Diamondback S levelling

[Rockers]

We`ll be trying to level or better parallel or Diamondback soon. this will be the be first time we will do this without having a M&R tech around. to be honest the thought of it scares me a little but maybe I`m just thinking of it as being more complicated then it really is. I`m pretty sure I still remember how our tech has paralleled the press the first two times he came by by running the floodbar over each pallet and then once all pallets are level he placed 2 shims on the pallet to parallel the screen holders to the pallets. If anyone here has some more tips and tricks or just some general advise now would be the time to let me know please.

[jsheridan]

It's a DB.. what are you doing that you need to level it out.

seriously..

unless you're using roller frames with 50+ newtons with 65 line dots and constant force squeegees.

don't waste your time. 

[tancehughes]

John, I don't know why you'd say it wouldn't need leveling? Regardless of the tools he is using to print with, the more level a press is, the better.

Rockers, we've leveled our DB a few times, and it's really not that bad. We drop a frame in, bring the platen up to the frame, and use quarters to measure the distance between the frame and the platen on all four corners. It does take a little bit of time, but you'll be glad you know how to do it yourself and your prints will thank you as well

[Admiral]

I think he just means it's much more difficult for those platens going out of level.  We have only needed minor adjustments in 4 years on our Diamondback R.  Using thin thread mesh helps since we use less pressure.  I think the chopper size limits it a bit too.

[tancehughes]

Gotcha, well yes our adjustments have been minor as well, but they are noticed.

[jsheridan]

I've been 'leveling' blue since the mid 90's.

unless the machine is really out of whack or shaking itself to pieces.. just keep printing money.

[ZooCity]

We parallel our gauntlet weekly and sometimes twice a week. It's easy and doesn't take long. Perhaps the diamondback is better built than an old gauntlet, I wouldn't know, but if the platen mounts and amount of deflection are the same, it will absolutely need leveling. This is not a waste of time, quite the opposite-you will see faster setups and better prints.

John, I've read many a good post by you but must respectfully disagree here. Keep in mind I may be out of touch with the newer presses however.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

[Rockers]

We parallel our gauntlet weekly and sometimes twice a week. It's easy and doesn't take long. Perhaps the diamondback is better built than an old gauntlet, I wouldn't know, but if the platen mounts and amount of deflection are the same, it will absolutely need leveling. This is not a waste of time, quite the opposite-you will see faster setups and better prints.

John, I've read many a good post by you but must respectfully disagree here. Keep in mind I may be out of touch with the newer presses however.

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

Yeah I was kind of surprised about that reply too. Made me wonder why I joined a forum.  No in all honesty even our M&R tech said we should level the press at least once a year. But then what does he know;)

[Binkspot]

The press and for that mater all your equipment should be checked as regular maintenance. No different then your car, change the oil, tune up, cleaning, etc. Set a schedule for your needs using the MFG recommendations to preform maintenance on all your equipment. Make a check list with time frames, daily, weekly, monthly, etc including imprints something like weekly or 5000 imprints which ever comes first then follow what you prescribed. You dropped a nice chunk of change on the equipment so take care of it. Its always better to address potential problems on your schedule then the machines, issues always happen at the worse possible times.

First have the right tools. Buy the right size wrenches instead of using an adjustable wrench or pliers. This makes it easier and reduces problems of damaging something.

Before doing the pallet make sure the brackets, channels and locks are clean. If you change your pallets often sometimes some crap will get stuck to the bracket or channel it slides into causing a high spot. Make sure the locks are snug and holding the pallet firmly. Always number you pallets and keep them on the same pallet arms, this is more critical with wider pallets, left to right is worse then from to back.

Level the pallets with the flood bar, get each one dead nuts on. Some use a coin on each corner of the pallet or a feeler gauge of some sort, do what works best for you. I use a business card as a feeler gauge, set each one with the same amount of drag at the front and back of each pallet across the width of the flood bar. IMO using a feeler blade of some sort is better, it will identify a warped pallet much easier then a coin in each corner.

Screen holders I like to use two 12" straight edges that are about the thickness of a quarter. I set the off contact to the highest position lay one straight edge flat across the front edge of the pallet then stand the other on its edge and slide it out to the screen holder. I adjust until the the second one is flush with the holder. This is repeated on all four corners and then checked a final time before moving on.

The problem with using a frame to level the holders IMO is it could be warped or if your screen holders are distorted the frame will follow.

[jsheridan]

We parallel our gauntlet weekly and sometimes twice a week. It's easy and doesn't take long.

Tell me more

what are you doing when you parallel and how long does  it take you.

our M&R tech said we should level the press at least once a year. But then what does he know;)

Funny you should ask, you're in sales right?

If I told you that you could level your press the first time, and never do it again would you believe me..

