Underpinner woes!

[Grahame Case]

Hi all,

Today the 5 year old cs199 that we've been nursing for a good year now has started to affect the quality of our frames to a noticeable level. It has also cost us a small fortune in engineer visits and replacement parts.

Due to previous fixes it is not handling certain profiles to a required standard, and we've had customers noticing, so it's time to change machine

Anyway, back on track

I need some information, does anyone use the mini Graf 4? What are they like to use? Are they reliable ?

Is the minigraf 144 a better bet?

[misterdiy]

Hi Grahame

We used to have a Minigraf 4 and have used them for years and years. Sold it two years ago to upgrade to a Minigraf MC which is the dogs.

We did try a Cassese CS89 a while ago but we did not like it as much as Minigraf. I guess its what you get used to though.

Steve

[IFGL]

I use a minigraf 4, it is old but very reliable, tried a few others and not liked them , I would like the mc , I am jealous misterdiy

[Abacus]

I use an old cassesse and bought a minigraf 4 as a backup, but couldn't get on with it. Having to get an Allen key out to change wedge sizes would drive me mad, I sometimes use different size wedges in the same frame (a 7 at the front, a 10 at the back eg). I'm now looking for a replacement, I would expect a cs199 to last 20 years, not 5, how many frames do you pin in a day?

[Grahame Case]

Really depends on how busy we are in a week, but we can do production runs of multiple hundreds. But most often it tends to be joining 12 or so a day,

Unfortunately when you take the cs199 apart and replace the rebate clamp piston you tend to end up with the problem of the top of the table not sitting as it once did. Which is one of our problems.


We also seemed to go through a period of systemic failure of all the airline components and switches within the machine. We've had to replace the wedge firing button, the clamping command switch, and a couple of pneumatic switches inside and most recently the foot pedal.

Customers are noticing that the corners are not coming out 100% right on some profiles so it is time to switch for the sake of our reputation

[Graysalchemy]

You are probably put off by cassese now but the 3099 is a solid dependable machine, and makes production runs a doddle and with the programmable profiles you can keep a list of all your mouldings.

[China shop]

We have the 199mxl which we bought when it was first introduced 4 or 5 years ago and we are having exactly the same isuues with it. We replaced quite a few parts as you have. I had a word with Mark Griffiths ( framing engineer ) last week about it, he had just come back from france a nd Cassese are bringing out a new less expensive programmable model later in the year which sounds like it might be worth a look.
He also said that they have made a metal table for the 199mxl which they will do at cost for a replacement to existing machines, so I might give that a go before investing in a new machine.

[stcstc]

i have a 199xl

not had any real trouble with it. apart from got jammed once and it pushed loose couple of the pipe fittings, just pushed them back in and fine

mine had a metal table though, what are others made of?

[robbiez]

Hi Graham

We have had one of these for a few years:
http://www.tabmaster.co.uk/show_product ... h%20Screen

which was an upgrade from the old minigraf memory program.

Brilliant machine and couldn't live without it. The ease of programming a new profile, and selecting from a list of pre programmed profiles is what makes this machine stand out from the others. It is also multi channel so each profile can have any combination of wedges sizes in it and you don't need to worry about changing over the wedges.

We have had to replace a few parts(solenoid valve and a few fuses) but it does take a pounding(1000 plus frames a week), so maintenance should be expected.

Our suppliers reckons the new Cassesse 4008 is also a very good machine. Personally, I found the cassesse far more difficult to use but I was already use to the minigraf set up so it would be unfair for me to make any comparisons.

Rob

[Grahame Case]

Well, we've decided that a minigraf 144 would probably be the best for our needs, and have ordered one up this afternoon

[IFGL]

Great decision , my father has one of these , it is fast, reliable and very powerful . The only minor fault I can say about it is you don't have both hands free to hold your moulding with the firing button being on the handle, that took a bit of getting used to for me , but was not a problem after a couple of hours use.