Pins Wobble on 2nd ball

[tza23]

so im having a problem with one of my machines. when the deck puts down standing pins going to 2nd ball, they wobble when they hit the pin deck. i tried tightening the scissors, and adjusting deck height. any suggestions? i didnt find anything binding or sticking to the scissors or bearings on deck. deck has some play, but i dont see it as the main issue. Thanks

[Steve Stafford (JBEES)]

The most common reason pins wobble at that position is the moving deck cable...surprise!!! Yep, the cable is usually too short causing the geneva bearings to be too high in the slots of the geneva plates. As the gear box goes through 180 degrees, the moving deck cam follower will move...even though it is being blocked out by the moving deck scissor latch. There is a gap between the latch and the surface of the moving deck cam follower that will eventually contact the latch. As this gap closes at 180 degrees, the cam follower is moving. As it moves, the moving deck cables move thus moving the geneva bearings. If the bearings are too high in the slots before they begin to move, the moving deck will move rearward just a bit. Because the scissors are holding the pins tight and the heads of the pins are being held by the deck pads...which are mounted to the moving deck...the pins will pivot, moving the base of the pins forward. When the pins reach the pin deck, they are no longer straight up and down...and as they are released from the scissors as the deck raises, they will wobble. If you look at the shape of the rear slot in the geneva plate, it is cut in a way that will allow the geneva bearings to move up into the slot a bit and not move the moving deck...if the bearings are low enough to begin with. The common adjustment these days for the cable is to get the bottom of the bearing so it is even with the flat section between the two slots. In the image below, you can see that when the bearing starts at this point, any movement up as the geneva pulleys turn will translate into no movement of the geneva plate as the bearing will just follow the contour of the slot...at least for a short amount of movement. Anything further will move the moving deck.



Hope that helps.

[speir01]

I have a few machines that do this, couldn't figure out why, and because there was no stops caused by it I kinda stopped worrying about it. But as things are running great this year I may tackle them, thanks Steve. I read your explaination and now have a huge red hand print on my forehead (DOOH!)

[Roscoe]

Not to nitpick, but one usually has to tighten the cable to bring the genevas down to the proper alignment thus meaning they are too long to begin with.
JMO.
Roscoe

[MudMan1]

What is the best deck position to make this adjustment? It appears in the illustration that the deck is at 0'. Could the adjustment also be made with pins in the sissors, observing the movement of the pins until they are vertical again just before being set down?

[PJ]

At about 22 degrees, crank straight up.

[Steve Stafford (JBEES)]

What is the best deck position to make this adjustment? It appears in the illustration that the deck is at 0'. Could the adjustment also be made with pins in the sissors, observing the movement of the pins until they are vertical again just before being set down?

The picture was taken at a position just after 0 degrees. Bottom line, the moving deck cam follower needs to be on the high dwell of the moving deck scissor cam. You can do the adjustment there if you like...but I move the gear box so it is setting new pins...remove the cable and turn it to what I think it should be. I then cycle back to the position above (just past 0 degrees) and check the position of the bearing.

[Phil_B]

Could also be bad stabilizer bearings causing the deck to move around while on top of the pins. Possible bad deck pads.