Product

• Trendsetter Autoloader
• Trendsetter NEWS

Machines affected

All

Component

Picker

Error

• Errors due to double-picking may include:
  • Plate fly-off errors (if one or both plates are not successfully loaded)
  • Focus errors

Symptoms

• Error messages and operator suspend conditions
• Image artifacts (if both plates successfully loaded and top plate is imaged; this should be extremely rare, but has been known to happen)
• Plate fly-off
• One or both plates have damaged leading edges (from hitting LEC clamps or registration pins, and/or being dropped)

Cause

Plate handling/storage/environmental issues

Any or all of the following issues may cause plates to stick together, resulting in double plate picking problems:

• Plates have burrs from being sheared or rough edges from or mishandling, causing them to stick together at the edges. This is especially true of thin plates (0.008 in./203µ, for example).
• Plates are removed from their box and large numbers of them are stacked flat without slipsheets between them. This makes it more likely that they will stick together.
• Plates have curled edges from being stored vertically or at an improper angle. They then stick together at the edges.
• Operator pulls slipsheets out from between plates after they are placed in the bay, inducing a static charge between plates
• Relative humidity is outside of acceptable range:
  • Too high—excess moisture on plates causes them to stick together
  • Too low—increased likelihood of a static charge attracting plates to each other

Solution

To eliminate external causes of double picking:

• Ensure that plates being used do not have have burrs or rough edges.
• If plates are removed from their box and stored on their edges, ensure they are stored at an angle—less than 90 degrees, but not less than 75 degrees.

  

• If plates are stored flat, ensure that they have slipsheets between them.
• If necessary, instruct operator not to pull slipsheets out from between plates after placing them in the bay.
• Ensure that the relative humidity is within the range specified for the device, or by the media manufacturer (whichever is more restrictive).

See also

• Picker 3 double-picking
• Wrist or picker head in/out cylinders leaking
• (MPE) Vacuum below threshold error (#15177)

Technical contact(s)

Jack Miro

Submitted by

Jack Miro

Date submitted

09 Jun 2004