Editor’s note: Newspapers & Technology, in conjunction with the Post Press Federation and Perfect Pallets Inc., each month publishes a question-and-answer column aimed at postproduction issues. Topics and associated responses originate from the Federation’s free online forum. Membership information and other details about the Federation, sponsored and managed by Perfect Pallets, can be found at www.perfectpallets.postpress.com.
 

Topic: Under-spec inserts

Q: Does anybody have any ideas how to handle these .003 or .004 inserts that are stuck together by static? Any new products that might make life a little easier?

Reply: We equipped our feeder with an air line to separate the inserts. It works fairly well, although you have to be careful you don’t (use too much air and) knock the inserts off the strippers.

Follow-up: In conjunction with air, K&M Newspaper Services has drag pins that go under the rear of the pile (to manage the inserts).

Follow-up: We keep the banding from skids and cut each to about 6 inches to 8 inches along. We then bend up one end to catch the insert and bend it again to hold the inserts to our rear guide. This keeps the single sheets from rolling in the feeder.

 Follow-up: Here, we have had success with two different types of air nozzles and drag pins. We use ionizing nozzles and straight air nozzles with metering valves. We have also incorporated a drag pin into our rear guide assemblies. In winter months when static is at its highest we also use an ionizing blower that can be moved from place to place.

Topic: Placing hopper loaders

Q: Where is the best place to put two AF100 hopper loaders on a 16:2 SLS-1000 inserter?

Reply: We run our AF100 hopper loaders in the pockets right after the opening station. (If you are manually feeding, the loader would be on the jacket.) We generally only use them on preruns and thicker inserts. We use them in the first pocket after the opening on our daily unless we have a 4-page inside section, then we move them down to No. 11 or No. 12 to give the 4-page section time to lay down. On a real thick prerun we use them both on two pockets in half speed.

Follow-up: On our 16:2 SLS-1000, we run three loaders, one on the jacket, one on No. 14 and one on No. 16. This allows us to run them on bigger projects. We operate positions 14 and 16 from the drive side of the machine. The jacket loader runs on the ‘B’ head (31) and feeds from the shuttle side. Just be careful where you put the loaders so they don’t interfere with the ability to feed other hoppers.

Follow-up: We always use our hopper loaders on the even head side to keep a clear path for the operator to walk back and forth to clear misfeeds more easily. We would also would use them further up on the inserter running FSIs with the higher page count to reduce manning, My philosophy is the more hopper loaders, the better.

Follow-up: Placing the loaders is going to depend partly on your room configuration. You’ll find the hoppers on the SLS-1000 similar to the (Goss)1372 with the exception of having the ability to feed from both sides. The spacing of the hoppers is closer together than on the 13s, which is why it is good to be able to stagger the products. There are various reasons and advantages to putting the loaders on the drive side, but the primary reason is that most manual feeders are not comfortable feeding from the drive side. It’s great if you have the space.

Topic: Removable labels

Q: Our paper is looking at adding removable adhesive labels. Does anybody do zoning with the notes? If so, how are you interfacing with the inserter or stacker?

Reply: We are scheduled to go online with a label applicator. Initially, we won’t be offering zoning below press editions. But I did call a number of users to get their perspective. Some points:

*Minimize zones to “blocks” of 10,000 to 15,000; build the zones around your distribution centers or regions. Maintain a minimum order of no less than 25 percent of your total draw.

*Attempt to move zones to the front of the press run, or at least away from the end. If you encounter problems, you can divert press flow to non-zoned trucks while repairs are made.

At least from my equipment and controls view, there are very few integration or controls available. We will use the totalizer, countdown counter and the on/off switch as our controls.

Follow-up: We zone our notes when they’re purchased that way. Turning the note machine off and on is all that’s needed in between the gap from one zone to the next. We just track the gap and turn the note machine off or on when the empty space is in either the belt conveyor or the gripper.

Follow-up: We started printing and zoning our own notes last fall.

We set our system up to zone because we wanted to target the advertisers who couldn’t afford to do full-run notes but would do zoned notes. Our note applicator machines label on the outfeed gripper conveyor of our insert machines so that our insert machine controllers can run the applicators. They are basically zoned like any preprint in any hopper.

Having the controller run the labeler did a couple of things for us. It automated the system so no one is required to remember to turn the machine on and off. We can use our planning software to do the zoning for us. We download the note information in the same way as the insert information.

Once we load the label applicators and download the run into the machine controllers, all we have to do is watch them once in a while to make sure they’re running. As with the inserts going out for that edition, the controller turns the labeling heads on and off on the fly.

Topic: False misses and doubles

Q: Has anyone had success in reducing the number of false misses and doubles? We use a mini-beam device on our GMA SLS-2000.

Reply: On occasion we get false misses and doubles. Inserts that are very light in color and shiny cause the false misses. The best we can do is turn them over and hopefully they won’t be as light. An out-of-round drum usually causes the false doubles.

Follow-up: Any time you are trying to read (inserts) using a photo-eye with a reflector you need to diffuse the light if the inserts are highly reflective. The best way I have found to do this is to use some shrink wrap (usually found on the nearest skid of inserts). I once heard about a paper in South America that wrapped all their miss detectors with sandwich bags. I have tried this and it does work. Hope this helps.

Follow-up: We use the stretch wrap some for the false misses. Are you having false doubles on large or small products? When we are having false doubles, we make a note of it and reset the gripper tension after the shift or on another shift when the inserter is down.