Reply With QuoteDont have an answer for you Chase, but just had a 6'er of the IPA. Those things are a PITA to get off too!
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We recently started our adventure into canning, and are using paktec handles. I've found that after packaging 400 cases a beer, and six packing half of that time, that I am sore for days from pressing them on. The problem is exacerbated by the height I have the collection table set at (something I can work on). Does anyone have some brilliant ideas on how to snap these on easier? Or do I just need to get stronger and stop complaining?
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Dont have an answer for you Chase, but just had a 6'er of the IPA. Those things are a PITA to get off too!
Cheers!
Jeff
Carbondale Beer Works
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Matt- Working on editing a video of the process so you can see the loading/unloading process. Since I last talked to you I rigged up a can rinser/dryer and have created a collection table off the end of the conveyor so that we ditched the float in a bucket method. That has speeded things up to where we can almost run with two people. Facing the cans is still the most time consuming process. I hope anyone that is using rings checks out that video. Next project is a de-palletizer. Look forward to checking yours out live in a couple weeks.
Jeff- I know! They suck, I feel like I shake up the beer trying to get them out of there. Slowly beginning to hate them. Hope the IPA tasted good though.
Other people using these....I know someone has to have come up with a better way of doing this. Shoot me some ideas.
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We've been using the PakTech packers for a year.
First of all, if you are snapping the cans in one at a time...aaargh! Line up six cans, put the packer over it, and snap them on two at a time with your thumbs.
Putting a pallet by the "accumulation table" (as if it accumulated anything!) with an anti-fatigue mat over it will save your arms and legs and back.
We will generally do 450 cases a day like that.
Having said all of that, I just took delivery of the PakTech CCR 120 which will snap the packers on the cans for me! I'm going to loop the track around so that the packer is opposite the canner, and then the pack on and pack off will be in one place.
I'll let you all know how it goes, and post video of it in action when we're going. I have time set aside for the 21st to set it up.
As for those of you who find it difficult to get your cans OUT of a PakTech (which is hard for me to comprehend), try using a motion like prying the can away. Works for me, and the packer is reusable!
nat
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nat- I'd definitely like to check out that video when you get it running. Our accumulation table is set up right off the conveyor, and has two rows the size of a six pack that we slide the cans into, then face them, then put the carriers on once we have about 15-20 six packs accumulated and snap them all in place real quick. A big problem is the height of the table, it would be fine for someone that was 6'4" or so, but I'm not that tall. I need to figure out a way of lowering it. My eventual goal is to use the system that Buster is using to face the cans, combined with the Pak-Tec auto six packer, and a good de-palletizer, so that the canning line can run a case a minute with only one person. We're a ways away from that yet, if I could just get the six packing more efficient I would be happy for now.
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Chaser,Originally Posted by chaser
I'm short, too...that's why the pallet with anti-fatigue! We built a stage with stairs around our load table, and I'm using a cheap hydraulic high lift pallet jack to load the cans. I'm planning a box around the pallet so that the cans don't fall off the sides...an occasional problem, but still vexing! I figure with the looped track, the stage, box, and paktech machine, that I can just about run the whole show myself. I never will...because then that will always be just my job...but I think I will be able to, simply because pack on and pack off will be within 5 feet of one another, and the machine controls, lid load, and packer load only another 6 feet away.
I'd love semi-auto depal, and I could potentially hang it from the ceiling, but it's not necessary just yet... not until I'm canning more than 3 days a week.
I'm still working on getting the ideal anti-can jam device for the vibrator...I'm using a bent PakTech packer taped to the inside of the straight right now...but I still jam once an hour or so. I hate it when the cans fall over in the rinser, too!
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