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  • Originally posted by TGTimm View Post
    The Cylinder Lubrication lubricates the inside of the pedestals--the actual pneumatic cylinder--the outside is your responsibility to lube.
    AHA! Thanks!
    eatdrinkandbemerry
    Jon Hill, Brewer
    Atlantic Brewing Co
    jon at atlanticbrewing dot com

    Comment


    • The pneumatic cylinders are also where any water will end up if your air isn't perfectly dry. Makes for a horrible mess when it's time to replace the cylinder seals.
      Timm Turrentine

      Brewerywright,
      Terminal Gravity Brewing,
      Enterprise. Oregon.

      Comment


      • Do other people with a GAI labeler / filler have a favorite place to mount coder print heads? We tried on the output of the bottling line but it was too wet for the sensor. I'm thinking about mounting the print head and sensor in the labeler, but wanted to see if anyone else had a good spot.

        Cheers,
        Jazz Aldrich
        Great Basin Brewing Co.

        Comment


        • Coder Placement

          Originally posted by reno-jazz View Post
          Do other people with a GAI labeler / filler have a favorite place to mount coder print heads? We tried on the output of the bottling line but it was too wet for the sensor. I'm thinking about mounting the print head and sensor in the labeler, but wanted to see if anyone else had a good spot.

          Cheers,
          Jazz Aldrich
          Great Basin Brewing Co.
          Click image for larger version

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          This placement has worked well for us. Hope this helps

          Comment


          • What do you guys use for fobber water liquid? Ive seen Hot liquor and sterile water.

            Comment


            • Microfiltered tap water. Never had a problem. We thought of adding sani, probably PAA, but the rate at which the GAI uses rinse water would mean a very large dosing pump and lots of chems wasted.
              Timm Turrentine

              Brewerywright,
              Terminal Gravity Brewing,
              Enterprise. Oregon.

              Comment


              • crown hopper cover?

                Does anyone use a cover on the crown hopper during bottling? If so, what do you use?
                eatdrinkandbemerry
                Jon Hill, Brewer
                Atlantic Brewing Co
                jon at atlanticbrewing dot com

                Comment


                • Originally posted by bennybrew View Post
                  Does anyone use a cover on the crown hopper during bottling? If so, what do you use?
                  We don't. Anything that contacts the vibrating hopper will interfere with its performance.

                  We have a semi-spherical mirror mounted on the ceiling above the hopper so the bottlers can monitor the caps from anywhere near the machine.
                  Timm Turrentine

                  Brewerywright,
                  Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                  Enterprise. Oregon.

                  Comment


                  • I just replaced the pneumatic seals on the bottle filler pedestals again yesterday. Just under one year since I last replaced them. They worked fine for 8 years before the first replacement, so something in the cylinders needs work. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to completely tear them apart for now, but when I get the chance, I'll be ordering a Flex-hone to fit the cylinders and polishing them.

                    Good news is that the seal replacement only took about 3 hours this time. Practice helps.

                    Watch that little oil reservoir on the end of the control box--if it starts using oil faster than usual, it's time to replace those pedestal seals. We put it off too long, and had a nightmare run with every third or fourth bottle not filling.
                    Timm Turrentine

                    Brewerywright,
                    Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                    Enterprise. Oregon.

                    Comment


                    • Part #'s

                      Originally posted by TGTimm View Post
                      I just replaced the pneumatic seals on the bottle filler pedestals again yesterday. Just under one year since I last replaced them. They worked fine for 8 years before the first replacement, so something in the cylinders needs work. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to completely tear them apart for now, but when I get the chance, I'll be ordering a Flex-hone to fit the cylinders and polishing them.

                      Good news is that the seal replacement only took about 3 hours this time. Practice helps.

                      Watch that little oil reservoir on the end of the control box--if it starts using oil faster than usual, it's time to replace those pedestal seals. We put it off too long, and had a nightmare run with every third or fourth bottle not filling.

                      Do you have a part number for those pneumatic seals?

                      Comment


                      • Pg. 6 of this thread, post #80, has a complete parts list and description of the job.

                        Good luck!
                        Timm Turrentine

                        Brewerywright,
                        Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                        Enterprise. Oregon.

                        Comment


                        • Low fills/no fills

                          We've been experiencing very random low/no fills--random to the point I couldn't catch it happening.

                          Usually, this is caused by a problem with either the bottle seals or the pedestals. I'd changed out the pedestal pneumatic seals a week or two ago, so I was hoping that was taken care of. I also replaced all bottle seal at the same time, and inspected them several times since. WTF?

