Picky Miehle V36 Impression Cylinder
Folks,
I’m having an issue with the V36. I was tinkering with removing the rollers (I’ll be die cutting middle of next week). At one point, I hand-spun the flywheel and encountered a lot of resistance. I backed off of course, but by then I think I might have kicked some aspect of the cylinder trip mechanism out of wack.
I had a heck of a time getting the cylinder to rotate at all after that. After reading all the helpful stuff in Paul Watkin’s post (http://www.briarpress.org/19289 ), I got a good way through fixing the problem. But there’s a lingering issue.
You know how when the cylinder finishes a rotation, and it’ll latch back in place with a loud click when the cylinder’s at the top of the press? Well, before the problem, when I would want to rotate the cylinder 180 degrees to get inside for maintenance, it would lock into place a second time. Plus, I used to be able to flip the cylinder 180 degrees by going in either direction. Now, I can only turn it one way, and it doesn’t lock the second time like it did before. I think this might be impacting my success with getting the cylinder to trip at the right times when I’m feeding stock through the press.
I’m going to keep playing with the diaphragm and spring-loaded latch inside the cylinder, but I’m convinced it’s something to do with one of the cams just outside the cylinder.
By the way, I heard there’s a guy in the Southern California area that knows how to fix and service these presses. I might want to look him up sometime. Anybody have his name? Thanks!
-Matt
First of all, only turn the cylinder forward - never back. The optimum position is about one inch below the top - I’ve marked it on the frame with red paint
One of the things you have to be very careful about is that if you forget to turn the cylinder back to normal as it goes down you hear that sickening crunch or crash and is just about impossible to turn it by hand. It will also take out part of the front edge of the transfer table edge.
The units were originally supplied with bars to help turn the flywheel but most have disappeared - you might see two holes at diagonals - that’s where you but the bars.
The short bar you have to turn the cylinder by hand in the correct position to change packing and make ready, allows me to leave the bar so it rests against the lateral bar and the top and stops the irritation of the cylinder moving forward. It helps to remind you the cylinder should not be moved until you turn it to the correct position.
Just make sure you don’t forget or are interrupted and run the machine with the bar in there!
It has nothing to do with the diaphragm which is only for controlling the air and automatic stops etc. Incidentally we did in fact find the hoses were the wrong way round and it now works pretty well. We also found the cylinder trip latch needs taking out an oiling with very light oil. It also helps the trip for small stock to cover up the suction holes on the transfer table to the edge of the stock.
Good luck
Paul