C&P is locking up…

Looking for some advice {from anywhere, but if it helps later, I’m in the Boston area} on what to do here.

Was doing a marathon printing session over the weekend and my press ‘locked’ up on me. By locked up, I mean, the motor was running one moment, I was feeding the press the next, and all of a sudden, I hear the motor ‘trying’ to turn the flywheel over and the press not moving. It was literally ‘stuck’ in it’s position. I thought maybe it was an oil issue, so I quickly grabbed the 3-in-1 and started my normal weekly routine of oiling the hell out of it. After rocking the press back to life— it seemed fine {this was Saturday}.

Printing again yesterday afternoon {Monday} and it locked up again. I wish I say “well, it’s because I didn’t oil enough…’ but thats simply not the case. haha. This time it was REALLY stuck. It took me and 1 other strong guy to ‘rock’ it back to life this time after another marathon oiling session.

… if you’re still here, you rock my world. A few questions:
1) Is perhaps the 3-in-1 oil not OK to use? Any suggestions out there?

2) What is happening APPEARS to be oil based since when I oil the mess out if it, it grasps life again {for the record, it’s not impression based… the platen was not closed when each time happened}.

3) Any other thoughts? I kind of regard my press as a member of the family— the most overweight one in it, but nonetheless an extension of me— would really like to keep it healthy.

Log in to reply   14 replies so far

3-in-one-oil is not what you want, it doesn’t stay on the parts you want to oil, what you want is a non-detergent motor oil, that is the best, you can steal a can of regular motor oil from your husband (this is cheaper) i always run out of the non-detergent oil and use regular motor oil, if i remember you have a 8x12 c&p, in the back down near the back feet thereare oil holes that sometimes get forgotten, but i think if you get rid of the 3 in 1 you will be all right. Good Luck Dick G.

Thanks for the pointers, Dick— Someone directed me to ‘Marvins Mystery Oil’— thoughts on that? {I’ll have to do my homework on a non-detergent motor oil}.

… We have PLENTY of motor oil running around our house, with a Z06 vette and 67’ camaro, there is no shortage of that.

Non detergent is the best, like i said i am always out of that and use a 30 wt. motor oil, i run 3 automatic presses 6 or 8 hours a day 6 days a week and have never had a problem, don’t know much about mystery oil, stick to regular oil, you will go nuts with all this different oil, try motor oil , think about it it works on motors, right. Dick G.

30 wt non detergent oil is what I use. I’ve never had the 8x12 OS lock up on me. As a second issue you may check to see how much packing you are using and the size of your form. My guidelines are if I see an impression on the tympan I’ve got too much packing. If the form is more than a third of the chase, then and I’m likely to break it up into smaller forms and print twice.

The synthetic oils are designed to adhere to the metal so that you always have some lubrication. I have used 30 weight Castrol Syntech successfully for years (gee, I hope they still make it).

Paul

Thanks the comments folks— I’ll head to the store this morning and pick up some 30wt motor oil.

Arie— thanks for the suggestion on packing, but neither time this locked was because of packing {plated was open} and it was literally locking up in mid-cycle— as in on it’s way to close, or to open— nothing related to impression or it being locked together because of too much packing/impression. I wish that were the case!! THAT I can easily see and fix!

Thanks all— updates to follow as I try the new oil out.

it is “marvel mystery oil” and is too light for your app. 30 wt nondetergent as stated above is what you want. if it locks up again, feel around the different bearings. side arms shafts, etc. if you detect a warm area, that is quite likely the problem bearing. a side arm can be removed and cleaned up. if it is the main shaft you can try cycling the press backwards with copious amounts of oil. this is where the thinner marvel oil can be used to wash out the bearing. then switch back to 30 wt.

3 in 1 is to light. go to the auto parts store and get a quart of 30wt non detergent oil. must be non detergent, as detergent will cause the machines to bind. rerefined oil also will cause binding.

come on,,, Jeez,,,, Ken are you looking at the dates on these posts?

but here we go…
just cause oil is going in and out does not mean it is getting every where. it is time to tear this press down and find out where the prob really is and solve it….
BUT I ASSUME as no new posts on this means PROBLEM solved………

Hey Eric— I should have posted a resolution—- it was an oil issue, and it wasn’t getting everywhere with the too-light oil I was using. A good dousing of the 30w, and I was back up and running in record time.

BTW: tearing apart a c&p is a BIG BIG BIG task, and never to be undertaken lightly, so I’m told… advising people to do so without exerting other measures first, sounds a bit rash!

yes it can be… but this is only to resolve a problem that has not been found when other procedures that i stated above did not work. side arms are easy. the only big deal is the main shaft.

Just thought I’d weigh in. I too locked up my press when I ran my first job of 1,000 impressions back in 1982. Never even thought or new about lubricating the press. Now I oil before every run.

Now- what kind of press is a Z06? Seriously, you have a Z06 and you actually take time to play with the press!

running a press like this slow speed backwards whilst flushing the crap out of the problem bearing is good to do. the marvel oil works good at flushing,,,, but you MUST switch back to 30 wght before using in production….again,,, check carefully for extra heat at a given bearing area of the press…dry friction develops heat… you can feel this…