DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 9, 2019 I just bought a type a clicker made by USMC It is labeled as a type a. Does anyone have any information/instructions about these? Hopefully I can upload photos… Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 13, 2019 (edited) This isn’t mine, but just like mine! Edited March 13, 2019 by turbotexas Spelling Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 13, 2019 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 13, 2019 Ok so far, I got it out of the back of my pickup truck, and into a storage container! Ive removed all the panels to find quite I’d bit of oil in this pan below the cylinder! There was plenty of hydraulic fluid in the tank, so I put a 120v plug on it and it powered right up! the push button did NOT activate the press, so I’ve got to dig into that and see why! Anyone recognize this board? Am I supposed to have it on 220v? One have running the electric motor, that runs the pump, and the other half runningvthe actuator side? The guy I bought it from said it was wired directly, and the 80 year old that sold it to him said it had been converted from 3 Phase, to 120? The power cord had two ground wires twisted together and then a red and black? Sobwonder if it’s 220? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 13, 2019 Supposedly this has been converted! I have the old board, that was replaced with what I’ve shown here! How would I determine if it was still on 3 phase? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 13, 2019 Well it’s up and working per day! It was 220 volt instead of the 120 I was told! Only problem is the stroke is limited by a potentialmeter on the head! Most stroke I get is 1/4”! Which is ok, and could be a “safety measure”, but the cutting board I have has enough warp in it that it doesn’t go all the way through the leather... Is there a cutting board material available at Home Depot I can buy? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted March 13, 2019 11 hours ago, turbotexas said: How would I determine if it was still on 3 phase? UK and US electrics are fairly different but 3-phase will have 3x live/hot lines coming in, all individually fused. In addition there will be a ground/earth and on some machines a neutral/cold line. There will be no starter capacitor (which is usually located very close to or actually on the motor) on a 3-phase setup. In addition the motor usually gives some indication on the tally plate as to whether it's 1- or 3-phase. Are those valves/tubes inside those cans on the PCB? They could well be damaged by the move or just through thermal cycling. And if they are valves the capacitors will probably be well out of spec and the resistors may well be also. Plus side is that the electronics look fairly simple for rebuilding if you decide to do that. 3-phase to 1-phase conversions are certainly possible. I recently did this to a Fortuna splitter which was trickier than many machines as it has 4x differently specced motors that switch in and out. There's a few different approaches available these days. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 14, 2019 The problem now is the stroke length is only 1/4”! There’s a switch/dial on the head that makes it “adjustable”, but it’s not enough to go through saddle skirting? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 14, 2019 This is the adjuster, that seems to restrict the downstroke? I’ll check for what you’re referring to... mom away from the machine sonill post more later! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted March 14, 2019 2 hours ago, turbotexas said: This is the adjuster, that seems to restrict the downstroke? I’ll check for what you’re referring to... mom away from the machine sonill post more later! Looks like a rotary switch with an array of capacitors potted to the back. Don't quite know how it fits into your electrics but worth being aware of. Do you have any sort of schematic? They were often included with machine manuals. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 14, 2019 2 hours ago, Matt S said: Looks like a rotary switch with an array of capacitors potted to the back. Don't quite know how it fits into your electrics but worth being aware of. Do you have any sort of schematic? They were often included with machine manuals. I’ve yet to find a manual... What the variables do is link then the length of the stroke! I’ll have to post a video on YouTube and put the link here so y’all can see what I’m talking about… Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JJN Report post Posted March 14, 2019 I have a manual for a different model (USM Hytronic Cutting Machine Model C) but it looks very similar. You might find some useful info in here. It is 23MB so I cannot upload it here. I put it on dropbox, just follow the link. https://www.dropbox.com/s/9mhb7vq5wnf0d9r/HCM-C-Parts-Service.pdf?dl=0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shoepatcher Report post Posted March 14, 2019 I may have a manual. USMC made the Model A and Model B clickers. They were hydraulic with a pump on them. Not sure what difference was between model A and B. Usually board size 18 x 36 or 20 x 40. 15-20 ton capacity. Hydraulic oil in bottom of the machine in a container to power the pump. Yours has the big head on it. Parts not really available anymore. Most in service have had the electrical board rewired or redone. The model C is a mechanical Clicker called and Ideal clicker. Yours definitely needs new hydraulic oil in it. glenn Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 15, 2019 15 hours ago, JJN said: I have a manual for a different model (USM Hytronic Cutting Machine Model C) but it looks very similar. You might find some useful info in here. It is 23MB so I cannot upload it here. I put it on dropbox, just follow the link. https://www.dropbox.com/s/9mhb7vq5wnf0d9r/HCM-C-Parts-Service.pdf?dl=0 Thank you!!!! 14 hours ago, shoepatcher said: I may have a manual. USMC made the Model A and Model B clickers. They were hydraulic with a pump on them. Not sure what difference was between model A and B. Usually board size 18 x 36 or 20 x 40. 