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screen printing => Equipment => Topic started by: Stinkhorn Press on September 19, 2016, 12:15:37 PM
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Small shop, moving, growing. Moved to a larger building down the street, bought a used RPM as a first auto.
Also bought a used Precision Vortex gas dryer from Winston Strickland. I know he's a good tech. And he sold it to me. but,
quick story:
I had Winston find me a dryer on the recommendation of his services, and the content of his posts here. Gave him a top price I was willing to pay and said I wanted something he'd be willing to stand behind.
He did just that. Found it, brought it to his shop, refurbished some bits, sent it across the country to me. It was running in the shop it was purchased from.
It was a tight fit into the building, required taking the control panel off the side to get it in. Not a big deal, I had a licensed electrician helping get the new shop wiring sorted anyway. He took it off, put it back on. One set of wires goes out to the blower motor. One set goes to the belt motor. And 9 or so go to the gas train side.
So, the dryer doesn't function. Keeps blowing fuses. With Winston on the phone we did quite a bit of checking things, testing things.
Two likely scenarios -
1. something got jiggled/shorted on the truck getting it here (the transformer wasn't properly bolted to the machine and it shook off, only noticeable trip damage. First thing we swapped out.
2. My licensed electrician, I was soon to learn, was losing his mind, was being sued for millions from a recent earlier job, he wanted to die working and if that meant screwing every guy he worked with on the way out, so be it. I think he may have mis-remembered what wire went where when he put it back together. (he also broke my screw compressor in a similar manner, possibly)
I told Winston that this might be possible, that the error was entirely on my end after I received the dryer, and he was totally great and said, "maybe that is the case, but I'll still help you get this sorted out." But then he simply hasn't had the time.
But he's pretty much been a resident of Mexico all summer, dealing with waaay bigger fish than me and it. I think he really does have every intention of helping me out, but it's been the spring into the summer and now fall. I need to get this thing working, I need a tech. Who can I call?
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Does Winston not have a suggestion for a "back-up" tech?
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I have one of these dryers, had the same issue. Here is what solved it for me:
Take out the flame rod, make sure it isn't too long. I had a sheet metal screw inside of mine and it was shorting out! Blew the fuse for a month straight.
The wire going from the flame rod to the ignition transformer, make sure that is not corroded or shorting out. That was my MAIN issues for about two years. I replaced that with the appropriate wire and knock on wood.
if you need help, I hate like hell to blow his phone up- but Tony @ CGS in Jersey, they rebuild these things too. Helped me out a TON with problem solving.
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Does Winston not have a suggestion for a "back-up" tech?
I have left a message asking that question, but haven't heard back and it's been another couple of weeks.
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I have one of these dryers, had the same issue. Here is what solved it for me:
Take out the flame rod, make sure it isn't too long. I had a sheet metal screw inside of mine and it was shorting out! Blew the fuse for a month straight.
The wire going from the flame rod to the ignition transformer, make sure that is not corroded or shorting out. That was my MAIN issues for about two years. I replaced that with the appropriate wire and knock on wood.
if you need help, I hate like hell to blow his phone up- but Tony @ CGS in Jersey, they rebuild these things too. Helped me out a TON with problem solving.
all good advice, but also all done. Flame rod is clear. And rewired.
I'm almost certain that I even know which 2 wires, if the electrician swapped them, are the culprit, but Winston warned me not to dick around myself, as I might cause more problems (an electrician I am not, I can handle a multimeter to check continuity (is that the word) but that's about it). I have traced them all, I know where they are going. But these dryers apparently at this age with parts being swapped are all wired differently at this point (unless you have one that Winston wired in the way he likes...)
Winston was thinking it was the protectofier (gold board, the brains) that had gotten jostled and busted somehow in transit - and he as planning on shipping me one over a month ago but it didn't ever get here for one reason or another.
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Flame rod could be too short also. Blew breakers on my AirJet for months until
we figured it out.
