MANUFACTURED BY:      Malahide Design & Manufacturing Inc.

                                                209 Griffith Road

                                                Stratford, Ontario

                                                N5A-6S4

                                                Phone/Fax: (519) 273-0603

                                                Toll-Free: 1-800-667-2156

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1/ Introduction

2/ Technical Specifications

3/ Operating Instructions

3.1 Control Panel and Control Switches

3.2 Feeding the Ribbon

3.3 Feeding the Foil

3.4 Mounting the Dies or Type

3.5 Adjusting the Ribbon Pull

3.6 Adjusting the Foil Pull

3.7 Adjusting Pressure

3.8 Print Head Levelling

3.8 Adjusting the Position of the Cut

3.9 Mounting and Levelling the Cutting Knife

3.10 General Set-Up Comments

4/ Multi-Colour Printing

5/ Troubleshooting

6/ Parts List

FIGURES

Figure 1 - Overview of K.A.1

Figure 2 - Ribbon Path for K.A.1

Figure 3 - Foil Path for K.A.1

Figure 4 - Print Head Levelling

Figure 5 - Single Stage Multi-Colour Printing

Figure 6 - K.A. Wiring Diagram

1/ INTRODUCTION

Thank you for purchasing a K.A.1 Ribbon Press! To assist you in obtaining maximum benefit from the features of this press, we offer the following suggestions:

Read the manual in its entirety. Obtain a general overview of the various features and functions of your K.A.1 prior to setting up and operating the press for the first time. Please see Figure 1 for an overview of your press. The overview details the main features of your press.

Experiment with different makes and types of foil to find those best suited to your applications. Remember - the least expensive foils are not always the most cost effective!

Should you require any assistance or service, we are available on our Help Line from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. Eastern time, Monday to Friday, toll-free 1-800-667-2156 or (519) 273-0603.

2/ TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Pressure Rating:        1 ton Impression Area: 3" x 10"

Ribbon Length:         up to 24" Ribbon Width: 5/8" to 3"

Maximum Speed:     1,200 per hour

Power:                      115 v.a.c., 60 cycles, 10 amps

Dimensions:               18"W x 60"L x 20"H

Weight:                      300 lbs. (91 kg)

Additional Features:

a) Heavy duty ½-ton cutter for pinking blades, straight blades, dovetail die cutter or circle die cutter.

b) Cutter equipped with separate shutoff so that the press can be run without the cutter.

3.1.1 Control Panel

The switches and controls located on the press control panel are described as follows:

POWER: "ON/OFF" supplies power to the print head heat control, counter, dwell timer, and stop/run switch.

TIMERS: With the "TIMERS" switch in the up position, the press will be in automatic operating mode, such that when the "Start/Stop" switch is used to start the press, the press will print the ribbon, advance it, and cut it until the "Start/Stop" switch is used to stop the press.

BATCH COUNT: Counts and displays the number of impressions that have been made. Can be reset to zero using the RESET button on the counter.

HEAT CONTROL: Set the desired head temperature by turning the dial to the desired heat setting. When the red light on the heater dial goes off, the set temperature has been reached. Most foils require a temperature of 250 to 300 °F.

DWELL TIME: This is the amount of time that the print head stays at the bottom of its stroke when the press is in automatic mode. Dwell time is adjusted during setup and is a function of pressure, temperature and foil type. It is typically around 1.0 second for the K.A.1, but you may have to increase or decrease the dwell time depending on your temperature, pressure, foil type and ribbon type. In any event, be sure to run the press slowly at first until you are comfortable with its operation. Then you can work at speeding up the press.

PRINT: This switch will stop the print head to allow streamers to be cut.

CUTTER: This switch will stop the print to allow continuous ribbon to be printed.

3.1.2 Control Switches

START/STOP: This switch is located on the wooden table at the front of the machine. This switch is used to start and stop the press.

3.2 Feeding the Ribbon - K.A.1

a) Mount the roll of ribbon on the ribbon unwind bar. Be sure to mount the ribbon roll such that the printing will be done on the outside of the ribbon, ie. the ribbon should come off the roll between the roll and the press. Tighten the ribbon roll in place, but not too tight - the roll must be able to spin freely on the ribbon unwind bar.

b) Thread the ribbon under the in-feed idler bar.

c) Remove the weight over the centring guides on the ribbon in-feed, and feed the ribbon between them. These guides will position the ribbon for printing. The guides are adjustable using the screw knobs on either side of the ribbon in-feed. Do not forget to replace the weight when ribbon feeding is complete. Without it the ribbon can jump out of its track. For additional tension, use a rubber band over the weight between the two adjusting knobs. If you have a minor static problem, wrap a sheet of "Bounce" around this weight.

d) Feed the ribbon across the print area, under the ribbon out-feed weight and between the centring guides (identical to in-feed arrangement described in c) above). Continue under the idler roller and over the registration roller. See Figure 1 for these items.

e) From the registration roller, feed the ribbon between the pinch roller and the knurled drum. The pressure of the pinch roller is factory set for standard satin badge ribbon, but may require adjustment for your material. The pressure must be equal on both sides of the ribbon for straight tracking, enough to pull but not so much as to cause the clutch to slip. If you can pull the ribbon from between the rollers without allowing the rollers to move, then the pinch roller must be tightened. If adjustment is necessary, then it must be done in very small increments. To increase pressure, open the clamp and turn each locking nut clockwise; an eighth of a turn should be sufficient to make a noticeable difference.

f) Feed the ribbon through the die cutter assembly.