15-20 ton capacity. Hydraulic oil in bottom of the machine in a container to power the pump. Yours has the big head on it. Parts not really available anymore. Most in service have had the electrical board rewired or redone. The model C is a mechanical Clicker called and Ideal clicker. Yours definitely needs new hydraulic oil in it. glenn If your manual is different than the one he linked above, would you mind sharing? Thanks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 15, 2019 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 15, 2019 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mark842 Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Yeah, it looked like the rats living in that nest were feeding on your wires. You probably can wire around the potentiometer to make the press work but without that working properly you will constantly be ruining your cutting boards. You might try contacting these people. They have helped me out with parts over the years. http://www.cjrtec.com/clicker-press-parts.php?5c8d15d1ac684 Don't know where your knowledge is on electronics but if you have an ohm meter you should be able to read across the terminals on that Pot that the wires are hooked to WITH NO POWER APPLIED and turn the dial on the pot and see if the resistance changes. I'm guessing that pot is either open or just so dirty the mechanical wiper isn't making contact anymore when it turns. If you can find an old part number on that thing you might get lucky searching direct for a spague part but if you found one it would be a survivor. I replaced one in one of my Fipi's a few years back with a newer type I bought from the link I gave you. It was about 1/10th the size and I had to make my own adapter plate to put it in but it works great. If I remember right it cost me about $150. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted March 16, 2019 I still reckon that's an array of capacitors rather than resistors wired to the back of that rotary switch. Sprague yellow cans, voltage ratings printed on the side, polarity bands... sounds like caps to me. Those are probably polarised therefore on a DC branch of the circuit. My hunch is that they form part of a RC time delay. Perhaps thats how the length of stroke is controlled. @turbotexas good job replacing that wiring, very neat. Did you find anything like the bottom of travel microswitch that was mentioned upthread? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JJN Report post Posted March 16, 2019 I believe MattS is correct. That is not a potentiometer. It is a rotary switch with an array of capacitors. Capacitors allow the flow of electricity for a limited time depending their value usually measured in microfarads ( μF ). It looks like the range of movement of the clicker plate is regulated by how long the current flows. The switch may be working properly. The short stroke may be caused by the speed that the hydraulics are moving. Possibly getting the oil changed and the mechanism cleaned and lubricated could solve the problem. The capacitors in that switch look like they are 'potted' in epoxy. Difficult to repair. You should be able to use a multi-meter that has a capacitance measurement mode to check the condition of each capacitor by measuring between the contacts and comparing to the values printed on each capacitor. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 17, 2019 7 hours ago, Matt S said: I still reckon that's an array of capacitors rather than resistors wired to the back of that rotary switch. Sprague yellow cans, voltage ratings printed on the side, polarity bands... sounds like caps to me. Those are probably polarised therefore on a DC branch of the circuit. My hunch is that they form part of a RC time delay. Perhaps thats how the length of stroke is controlled. @turbotexas good job replacing that wiring, very neat. Did you find anything like the bottom of travel microswitch that was mentioned upthread? This is what I’m thinking... a “timer” of sorts! Did nothing but ruin the cutting board! That may be why there’s a big label on top of the head that states do not use for 30 seconds after initial start up! It might be giving those capacitors time to charge initially! No I never found anything like a switch on the shaft column! At one time while we were piddling with this, we got it to go full stroke! Which as mentioned above, Did nothing but ruin the cutting board! I have yet to find a drain plug in the tank holding the hydraulic fluid! So I might have to find a means to siphon it out! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 17, 2019 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidMillsSaddlery Report post Posted March 17, 2019 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSloop Report post Posted March 17, 2019 (edited) Does it have an inline filter? If so, remove the line going into the filter and pump the oil into a container. The gear pump will pick up and push most of the oil out of the system. Then refill the reservoir and test the system. If no filter, just remove the line that feeds the hydraulic cylinder and let it pump into a container. Same operation, different method. NOTE- the oil will come out with great force, be careful. Edited March 17, 2019 by DSloop Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