[ZooCity]

John, you have a lot to offer and definitely know what you're doing.  If you can install an M&R style press and never have to level that's awesome.  <Not sarcasm by the way, if you can get an M&R to act like an MHM you have my full respect and awe

It looks like you work at Jak prints now?  Congrats!  I've seen vids of that shop and wow, looks tight.  I've also seen a testimonial by the owner talking about switching the co. over to MHM presses b/c they were "constantly leveling" platens on their previous machines.

This style of press in discussion does require periodic leveling under most conditions.  I think M&R would back up that statement.  How often you need to or choose to do that is really dependent on the shop. We do it at least weekly and it takes maybe half an hour or so to do two presses.  They aren't typically very far out of parallel.  We know that the linear travel of each print head is in plane with each other so we level platens to the printheads using a flood bar, screen holders to platens.  It's simple and easy to do but it would be better to not have to do it, here's two things we came up with that reduce the need to level:

• An older Gauntlet like ours is often freewheeled by hand with the reset button depressed.  We've concluded that most of the need to level the press comes from moving the platens with hands.  We do what we can to minimize this issue but find it's easier to quickly level once a week than to have a press op going out of their way to grab the press at the back of the arm.  If you have a press that has servo and half indexing that's one place where you can eliminate a big part of the need to level/parallel the press. 
• Having adjustable squeegee pressure is another area to look at.  If you set your chopper depth evenly and leave it there, you will always be applying even pressure on the platens as you adjust the psi up and down.  On older presses or ones without this feature you'll need to have your printers use extra care when setting the print and flood pressure/depth to make sure it's perfectly even. 

Printing with correct pressure/screens/blades/etc./etc. is key but the above two items account for a lot of the uneven load put on platens, presuming you are doing the rest correctly. 

[244]

John, you have a lot to offer and definitely know what you're doing.  If you can install an M&R style press and never have to level that's awesome.  <Not sarcasm by the way, if you can get an M&R to act like an MHM you have my full respect and awe

It looks like you work at Jak prints now?  Congrats!  I've seen vids of that shop and wow, looks tight.  I've also seen a testimonial by the owner talking about switching the co. over to MHM presses b/c they were "constantly leveling" platens on their previous machines.

This style of press in discussion does require periodic leveling under most conditions.  I think M&R would back up that statement.  How often you need to or choose to do that is really dependent on the shop. We do it at least weekly and it takes maybe half an hour or so to do two presses.  They aren't typically very far out of parallel.  We know that the linear travel of each print head is in plane with each other so we level platens to the printheads using a flood bar, screen holders to platens.  It's simple and easy to do but it would be better to not have to do it, here's two things we came up with that reduce the need to level:

• An older Gauntlet like ours is often freewheeled by hand with the reset button depressed.  We've concluded that most of the need to level the press comes from moving the platens with hands.  We do what we can to minimize this issue but find it's easier to quickly level once a week than to have a press op going out of their way to grab the press at the back of the arm.  If you have a press that has servo and half indexing that's one place where you can eliminate a big part of the need to level/parallel the press. 
• Having adjustable squeegee pressure is another area to look at.  If you set your chopper depth evenly and leave it there, you will always be applying even pressure on the platens as you adjust the psi up and down.  On older presses or ones without this feature you'll need to have your printers use extra care when setting the print and flood pressure/depth to make sure it's perfectly even. 

Printing with correct pressure/screens/blades/etc./etc. is key but the above two items account for a lot of the uneven load put on platens, presuming you are doing the rest correctly.

you are correct when stating grabbing the pallets by hand and spinning the indexer can cause pallets to go out if manhandled. If pallets are pushed from the side evenly or by the arm the pallet attaches to this becomes a non issue. Another problem is people buy off brand pallets that do not use the right tape, amount of tape, and length of bracket thinking they are saving money and the pallet moves on the bracket. I have customers who print tremendous amounts of garments and only level their pallets once a year with multiple shifts. It all in the handling in most cases.

[brandon]

And I'm sure everyone on here knows this but platens / pallets are also not a work station and neither is the top of the dryer!

[jsheridan]

you are correct when stating grabbing the pallets by hand and spinning the indexer can cause pallets to go out if manhandled.
 It all in the handling in most cases.

And I'm sure everyone on here knows this but platens / pallets are also not a work station and neither is the top of the dryer!

This right here is the #1 reason why printers round the world think they have to level their presses all.. the.. time..

Teach your print staff the correct way to handle the press and you could save an amazing 1530 minutes a year!! (math pulled from above.. 30 minutes a week x 51 weeks = 1530 minutes or 25.5 hours!!

How many shirts can be printed in 25.5 hours.. lets say 500.. that's 12,750 shirts!!  12750 x (insert profit here) = Money I lost.. boo hoo!!

Still want to level that machine each week...

want to stop..

Buy an MHM

[bimmridder]

Or a CIII