-37H10 or P-37H11. These will be too large for use on original Heidelberg specification rollers and should not be mixed.
Quantity