Pin Jammed in M/D

[Jambu]

Hey guys.. I'd like to see if you all get this problem:

A black-out is called on a machine -- you get there and see a pin in the 7 chute (for example) -- you remove the pin only to find another jammed between the spotting fingers and the roller (just on the head of the pin).

My question is not how to clear this stop... That I know. My question is a) How does this happen, and b) How can we prevent it. What's strange to me is that the pin is cock-eyed in the jam... so how the hell did the deck get ahold of it like that? The only thing I can think is that maybe the pin was wobbling when the deck started moving forward??? I don't know. So if you can shed some light on this... I'd love to see your comments.

Thanks,
Jay

[Roscoe]

Re: Pin Jammed in M/D

This type of jam. commonly called a neck jam is the result of trying to deliver two pins at the same time, in other words the original 7 pin never got out of the hole completly. Usually the deck roller compresses enough for the flag to get back under the moving deck cam follower, and has to manually be held forward whilst cranking the mch. backwards.

[Drillmn300]

Re: Pin Jammed in M/D

I had the same problem on just one machine and found out my deck cable was out of adjustment. If the wheel and fingers are in good shape I would check out the cable.
Good Luck
Drill

[Jambu]

Re: Pin Jammed in M/D

Thanks for the info guys.

I figured out that if you have a machine that repeatedly jams like this in one particular chute, one preventative method is to trim the bottom 'lip' off of the deck chute. This will help keep the pins sliding through instead of hanging up.

Thanks again,
Jay

[Brunsmechanic]

Re: Pin Jammed in M/D

hey jam,
one thing i've found out about trimming deck chutes is not to trim the entire "skirt" because then the bottom of the chute will blow out because of lack of stability in the bottom, so i only trim the front and back and leave about 3 inches on each side.
good luck,
brunsmechanic

[Oldsmagnet]

Re: Pin Jammed in M/D

I've also used silicon lube on the chutes to band-aid the sticky problem. Usually what I've found causing multiple loading of the 7 pin chute has been a turret that isn't indexing properly. Pin's halfway out of the conveyer, and turret is already advancing to the next hole. Pin then simply "falls through the cracks" and 9 out of 10 times, lands in the 7 pin chute. Then when the ~real~ 7 pin drops in, there's no more room. The bottom of the ...top 7 pin jams the bottom one in place. Gravity let's 'em both fall a little bit, when setting down the rack, but the wedging won't let 'em drop. So they jam up. Check the turret's indexing behaviour. Also check the short turret belt, as mentioned elsewhere in this forum, that can be a good culprit causing the exact same thing you're seeing. (Also make sure the rubber stop behind the turret clutch's time delay gear's lever isn't worn out) (That's a mouthful!)