‘65 Redball with irregular impression
Hi Everyone,
I’m seeking advice regarding mis-impression on a redball windmill.
When the issue began it was after roughly 15,000 impressions while die-cutting a simple 7x11 triangle shape out of a thick cardstock. The issue is that every other sheet began to kiss cut with the least amount of impression at the bottom of the bed. Naturally, I blamed one gripper at first but found the issue to happen regardless of which gripper held the sheet. I cleaned out a lot of paper debris underneath the press and the issue reduced in regularity but is still happening. My impression is set to barely below 2. The shearing collar has been replaced within the last few years and is tight.
The only thing I found to differ between this redball and my ‘70 redball is that the ‘65 redball has a small gap (1/8th) between the back of the shearing collar and the oil reservoir spot inside the press. My ‘70 redball has no such gap.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It may help to know that I recently tightened my clutch (ever so slightly) after noticing a lag in the flywheel after impression.
Thanks!
Andrew
Probably a few dumb questions but here goes….
1. Are you sure you had the impression collars locked so it didn’t possibly “back off” on impression slightly while it was running?
2. Are you sure you weren’t right on the edge of die cutting and kisscutting where you had the impression set at?
Usually I will bring the impression up to where it is just cutting completely and then go another 1/4 turn on impression to hopefully be safe that I will not loose impression while running.
Not sure about the 1/8” gap issue though.
Dave
Thank you Dave, the impression collars were locked and I generally do the same technique to sustain impression.
I decided to open up the shear collar plate and have a look. The collar wasn’t broken or damaged but had a few faint circular scratches running around the exterior. The inner ring looked as though it was in the same position as a new one. Regardless, I placed a new one inside. This created a good consistent kiss impression at about .5 on the impression setting.
I found that the gap is being caused by the 5 hex bolts that circle the main hexbolt on the shear collar. Or, perhaps some combination of collar/washer/bolt moving. As they are being tightened (in a criss cross pattern) this gap increases. Is there a trick to this that I’m missing? I understand that they are to be tightened first. I’m afraid of not being able to tighten it as tight as it was. How much torque should I expect to put on the central and surrounding hex bolts?
I’ve attached an image where I’m pointing out the whereabouts of the gap.
pallet-knife-pointing-at-gap.jpg
As far as the manual goes it says….
To complete the reassembly, insert the center bolt first so the holes for the other bolts can be lined up easily. After the five outside bolts have been inserted and tightened lightly, tighten the center bolt. Remove one of the 5 outer bolts and put on the center bolt locking plate. Then tighten the 5 outside bolts evenly and firmly.
I don’t see anything about a tightening pattern or any torque specs.
Sorry I couldn’t get this to attach the right way….probably can’t read it either.
Heidelberg.jpg
Thanks again Dave,
I do keep a copy of my manual at the ready but was hoping for something more specific to my issue. I think I’ll just need to approach this slowly and carefully. I may be dialing in my center hex bolt too far before putting the outside 5 in…
I’ll be back at it on Sunday so hopefully I can fix this up then.
I’ve identified the issue by finding two hefty fractures in the inner ring of the shear collar that I had missed. I decided to replace the part on both presses. Everything went in smoothly and aligned well. A small gap exists on both presses but does not interfere with impression so far.
seems like I should be ok
Your welcome!
Sound like you got it figured out Andrew! Hopefully it will be all good from here out.
Dave