Hi! We’ve got an (obviously) new-to-us 320G and it had been sitting in a cat friendly/very stinky basement. It’s come a long way already cleaning wise, but we’ve still got bugs to work out……
Our carriage is a BEAR to move down the bed. We have cleaned and oiled and greased a lot of parts and now assume the eccentrics are outta wack. The set nuts were loose when we found it. I’ve attempted to set the tolerance between the bearings and the underside of the rail to .003-.004. And every time I try that, the carriage seems to sit too low for it to come back to home position. When I return the eccentrics more or less back to how we found them, the carriage comes home but is still just a bear to crank up and down the bed.
Would anyone have advice on the eccentric resetting?
In addition, we can’t get the grippers to come up when we push on the pedal. As far as I can tell we put that linkage back together as found. There’s some slight movement in the grippers, but nothing that would allow us to properly feed.
There’s a few more bugs here and there, but getting the carriage to move easily would be great!
Thanks for any advice!
Matty Kleinberg, Firecracker Press
An imbalance of 1/16″ shouldn’t be a factor given the width of this press. The wear on the under rails may be uneven along the length of the bed. The method of setting the bearings while the cylinder rests on 6pt leads is done in trip mode.
Hi there,
I am working on the same 320G. The good news is I’ve worked out the issues with the grippers and assorted other small problems. The carriage is now easier than it’s ever been to roll down the bed, and I daresay it would be able to be used in production, but not without a bit of extra effort. I have tried Paul’s suggestions to set the tolerance to .003-4 and run into the same issue Matty did– the carriage then cannot come back to home position. Likewise, loosening the bearings and resetting them while resting on 6pt leads does not allow the bed to come home. Any other tips for setting the eccentrics?
Also, I noticed that the operator side of the press is sitting 1/16″ lower than the far side. Could the fact that it’s not perfectly level, even though it is only slightly off, be causing some difficulty with the carriage?
Any thoughts are much appreciated.
-Bri Kagy @ The Firecracker Press
Adjusting the fulcrum for the grippers can help. However, it may be that the gap between the push rod and the push bar (on the bottom of the gripper bar) is too great due to excessive wear. The solution then will be to build up or fabricate a new trip bar.
As to the bigger issue of the carriage bearing adjustment, Matty and I had an email exchange prior to this post. Wear on the under rails can make adjustment very difficult.
I wondered whether the cylinder bearers were contacting the bed bearers in trip mode on the return travel. I suggested loosening the bearings and, in trip mode, roll the cylinder onto 6pt leads placed on the bed bearers then tightening the the lock screws. If necessary the cylinder eccentric can be manually shifted by locking a pair of vise grips on the eccentric tie rod and turn.
In ten days will see a 320 and will report any insights.
The grippers could be one of a few things – a sticky or bent gripper pin (one will mess with the whole lot), a mis-set fulcrum on the gripper trip lever, or bad linkage somewhere inside.
To check the pins, try pushing on the push rod at the top of the gripper lever, far side of the press. If they don’t move, disassemble and check/clean the pins. Conversely, if they rise/fall easily, it’s probably not the pins.
Adjusting the fulcrum will give you more or less push. I’ve never rationalized which way it needs to go for more push, but trial and error usually finds it. Hopefully Paul or Eric will chime in with more experienced advice.
As for linkage issues and your bearings, someone with more experience here should answer that instead of me.