                          While watching the machine run, I noticed head #2 was leaking gas from the center stem after the bottle was released (big, bursting bubbles at the bottom of the stem). Since this is where the CO2 for equalizing and leveling enters the bottle, I figured I needed to address the problem.

                          The gas seal at the top of the filler valve was my first suspect (for filler head tear-down, see post #87, pg 6, this thread). I pulled the filler valve out, and, lo and behold, the o-ring for the gas seal was missing entirely--never seen this before!

                          I'm surprised that this filler head was working at all. Fix was a couple of minutes and I expect much better performance next run (knock on wood).
                          Timm Turrentine

                          Brewerywright,
                          Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                          Enterprise. Oregon.

                          Comment


                          • Bottle Present Sensor

                            Hey guys, first just wanted to say what a help this thread has been for me. We've been running a GAI 3003A for about a year and a half and this is my go-to for information over Prospero every single time. This is the first time something has happened that's completely stumped me, so I came out of the wood work to see if anyone here could help.

                            A couple weeks ago the "bottle present" sensor stopped working, which means that when a pedestal pushes up a bottle, the machine doesn't know to raise the valve opener wheel on the entrance of the filler head. At first I thought either the sensor or the air distribution block (underneath the deck) was bad, so I ordered replacements for both. Upon further examination, and poring over poorly translated wiring diagrams, as well as finding a datasheet for the sensor, I found out that the machine isn't supplying the minimum threshold voltage (12VDC) for the sensor to even operate. Even more frustrating is when I disconnect the sensor (cut the wire and put in quick connects), there is ~21VDC across those wires. Then I hook the sensor back up and measure again and the voltage is back down to ~3VDC. I've tried this with both the old and the new sensor with the same result.

                            As a work around, albeit a pain in the butt one, I am manually switching the air tube from the top to the bottom of the piston that runs the valve opener wheel, which means that it's always going to open the valve whether there's a bottle or not. We just have to make sure there's a constant stream of bottles going through on our run and everything operates "normally".

                            It's really difficult to trace the wires back to the main panel, but I think I have them isolated, although they are different colored wires at the panel than they are by the sensor, which tells me there may be an intermediate component that I'm missing that may be the culprit.

                            Any ideas on this presumed electrical issue?

                            Thanks again,

                            Adam T.
                            Zipline Brewing Co
                            Lincoln, NE

                            Comment


                            • So, you have ~21 VDC across the wires when nothing is connected between them, but only 3 VDC when the sensor is connected? That's correct--your voltmeter has a very high impedance, and the voltage is now flowing through the sensor rather than the voltmeter. If I wasn't feeling lazy right now, I could tell you the resistance of your sensor.

                              Does the new sensor work? Have you tried it, or just given up after confirming Ohm's law? There is an indicator light--at least on ours--that lights up when a bottle is present, or any piece of metal is within the range of the sensor.

                              And it does suck that there is no QD on the sensor wire.

                              I've had this same problem--the original one--crop up once. It was the air valve, not the sensor. The solenoid air valve does have a QD--remove this and see if the valve is getting energized when a bottle is present.
                              Timm Turrentine

                              Brewerywright,
                              Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                              Enterprise. Oregon.

                              Comment


                              • Bottle Present Sensor

                                Originally posted by TGTimm View Post
                                Does the new sensor work? Have you tried it, or just given up after confirming Ohm's law? There is an indicator light--at least on ours--that lights up when a bottle is present, or any piece of metal is within the range of the sensor.
                                Yes, I verified the new sensor works, and as I said, I replaced the solenoid air valve as well.

                                Here's a more detailed description of what's happening voltage-wise at the sensor. I'll have it in place, and a false bottle in, so the natural response would be to detect a bottle and engage the solenoid air valve. I'll cycle the power to the whole machine and at first, there will be a high enough voltage at the sensor to activate it (indicator light and all) and then activate the solenoid air valve. In the next 30 seconds or so the voltage will degrade down to the aforementioned ~3VDC, not even close to the threshold turn-on voltage for the sensor, it will drop out, and the solenoid will disengage.

                                To recap, I believe that both the solenoid air valve and the sensor are in working order, but there is a very curious voltage degradation after power-up that I can't figure out. It has evidence of a parasitic component of some kind, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what it is.

                                Time for some of that liquid patience you were talking about...

                                Adam

                                Comment

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