Meihle V50 feed troubles…

I recently acquired a V50 in really good shape.
it was running and feedign fine on the floor before we moved it to my shop, it was moved professionally.

The problem I’m having is that when the sheet drops to the gripper bar the feed table, the grippers aren’t grabbing the sheet. They close, but for some reason, they aren’t grabbing the sheet to trip the cylinder impression and therefor the grippers aren’t picking up the sheet. I had the previous owner in to take a look and he’s also baffled.

As a test I covered the gripper trip suction on the gripper bar with a piece of tape and it worked fine, but doing this keeps the cylinder on constant impression…not too helpful.

I highly doubt the impression trip adjustment knocked out of adjustment during the move, and I’ve cleaned all the pieces out on the gripper bar assembly as well.

I need to get this press rolling and would appreciate any info, advice or ideas at this point.

Thanks,
Tim

Log in to reply   7 replies so far

Since covering the trip holes does operate the cylinder, then the cylinder trip diaphragm is in working order, but probably bumped out of adjustment. If you have a manual (Boxcar has it on-line) read it and make your adjustment to the cylinder trip pawl (I would probably loosen it one notch and see what happens).

printertim, it sounds as if the sheet is not making it to the grippers? There are vacum holes on the feed table are they clogged? The table should also have “kickers” back stops.I have made a back stop out of a thick litho plate shaped like an “L” and taped to the feed table. When the
sheet is dropped to the feed table it should be about 1/4”
over the razor sharp edge of the table. It sounds to me you have feeding issues not cylinder trip issues.best james

You can check that the sheet is covering the vacuum hole on the feed board. If your running a small sheet, cover the holes with tape. Check the hold downs aren’t too tight to the end of the sheet. This will sometimes make the sheet buckle and prevent it from sealing the vacuum holes on the feed table.

Hey All,
The sheet is going to the grippers okay, that was the first thing we checked visually with the press both open and closed.
The feed table vacuum holes are clean and working, I’m using a 12x18 sheet for testing so all the holes are covered and it doesn’t seem like there is too much suction on them to prevent the sheets dropping to the grippers
I have the backstops adjusted just to keep the back end of the sheet down stroke without a pinch or buckle.
I do have the manual, myself and the previous owner spent over an hour trying to troubleshoot it.
I’m leaning toward needing the adjust the trip diaphram at this point…it that something that is a realy touchy adjustment?
I’m running Kelseys, a Windmill, a C&P and a foil Kluge and have been running these for 25yrs so I’m used to working on them…it’s just that the Meihle is a different beast!

printertim,it’s is not that touchy of an adjustment. Before you start making adjustments paint a white dot on the collar wher it mates with the pin, so when you do make the adjustments you have a reference point. What I do when this type of thing happens is to tape off the trip holes
and back off the collar until the cylinder wont trip,and the
come back notch by notch until it trips,what a pain is that
you have remove the feed table every time when the cylinder is at the top and rotate the cylinder so you can get your fingers inside, just be patient and you get it .best james

printertim,
I have had the same problem in the past. when your feedboard is in the position where the paper hits the grippers gently rock the feedboard up and down to check for movement. Mine is worn and I have to wedge a small copper under the front of the clip holding the feedboard in place ( Between the clip and the top of the feedboard). This lowers the front edge of the feedboard closer to the gripper bar and the paper makes better contact with the trip holes. Hope this makes sense
PaulM

Thanks all….
great info…. the feed board is a little shakey so I’ll try that first then on to the trip adjustment.
Now I just need to get all my press work done so I can get back to the Meihle!
I’ll let you know how it goes…
Tim