Foil Puller
We are new to foil and are wondering if the foil puller shown below is designed for the windmill and actually mounted correctly. We are having issues getting it to pull properly and thought we would best start with the supply setup. We are also wondering it the foil would work best rerolled as then it will sit out farther from the chase which is part of our issue also.
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i will be watching this topic also. any pics of solutions would help a lot.
I do believe on these, you will be wanting to order your foil on 1/2” cores. there is a max diameter for foil roll that will fit in there. it isn’t much. 400ft i think? but, the good news is, not often on this press do you use long foil draws.
To address your issue, the install you show looks close to correct. Does anything hit the roll during the impression cycle? you will want to check it on impression,(dies out of press) as on this press the platen moves closer to the bed on impression. unlike other presses where the bed moves closer to the platen.
I won’t be surprised if i am corrected on this. my points are issues i have had to address in trying to build from scratch a foil unit for my press.
It is hard to tell from the picture above but the foil is actually feeding from under and behind the base plate. It dragged across the front of the plate and the tension was hard to control. It is hard when you don’t know what you are doing but our big issue was the foil was to close to the die and almost in contact with the die before before the paper fed. When we got enough tension it dragged onto the die. We spoke to Infinity foil and asked about having the rolls rerolled so the pickup would be exactly opposite of the picture above. This will move the foil out at the base as the foil will now spool from the other side of the roll out more from the chase and I can control the roll tension. We also made a bracket to hold the foil away from the chase at the top side. It is just chipboard and fits inside all the working parts. I am going to make one with springs to help it move in and out under the feeder arms.
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That looks like the correct OEM Windmill foil roll holder, and these are hard to find. I have been looking for one for some time now. The correct chase should have a rod on it to do the same thing as what you have do with an old foil core. It also has a cut out for the wiring to pass thru.
jfeltz, thank you for you input. It is good to know that we at least have a puller made for our letterpress. Since we are self taught the Briar Press has been a big help to see if we are headed in the correct direction. Our chase has the wire cuts out but no rod or spots for the rod. I had seen some pics showing the rod. I got our my gum and paper clips along with 10 pounds of tape to create our deflector. We have a big show this weekend in the LA area and if I see any pullers avail I will pass the info along. Here is a link http://www.printmuseum.org It is always a good way to find resources that may otherwise be hard to find. The printing museum also sells equipment and such during the show to raise funds to support the museum. You may want to email them to see if they have anything available.
western411, please do!