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we had to replace the honeywell burner control as well, ebay for parts. I have boxes of replacements for everything. might be worth a look?
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Probably not going to be of much help. But maybe my questions will narrow it down a little.
When does the fuse blow? When you turn the dryer breaker on, fan switch on, or burner purge button, or when the burner tries to fire?
Where do the two wires that you think are the culprit go? To a sensor/switch, a motor, etc?
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Probably not going to be of much help. But maybe my questions will narrow it down a little.
When does the fuse blow? When you turn the dryer breaker on, fan switch on, or burner purge button, or when the burner tries to fire?
Where do the two wires that you think are the culprit go? To a sensor/switch, a motor, etc?
good questions.
it's been a month+ since I've actually faced the thing -
it powers up. with the transformer wire is disconnected, if you push the push to start burner, it goes through the process of trying to light once. purge/timers/both solenoids click over/proper lights at proper time... (obviously it didn't light, the transformer is disconnected).
the SECOND time you ask it to do this (even if you've totally disconnected the power at the breaker etc) the fuse in the panel (lower left) blows as soon as you hit the button again.
this is why winston thought the next step should be just swapping out the whole protectofier board (we already swapped/checked the relays on the board) itself.
wires i think are swapped:
2 black wires from the gas train side.
Black 40 - goes only to "tall T" box between solenoids on gas train side. Goes to the burner switch on the control panel side.
Black 1 - split on gas train side: 1 goes to box next to transformer 2 goes to actuator box. on the control panel side it goes 3 places: blower switch, L1 spot on Protectofier, DC control board.
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Probably not going to be of much help. But maybe my questions will narrow it down a little.
When does the fuse blow? When you turn the dryer breaker on, fan switch on, or burner purge button, or when the burner tries to fire?
Where do the two wires that you think are the culprit go? To a sensor/switch, a motor, etc?
good questions.
it's been a month+ since I've actually faced the thing -
it powers up. with the transformer wire is disconnected, if you push the push to start burner, it goes through the process of trying to light once. purge/timers/both solenoids click over/proper lights at proper time... (obviously it didn't light, the transformer is disconnected).
the SECOND time you ask it to do this (even if you've totally disconnected the power at the breaker etc) the fuse in the panel (lower left) blows as soon as you hit the button again.
this is why winston thought the next step should be just swapping out the whole protectofier board (we already swapped/checked the relays on the board) itself.
wires i think are swapped:
2 black wires from the gas train side.
Black 40 - goes only to "tall T" box between solenoids on gas train side. Goes to the burner switch on the control panel side.
Black 1 - split on gas train side: 1 goes to box next to transformer 2 goes to actuator box. on the control panel side it goes 3 places: blower switch, L1 spot on Protectofier, DC control board.
For your own safety I would suggest you get the origional schematic and have this properly wired! So much for buying used!!
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Probably not going to be of much help. But maybe my questions will narrow it down a little.
When does the fuse blow? When you turn the dryer breaker on, fan switch on, or burner purge button, or when the burner tries to fire?
Where do the two wires that you think are the culprit go? To a sensor/switch, a motor, etc?
good questions.
it's been a month+ since I've actually faced the thing -
it powers up. with the transformer wire is disconnected, if you push the push to start burner, it goes through the process of trying to light once. purge/timers/both solenoids click over/proper lights at proper time... (obviously it didn't light, the transformer is disconnected).
the SECOND time you ask it to do this (even if you've totally disconnected the power at the breaker etc) the fuse in the panel (lower left) blows as soon as you hit the button again.
this is why winston thought the next step should be just swapping out the whole protectofier board (we already swapped/checked the relays on the board) itself.
wires i think are swapped:
2 black wires from the gas train side.
Black 40 - goes only to "tall T" box between solenoids on gas train side. Goes to the burner switch on the control panel side.