See Figure 2 below to see the proper ribbon path through the K.A.1.

3.3 Feeding the Foil

a) Mount the roll(s) of foil on the foil bar in front of the machine, between the adjustable guides. The foil comes off the top of the roll(s). There should be enough tension on the roll(s) to make sure that the roll stays tight after each pull. If there is not enough tension, the foil will become loose as the press operates. Position the guides to ensure that the foil(s) is properly positioned. This is particularly important for multi-colour printing. Use the guides to position the different colour foils under the particular parts of the die designated for the appropriate colour. The long guides provided with your press are designed to help you do this. No other positioning should be required to achieve perfect foil tracking.

b) Route the foil under the knurled drum at the back of the machine, and up between it and the pinch roller.

c) Continue over the top of the pinch roller and onto the rewind roller. Be sure to route the foil onto the underside of the foil rewind roller. If using an empty foil core to capture the used foil, ensure a clean and even rewind by making sure it is not slipping on the rewind roller. A piece of masking tape on the roller should do the trick.

See Figure 3 below for the K.A.1 foil path.

3.4 Mounting the Dies or Type

To remove the chase from the print head of your K.A.1, use the air switch mounted at the top right side of the print head and slide the chase out towards the front of the machine.

The K.A.1 requires no special treatment for mounting dies or type, but good habits are worth practicing.

a) Position the die or type in the centre of the chase.

b) Avoid using dies permanently mounted on lead. The lead deforms over time, resulting in an uneven die which requires excessive pressure to print. Compensating for this will result in poor print quality and may put undo stress on the machine.

3.5 Adjusting the Ribbon Pull

Adjustments are made by adjusting the travel of the ribbon pull air cylinder, which is located horizontally on the wooden table at the front of the press. The 9/16" travel adjustment nut is located on the front of the mounting plate for the cylinder, right at the front of the machine. Move the nut to the right to increase the ribbon pull.

3.6 Adjusting the Foil Pull

Adjustments are made by adjusting the travel of the foil pull air cylinder, located vertically at the back, right, top section of the press. There is a small aluminium block held onto the stem of the foil pull air cylinder by a machine screw. Loosen the screw with an Allen Key and slide the aluminium piece along the stem of the cylinder to adjust the foil pull. See Figure 1 for location.

3.7 Adjusting Pressure

The K.A.1 is rated at 1 ton. It is important to only increase the pressure when it is clearly needed, and only by small increments. Pressure is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the distance between the type face and the ribbon. It can be done in two ways:

a) By using a thicker or thinner make-ready.

b) By adjusting the travel of the print head. This is done by adjusting the travel stop at the top of the main air cylinder assembly. Turn the nut/stud on the top of the assembly to adjust and lock the desired travel in place. See Figure 1 for these items.

3.8 Print Head Levelling

The print head on your K.A.1 can be levelled to allow you to make adjustments for tooling errors on your printing dies. For instance, if your printing die is low in a particular corner or on a particular end or side, you can adjust the level of the print head in that area to correct for the tooling area. There are four adjustments screws, one on each corner of the print head. Adjustments are made by turning the 3/4" adjustment screw. There is a 7/16" locking nut on the top of each adjustment screw to allow you to lock your adjustments in place.

If you want to lower a particular corner, raise the opposite corner before lowering the desired corner, and vice versa. The same is true for sides or ends. DO NOT USE THIS ADJUSTMENT AS A MEANS TO INCREASE PRESSURE. As described in Section 3.7, pressure is adjusted using make-ready or by adjusting the travel of the print head at the top of the main air cylinders.

Please refer to Figure 4 below.

3.9 Adjusting the Position of the Cut

This is one of the easiest adjustments to make on the K.A.1, and is a major improvement over most ribbon machines.

Simply loosen the registration roller by turning the knob on the back end of the roller counter-clockwise, and turn the front end of the roller to raise or lower the roller. Then re-tighten the knob on the back end. Raising the registration roller will move the print away from the cut, and lowering the registration roller will move the print on the ribbon closer to the cut.

For short ribbon pulls, you may find that you can achieve the desired print/cut position at two different settings of the registration roller. One roller position will be higher than the other. Be sure to use the lower roller position in these cases to minimize wander (variation in cut position).

3.10 Mounting and Levelling the Cutting Knife

a) Knife blades or die cutters are attached to a mounting block which is attached to the cutter assembly using two 7/16" bolts. These bolts are located on top of the main ram plate, one on either end. Loosening these two bolts will allow you to remove the mounting plate to which the cutter is attached. This will allow you to change blades or die cutter attachments using the screws on the mounting plate. Change blades by simply loosening the machine screws and the small aluminium piece that forms part of the mounting block.

b) You can level the cutting blade or die in the exact same way as was described for the print head in section 3.8 above. Simply loosen the 7/16" locking nut and turn the 3/4" adjustment screw in the particular corner or on the particular side or end that needs levelling.

c) When the cutting blade is level, every part of the cutting edge contacts the cutting surface at the same time.

d) For clean cutting and long die life, the blade should always be level and cutting with just enough pressure. Excessive pressure will wear out the cutting blade. We recommend a strip of masking tape or firm fibreglass board on the cutting table for making cleaner cuts and extending die life.

