Ask The Brewmasters

Hey all. We use Crown Super Ends (202) for all can sizes and we recently switched to a new color scheme. We found when getting into the new pallets we immediately had issues with our end separator and cans missing lids causing seamer crashes. We first went into seamer troubleshooting mode but eventually confirmed the issue was with the can ends themselves: switched back to old ends and the problems went away. What we see in slow motion is every so often a lid won't separate cleanly and miss the carousel. 

I am working directly with the manufacturer on troubleshooting but wanted to throw it out here to see if anyone can educate us on what we might be seeing. I was not able to get accurate measurements with a set of calipers and ASBC Packaging Methods Cans-3 and Cans-4 don't seem to offer what I need. However I did observe a visual difference on the shoulder of the cans (see picture). The bad ends (gold on gold) are smooth while the other three samples (all unique colors) have a slight ridge. Further, looking closely at pallet tags the bad ends are listed as "NO SP" which I am not familiar with. 

As I said, we are resolving this with the manufacturer and mostly looking for insight into this, can end quality in general, and possible quality checks on end integrity. 

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Campbell Morrissy, PhD
Director of Brewery Operations
pFriem Family Brewers
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Campbell,

In reference to your question on the lids, the chuck wall does not impede, or come in contact with, any component of the gassing turret or cap guide rails.  It separates the lid via the curl and then hangs by the curl's cut edge on the cap guide rails as the cap pushers feed it around to be made up to the can.

The line you are seeing on the chuck wall will not affect the lid feed in any way.  A small adjustment of the separator screw either forward or back by about .010-.015 should do the trick.  Without seeing the setup, I can't tell you which way to move it.

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David Garab
Preferred Seamer Service, LLC
"You Can't Sell Leakers"
c 404-234-4188
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