Brass Lay Guides
We are somewhat new to windmill. We are working with the brass lay guides for the first time. As far as we can tell everything is in good working order as far as the press and everything is set correctly. Our problem is mis register and twisted crooked printing. We are feeding a 8.5 x 5.5 12 pt card stock gripping the 8.5. All the guides and settings are correct. We are wondering is it best to run the paper as it should be set and let the guides push the stock up? If we move the stock in a little it get worse as the paper has to drop further to the guides and we think the bounce is an issue. We are also wondering if it would be best to grip the 5.5? Would it be easier for the lay guide to handle the sheet and is our gripping the 8.5 the main problem.
I would try gripping the 5.5 edge. Rocking on the guides after the drop is less likely.
I’d run very slow and if still problems, even advance by hand to see if there are any interferences.
You should run with 8.5” on the front lays and 5.5” at the side guide.
We switched over and gripped the 5.5 which showed the main issue. One of our grippers was not grabbing cleanly and was the source of our mis feeding. When I grip the 8.5 it was less of a problem since the real problem is mainly at the end of the gripper bar in the last 2 inches and only on one gripper 60% of the time. When we switch to gripping the 5.5 it was one bar 90% of the time. We had been using suckers so the took them off for the 5.5 pickup and it worked OK. I tried adjusting the gripper closure timing with mixed results. It appears that one bar has a different grip tension or timing at one end or is bent a little or both. Both bars are in good shape and the pads are fine. It also looks like when using the suckers the sheet was to low and hits in the wrong spot and bounced back on one end and could not be correctly gripped. when I remove the suckers the one bar worked OK but still not perfectly. I am wondering if I shim the bar and lower the contact point if it will correct the pickup issue. I ran out of good craft beer and had to stop repairs. Any Ideas please let me know.