3.11 General Set-Up Comments

The K.A.1 is a user friendly press, designed for operators of all experience levels. The following list details items to avoid when setting up the press:

a) Uneven pressure on the die face. Low areas of the print should be corrected using tape to thicken the make-ready in that area or using the levelling screws described in Section 3.7. Do not attempt to correct low areas by overpressuring other areas. This will damage the dies, ribbon or both.

b) Excessive pressure on the feed rolls. The correct pressure is set when there is about 0.010" (the thickness of a playing card) compression on the pinch roller.

c) Foil sticking to the ribbon. This is the most common cause of bad registration. If the foil is stuck tight to the ribbon, the feed roll will slip when it starts to pull the ribbon. If the temperature and pressure are properly set, change the foil.

d) If you start to print exclusively on thin, narrow ribbon, please contact our factory to obtain a modified ribbon pinch roller. The modified roller will have a ridge made on it for the thin, narrow ribbon. Without the ridge, a groove will form in the pinch roller and it will begin to slip, regardless of how much it is tightened.

e) Be sure that you are pulling the proper length of ribbon and the proper length of foil to ensure that your prints look right. Watching your foil pull length will ensure that you are using just enough foil. 

4/ MULTI-COLOUR PRINTING

With the foil being fed across the ribbon on the K.A.1, it is possible to do "single stage" multi-colour printing. Single stage colour printing has separate bands of colour across the ribbon. See Figure 5.

Single stage multi-colour printing is simple. Place the colours in areas desired using the long foil separators provided and print in the normal manner. For instance, in Figure 5, the triangle could be printed with red foil, the square with blue foil, and the circle with green foil.

5/ TROUBLESHOOTING

a) IF RIBBON PULL LENGTH VARIES:

1. Check that ribbon is unreeling properly from the supply roll.

2. Ensure the weight is in position between the ribbon in-feed guides. As mentioned earlier, a rubber band put over the weight between the two guide adjust knobs will give added tension. This may improve ribbon pull accuracy.

3. Check the tension on the ribbon pull pinch roller. If more tension is required, release the clamps and tighten the lock nuts 1/8th of a turn (clockwise). Re-tighten clamps.

4. If there is a loud "snapping" noise on each cycle, the heat or pressure may be excessive - adjust pressure or temperature accordingly. If the foil is sticking regardless of pressure or temperature, change the foil.

b) POOR REGISTRATION:

1. Foil sticking to the ribbon - see Item a), Part 4. above.

2. Ribbon pull length adjuster loose - tighten locking screw.

3. Ribbon pinch roller out of adjustment - adjust to proper tension.

4. Ribbon pinch roller worn - replace or re-grind - contact factory.

5. Worn clutch. Replace clutch assembly - contact factory.

c) PRESS WON'T RUN:

1. Check that main power is on and the "TIMERS" switch is in the up position.

2. Ensure air supply properly set at 80 psig.

d) HEAT PROBLEMS:

1. Machine too hot - short in thermocouple wire.

2. Machine not warming up - broken thermocouple wire or heater.

K.A-1 PARTS LIST

PART NO. PART NAME NO. PER SET

KA-001A KA1 BLANK

KA-002        CYLINDER 2

KA-002A PISTON ROD 4

KA-002B        PISTON 2

KA-002C HEATER STUD 4

KA-003        CYLINDER PLATES 2

KA-003A FOIL FEED DRIVE ROLL

KA-003B        FOIL PRESSURE ROLL ASSY. 1

KA-003C RIBBON FEED ROLL 1

KA-004        PRESS BED 1

KA-004A TABLE BRACKET 2

KA-004C HEATER BLOCK 1

KA-005        LOWER RAM PLATE 1

KA-006        RIBBON GUIDE 1

KA-006A FOIL BRACKET 2

KA-006B        BASE ANGLE 2

KA-006C FOIL CYLINDER BRACKET 1

KA-007        UNWIND FOIL BAR 1

KA-007A FOIL PRESSURE ROLL ARMS 2

KA-007A FOIL PRESSURE ROLL SHAFT 1

KA-101        LOWER CYLINDER PLATE 1

KA-101A TOP CYLINDER PLATE 1

KA-102        CUTTER PISTON 1

KA-103        PRESSURE PLATE 1

KA-104        FIXED DIE MOUNT PLATE 1

KA-104A REMOVABLE DIE MOUNT PLATE 1

KA-105        CUTTER BED 1

KA-106        RIBBON FEED ROLL 1

KA-107        BACK PLATE 1

KA-107A FRONT PLATE 1

KA-108        PRESSURE ADJUSTING STUD

KA-108A DIE STOP 2

KA-109        CUTTER BED COVER 1