M&R Tri Lock

[Ragz13]

Hope y`all can help me out here.
I`ve been using the M&R Tri Lock for years with no problems. Put the Tri lock pallet on, line up the job, no problem. Lately though, the designs are crooked on the pallet. Films are straight on the carrier sheet. The bracket on the tri lock is tight and appears to be straight. It`s a crapshoot when we put it on. We have to move it left or right, lock it down and hope we have it right. If not, loosen it up and try again.

I`m not sure what changed to cause this. Any suggestions, or has anyone else had this issue?

[repogolfer]

Could the pin bar on the exposure unit someone move a little bit or is it taped/glued on good.  Or the tri-loc on the expo unit.
 I remember one time when we were using duct tape to fasten the unit on the expo unit that the duct tape gave it some play when we were constantly pushing on it in one direction.   We also had one of the pins come off on time and that caused a negative reaction as well on everything lining up smoothly.

[Zelko-4-EVA]

are your yellow knobs worn?  we had a similar thing happen, one side was tighter and it shifted the tri loc a bit.

[Ragz13]

Could the pin bar on the exposure unit someone move a little bit or is it taped/glued on good.  Or the tri-loc on the expo unit.
 I remember one time when we were using duct tape to fasten the unit on the expo unit that the duct tape gave it some play when we were constantly pushing on it in one direction.   We also had one of the pins come off on time and that caused a negative reaction as well on everything lining up smoothly.

I`ve checked the pin bars on the exposure unit & the registration grid. all is secure and lined up correctly. I`m wondering if the bracket on the Tri Lock pallet may be worn or expanded from years of use.

[Ragz13]

are your yellow knobs worn?  we had a similar thing happen, one side was tighter and it shifted the tri loc a bit.

Those I replaced a few months ago. I`ll take a look and see how my printer has them adjusted for tightness. 

[Admiral]

Those nuts tend to need to be tightened every year too...and the yellow handles will keep wearing a bit.  I think on our oldest press we replaced all the handles at one point.

I recommend lasers overhead and a T-square to square it to the platen (but ironically you still need to make sure a platen is on square.  Then use that laser for the Tri-Loc to make sure it's locked in square.

[Ragz13]

Those nuts tend to need to be tightened every year too...and the yellow handles will keep wearing a bit.  I think on our oldest press we replaced all the handles at one point.

I recommend lasers overhead and a T-square to square it to the platen (but ironically you still need to make sure a platen is on square.  Then use that laser for the Tri-Loc to make sure it's locked in square.

Yesterday I did the centerline on a pallet to set the laser line to get the Tri Lock pallet on straight. I helped a bit.

[Ragz13]

 I did notice that the bracket the pallets and Tri lock slides onto is worn badly. As well as the bracket on the tri lock. We`re going to replace those. Hopefully that fixes the problem!

Thanks for your help and suggestions guys, I appreciate it!