ML Riechers Systems Engineering


[Photo of the Front Side of our rse-2c micro-controller card]

Taking the Time to do the Firmware Right.


Welcome to our pages on

Getting into Initial Register Really, Really Fast.

Summary for the impatient:

It's a whole lot easier to do than to describe.  To go to full speed,
all you have to do is:

    a.	Moving or Stopped, Press the Linear Button on the Keyboard.

    b.	Move the wheel a half-turn in the direction you want to go.
	Nothing gets damaged if you turn it more than that.

    	The Print Roll is now Rotating .4 Inches per Second, moving
        a 22 inch Repeat half way around in less than 28 seconds.

    c.	Release (or not, I don't care) the Linear Button on the
	Keyboard.

    That's it.  To stop, hit any active key on the keyboard.

Problems with Initial Register goes down like this:

When you plop a Print Roll into a Press, the register of the Print image to the Web is random. So, when I've visited customers new to the Pro-Glide Auto-Register, I've noticed that they will turn the Operator Wheel like crazy to get the station into register with the previous station(s) (or reference station). This is slow, because you can't really turn the Operator Wheel fast enough to get any speed out of the Register Motor &mdash which is the thing that actually changes your Register.

With time, Operators will devise a plan, or develop a "feel" for placing the Print Roll in better registration when they insert the Print Roll. Or, they might venture to use the Automatic Pre-Registration feature standard on all Pro-Glide Register Systems. However, the basic problem remains &mdash when you're far out of register, it'll take time to move it back in by turning the wheel.

What would be helpful.

So, what would help to get you these large Registration Changes is to spin the motor Really, Really Fast. Like, if you're running a job with Auto Register engaged, and it needs to make a two inch registration change, it'll take only about five seconds to make that change. That's fine, you say, but we can't use Auto yet. We're just trying to get the Register close enough to use Auto.

So, imagine that the Operator Wheel went from changing the Register _position_, to changing the Register Motor _speed_. Turning the Wheel one click to the right starts the motor spinning at a rate of about 7 thousandths of an inch per second. More licks to the right increase the speed by 30% for each Hand Encoder wheel click, reaching top speed in about 17 clicks -- halfway around the dial, and about .4 inches per second.

Turning the Wheel clicks to the left throttles the motor speed, until the motor stops. Now turning the the Wheel one more click to the left starts the motor spinning at the same rate of about 7 thousandths of an inch per second, but backwards (RETARD, I think. Open to correction here.) Again, more clicks to the left increase the speed by 30% for each Hand Encoder wheel click, reaching top speed in about 17 clicks -- halfway around the dial, and about .4 inches per second.

So how do you engage the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE?.

First, of course, you have to have our new programming. Get an upgrade to Version 1.9b Registration Controller , or a new Registration Controller from COMCO (Revision 1.9b or later). Then install it into the Station Register Box.

Now, you've just got your Print Station set up, you've started the Press, and it's now running at a slow ample. Your registration is way out, and you want to engage the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE. This is what you do:

1. First press the Linear Auto/Manual button on the Station Keyboard:

      -------------------
      |     |     |This |
      |     |     | key |
      -------------------
      |     |     |     |
      |     |     |     |
      -------------------
      |     |     |     |
      |     |     |     |
      -------------------
      |     |     |     |
      |     |     |     |
      -------------------

and keep it pressed.

2. While keeping it pressed, turn the Operator Wheel two clicks to Right, or two clicks to the Left. At the second click, the motor will begin to run slowly forwards (ADVANCING the Print if you turned the Wheel to the Right), or backwards (RETARDING the Print if you turned the Wheel to the Left).

3. After you make your two clicks, take your finger off of the Linear Auto/Manual button. The motor will continue to run, and you can speed it up, and slow it down by turning the Wheel.

4. MOST IMPORTANT: I've got the Register about right, and how do I stop this non-sense, you say. Here's how:

    HIT ANY FUNCTION ABLE KEY ON THE STATION KEYBOARD

like the Linear Auto/Manual button. The motor will stop.

So what are the side effects of the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE?.

Anything this good can't be without side effects. There are several things to keep in mind:

1. If you are in "AUTO", then the system will seek to maintain the no-doubt Really Wrong Register set up in itself. But this is OK. When you engage SPEEDO OVERDRIVE, the Register set-point "follows" the movement of the correction motor. (Auto Register corrections, however, aren't done. The Controller calculates a Register Error, and that error displays on the panel, but, while SPEEDO OVERDRIVE is in effect, it takes over all motor movement.)

If you hit any functional key, (including the "NEXT MARK" key), then SPEEDO OVERDRIVE stops, and the regular function of the Auto Register takes over. At this point, just adjust the Register as you do now with the Wheel.

Hitting the "NEXT MARK" key will stop the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE, but will NOT set a new Auto Register Set-Point. The system will use the set-point which had been "following" the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE.

2. Constant Error Correction (CEC), (and, if you're so bold, Veriprint), is turned off while SPEEDO OVERDRIVE is in effect. However, the system continues to calculate the Throw Length Error, (i.e. the difference between the Web Repeat and the Print Roll Repeat), so as soon as you turn the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE off, the Register System resumes making CEC corrections.

3. If you are in "MANUAL", then the Auto Register System leaves the Register set-point alone: it does NOT change at all. You can, however, hit the "NEXT MARK" key, which will set the new Register wherever the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE position happens to be when you punch the "NEXT MARK" key.

NB: hitting the "NEXT MARK" key will also stop the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE dead in its tracks.

4. If you've got Web with a Throw Length Error, running the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE while in "AUTO" could get "interesting." The best advise we have now is to get the print more or less into Register using the SPEEDO OVERDRIVE, then turn SPEEDO OVERDRIVE off and adjust the Register with the Wheel. The system may "burp" (i.e. the register may bounce around a little) a few times while it comes into sync.



Contact Information

Please send inquiries about MLRSE to
M. L. Riechers Systems Engineering     Voice:  +1-513-844-2220
530 Main Street                        Fax:    +1-513-844-2279
Hamilton, Ohio 45013-3222, USA         mlr(at)rse(dot)com


This page was created by Mike Riechers, e-mail at: mlr(at)rse(dot)com

The Webmaster of this site is free to use the images below on an Apache/NetBSD-powered Web server. Thanks for using Apache on NetBSD!

Site driven by NetBSD - NetBSD rocks!