Swing Arm Clicker Press Maintenance

The most widely used die cutting machine in the world: the swing arm clicker press. If you’re reading this post, perhaps you own or manage one. With a good operator that has a routine or system, a clicker press can put out a lot of cut material in a small amount of time. It’s important to take care of your dies and make the right adjustments for that respective die, but it’s also important to keep your machine maintained for optimal performance, and protection of those dies.

ATOM Clicker Presses are most frequently used with leather, footwear, gaskets, foam & rubber, plastics and textiles. Let’s say you just received a large sheet of rubber and have a die (or dies) that need to be cut with it. You go to turn on your machine and get it warmed up, adjust the height settings, do a test press, and notice that the machine is pressing down too hard. When this occurs, your order may need to be halted. This not only bottlenecks your process, but it sets back the recipient of the order, and if it happens mid-pressing, it could ruin your die. Regular maintenance can avoid downtime, ruined dies, and even increase productivity. You can best maintain your machine by keeping it and its components clean. Debris and dust can clog filters and cause electrical components to lose connection.

Sometimes the issues can be something simple, or it could be something more serious like a cylinder seal replacement. All of them revolve around press pressure. Some issues we see include:

• Electrical Component Failure, in particular, the pressure switch. When this component starts to fail, the press may start acting up and give you differential pressure between cuts.
• Motor or pumps can go bad, which causes a loss of pressure. Perhaps you used to be able to cut on 5, now you need to set the press to 9 or 10.
• Broken Hydraulic System. You may see air in the oil, holes or lose hoses, and filter issues.
• Bad seals

Regardless of the problem or the issue, Manufacturers Supplies Co can have a technician  talk with you on the phone or come out to take a look at your machine(s), evaluate the issue, and provide a solution. All you need to do is call in or fill out our online form, give technical support a better understanding of the problem, and from there we can make a recommendation and send someone out! We can’t detail costs, because price is constantly changing, but once the issue is diagnosed, we’ll happily provide a price.