weird tri-lock issue with Kruzer vs Auto press

[jvanick]

today our employee gave me a head scratcher moment...

screens that are trilocked on the auto press are perfectly in the middle of the platen ( we were printing a design with a vertical line down the middle of the print )... no problem at all...

on the manual press however, the screens are shifted around 1/2" over after trilocking and the image isn't perfectly in the center of the screen...

I went out and did the same process (making sure he didn't mess anything up) and sure enough even if I put the same platen on the auto and on the manual the screen shifts 1/2" to the side.

Thoughts of why this would be happening, and how to adjust so that it's perfect again?

[ebscreen]

First guess would be your reg gates/bearings aren't centered to the pallet on your manual.

[jvanick]

why would that matter tho?   the screen gets locked into the screen holders via the trilock platen.

if the shirt platen is the same (actually same EXACT one) as on the auto, when the screen comes down, it should mate up perfectly regardless of where the registration bearing is?

still baffled.

[ericheartsu]

is the arm not centered? Is the print head in the zero position?

[ebscreen]

why would that matter tho?   the screen gets locked into the screen holders via the trilock platen.

if the shirt platen is the same (actually same EXACT one) as on the auto, when the screen comes down, it should mate up perfectly regardless of where the registration bearing is?

still baffled.

You're right, didn't think of the trilock pallet.

Can the mount of the pallet on the manual be off?

[ebscreen]

Wait, even that wouldn't matter. Nevermind, I'm of no help.

[jvanick]

print head is zero'd...

arms seem to be centered (it's pretty user-stupid when you're assembling it)

I just went back there and played again, and it's definitely off regardless of what I do.

it's like the trilock platen is mounting differently on the manual press than on the auto... (and differently than the platen)... doesn't make sense.

[mimosatexas]

On the underside of the screen holder extension arm thing (where the springs are), there is an L shaped piece that sits in the registration gate on the pallet arm.  This piece can be adjusted left or right and may not be exactly centered, but that shouldnt be related to this issue.  That is the only piece on the press, besides the screen clamp that can be "adjusted" and off center, at least as far as I can tell. 

With my DIY trilock pallet my "center" is about 1/4" left of true center on the other pallets, but I accept that as being just a product of it being DIY.  Everything is in register still, and the image being 1/4" off the center of the shirt, which is pretty much never loaded absolutely perfectly dead center anyway hasn't been an issue I care about.  I don't have another press to check it against, but I would assume any press it was used on would also be 1/4" left...

I can't really understand why it would be dead center on the pallet on the auto but not on the kruzer unless for some reason one of the pallet clamps was off center somehow, but that isn't possible based on how it is attached to the pallet arm from what I am seeing.  That would also mean it would center on the pallet on that arm after the trilock was removed...

[ZooCity]

We see things like this from time to time where a print is located off, we narrowed it down to the trilock mounting.  You need to be very careful how you mount it to the stop block.  It's not the trilocks fault per se but the M&R style of platen mounting is just not accurate enough for that device so you'll need to setup a procedure, i.e., push to the left, hold in with waist, lock levers in this pattern. 

Try moving the trilock around in different ways before locking and see if that's what's doing it.