Black 1 - split on gas train side: 1 goes to box next to transformer 2 goes to actuator box. on the control panel side it goes 3 places: blower switch, L1 spot on Protectofier, DC control board.
do you have a schematic? If you can get one, I can swing by and take a look (used to work as an industrial electrician).
pierre
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take this with a grain of salt.
that dryer is a hunk of S H I T like a big ole spray painted hunk of S H I T!!
it's what... 30 years old now
cut your losses now and get a real dryer, the amount of time, money and gas you'll save will make the payment.
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That is true. Our old Vortex (100,000 btu) cost the same to operate as the
AirJet at 500,000 btu and it can run waterbase, discharge, whatever.
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for anybody else reading, we are running a 60" belt that can cure 1,400 shirts in an hour. 40 hours per week is costing us $86/month in gas!
pierre
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for anybody else reading, we are running a 60" belt that can cure 1,400 shirts in an hour. 40 hours per week is costing us $86/month in gas!
pierre
what's the oven length Pierre?
Steve
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that's about what our gas bill is, most of it is damn fees and such.
new gas ovens are so cheap to operate. Ours also went down yesterday. 2nd time in 9 years and it was because we cracked the ceramic insulator on the igniter when we took it out to clean it. The first time it went down was the blower motor failed after 6 months(it was faulty and the motor manufacturer replaced it).
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for anybody else reading, we are running a 60" belt that can cure 1,400 shirts in an hour. 40 hours per week is costing us $86/month in gas!
pierre
what's the oven length Pierre?
Steve
4 in and out, 8 of heat.
pierre
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1400 an hour with 8' feet of heat sounds pretty good. What temp is your dryer set to? We have 12' of heat and 1400 an hour would be tough on anything but left chests but we keep our temp and belt speed low because we only have one press feeding it.
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I think fastest we ran it is around 1200. 1400 was my guess, but more than anything else, it was to prove the point about the low cost of gas. I would imagine that even at 1200 we are pushing the dryer quite a bit, probably at 375 and 25-30 seconds? Maybe even faster, I can check when back at work tomorrow if need be.
pierre
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No need I was just curious to see if you ran your temp much higher than us, which you don't.
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For your own safety I would suggest you get the origional schematic and have this properly wired! So much for buying used!!
anyone have any leads on tracking old precison vortex schematics down?
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For your own safety I would suggest you get the origional schematic and have this properly wired! So much for buying used!!
anyone have any leads on tracking old precison vortex schematics down?
Just pm'd you. I have an extra copy of blue prints and a manual I can send. J
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for anybody else reading, we are running a 60" belt that can cure 1,400 shirts in an hour. 40 hours per week is costing us $86/month in gas!
pierre
what's the oven length Pierre?
Steve
4 in and out, 8 of heat.
pierre
That's pretty good for 8 feet of heat. The 60" makes all the difference for loading up a belt...
Steve
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For your own safety I would suggest you get the origional schematic and have this properly wired! So much for buying used!!
anyone have any leads on tracking old precison vortex schematics down?
Just pm'd you. I have an extra copy of blue prints and a manual I can send. J
THANKS HOMER!! blueprints and schematics are super handy!
even better is that I didn't need to use them!
Winston is finally back in the states (for the moment anyway) - we spent 2 hours calling back and forth yesterday and TODAY I AM RUNNING MY FIRST JOB THROUGH THE DRYER THAT HAS BEEN SQUATTING LIKE A TROLL IN THE CENTER OF MY SHOP FOR 4 MONTHS.
sorry for yelling.
THANKS WINSTON!
Turns out it wasn't my bad contractor. Wiring was as it as supposed to be - but the chance that it *wasn't* made tracing it a bit harder.
It was a toasted solenoid. That's all. One of two, so I'm running without the second one till I can get the new one in.
Will also need to install a gas pressure indicator so I can control how much gas it's attempting to use. so, little things!
I even hauled my electric dryer out of the shop immediately. Woo!
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excellent! glad it worked out, Winston bailed me out a few times on mine as well.