Earlier topic: Moving a press?
A few suggestions from some observations (limited to the Internet) a little logic (NOT FACTS) Peter will I am sure add the facts, dot the "I"s and cross the "T"s but here goes If the comparable size KLUGE has the same type of construction as Heidleberg Platens and Thompson Auto Platens I would expect to see provision on the stroke of the pump to enable the volume of air and vacuum to be regulated, plus a clack valve or valves, to drop the pressure and/or the vacuum at a specific point i.e. sheet release specifically timed??? plus as frequently happens here the flexi tubing is replaced with the first available option for (keep the job running) speed, consequently soft wall partially collapses, without internal spiral wound coils!!! and the same soft wall, is often used for the pressure side, and because it absorbs some of the pressure in expanding gives a time lag on the delivery of the final pressure!!! Here in U.K. what is used is aforementioned spiral wound/reinforced for the vacuum, and what we call "FLOWLEX" for the pressure, which is thick wall plastic with a laminate of nylon cord in the middle of the wall, pressure resistant, flexible, durable, and when used with what we call Jubilee Clips, which give 98% contact tubing to metal fittings, as opposed to the crude wire horseshoe type, as used on auto plumbing hoses. (of course these may be all that are available in an emergency!!!) and one more tiny addition it, should not be out of the question to incorporate a simple "T" piece into the pressure pipe and fit a small pressure guage into the system, to monitor permanently the pressure that you are making and consuming, "T" piece a few cents from your local D.I.Y. store and pressure guage from your old Auto foot pump, or beg, borrow or steal one, from the little tiny pump that you plug into the socket on the dashboard of your Car Truck etc. Once again NOT facts just wild shots in response to the original post!!!!! Good Luck MIck.
that information. I will pick up an air guage and a Tee, to monitor the air flow. It just seems using the 3 blower pipes under the feed board doesn't generate enough air when running a heavier sheet like the .016 SBS. I did just pick up a seperate Gast air pump on ebay and I am going to just use that on the air blast. My compresser makes so much noise I can't hear the press with my headphones on.
I don't have a way of providing psi of the pump on mine, but I've run plenty of coasters and lettra 220 without any problem - it often takes some tweaking to keep it from picking up multiple sheets, but I haven't had any extended problems on my 12x18.
Your pump is not so much a pressure pump as it is a volume pump. Imagine holding a large inflated balloon and letting the air out freely. It goes fast albeit without much pressure. this is volume. Compare to one of those small auto plug in tire pumps. yes they can pump to 200psi,but it will take an hour. this is pressure.
If you have the" spring and ball" type check valves, make sure they are clean and free of wear marks. if you have the newer" flapper disk" type, make sure they are installed in the correct orientation. Clean all hoses and pipes. Check for leaks. Plug the blower pipes enough to expose them.
I will be making up a poor man's flow meter and send you the details.
Being in the uk and not having worked on kluge presses this is not a answer that will help but in a roundabout way it should.
The machine you have is 50 + years old ,the pump they put on it is still as standard so it must have done the job previously , you may want to look at its general condition internally if the pipes are doing there thing without leaks , Mick has put up a valid tip refence the hoses , you must have the correct type of hose on your vacuum lines .Whilst the wrong type will not always collapse completely they will appear to be breathing in use and the movement in the pipes shape is robbing you of vacuum pressure . It may not strike you as making that much difference i assure you it does , especially if the sheet picks up with a hiss ,if the pipe collapses every stroke thats a small area of recieved pull off the piston that should be transferred to the sheet pick up bar instead of being "lost with the pipe wall collapsing " , there is no logic in that but i have found this a problem in the past and having the correct hose on sucker bars has made a tremendous difference where the wrong ones were previously fitted by the unwitting . The same can be said of the blower hoses ,you dont want them to appear to be breathing , the pump itself will be able to push the air required into the system and some to spare ,there will always be a degree of pressure againt the pump too so the total area of all the blower holes will be calculated to enable the back pressure to be maintained ,a leak in a pipe will destroy the balance and you then lose efficiency in the line , this is important with machines like the vertical miehle that uses vacuum in its operation and air pressure to operate parts of the press.
As i said i dont know the kluge but many presses suffer from some problems that are never obvious , the last resort should always be service the pump lines are usually the problem ,you may nee d the pump have attention but your hoses will still need checking .
Awhile back you noted that you run a lot of coasters. Do you feed them automatically or do you hand feed them. What size do you run. I run 4" X 4" and would like to run automatically.
how do you set up your feeder and pile height control. It seems with coasters the pile needs to come up pretty fast to keep the coasters close to the pick up suckers. Any info would be appreciated. I just ran 3500 air fresheners and fed by hand but just cant get the pile height to come up automatically the same way each time. I spend a lot of time cranking the board into the pick up suckers by hand. Can the stroke be changed. Hope to hear from you. Regards !!!
Hello, I converted my kluge to using two fast vacuum pumps (this is current kluge press setup) .
Package Products - kluges came with what look puck's machined out to fit over where the cotton belts windup as the feeder advances to the suckers this compensates for thicker stock. We foil stamp a lot of really thick 1/8" boarding will try to get to the shop and take pox once you see them you will have a eureka moment.