I'm cleaning a Roovers label maker. It needed lubing. I've got it feeding and printing OK but when I cut the AL ribbon the pin punch for the hole snags the tag preventing release. I think it's rust on the punch snagging the AL and a dull punch. The hole is a little short of a clean cut. Any quick fixes? Odds are it will go back in service with a screwdriver beside it to pop out the label. Here's a link to a similar one:
Can you remove the punch, grind it back a bit, and still have enough length to make it work?
If not, can you remove it, and make a replacement using drill rod? (You have a lathe if necessary? How about the ability to heat treat it? I would suggest an air-hardening drill rod in the absence of proper heat treating facilities. Remember to draw the temper as appropriate after the hardening phase. Robin will probably have the proper target hardness for such a punch. Otherwise, look it up in _Machinery's Handbook_)
I would like to have one of those, but I don't at present.
Good Luck, DoN.
A couple of ideas for you. The punch is probably dull and that should be able to be sharpened, the die may be a little dull also You might be able to carefully dress the punch on a bench grinder, and the die you can probably lap. You might have to shim a little to make this work after sharpening.
Second Idea is to take it to a tool and die man. To him whipping this into shape is a trifle, and you can offer to trade foundry service for his skills. Those arrangements usually work out to be a win win situation.
To make a full job of this you might even consider japanning the castings. Japanning is a real hard shiny black finish that looks like a million bucks. check out:
That site wasn't mine. I just had an example of the press. I haven't done any casting in years and only amateur stuff. I'm not sure if there's enough material to sharpen it. It's now officially on the back burner as I have to get five rental units ready to rent, one by Wednesday and a house ready to move into by Monday. None of them mine unfortunately. Thanks for the ideas. It's good to bounce stuff off people here for ideas. Thanks Karl
If the punch comes up a little short, you might see if you can shim it down to compensate. Or you might just be able to make a new punch.
If you don't do any casting, why do you need this machine? (Other than the obvious because guys like cool things like tools.)
It's not my machine. I'm fixing it for a horticulture professor friend who uses it to tag his plants. I had a few minutes today and actually looked at it. Nice simple workmanship. The problem is a broken off piece in the sheet metal disk that's the die to press the numbers and letters. The punch normally retracts past it to release the tag from the punch. I'll see if I can have him get his civil service guys to weld a little piece of metal to replace it. I get to make all the AL tags I want till he picks it up. I'm having this urge to tag everything I own. He's bringing another one for me to fix when he picks it up. Karl
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