Floor corker malfunctioning
 

I have an Italian floor corker that when compressing a cork one of the
irises opens up a 1/16" or so which leaves a crease in synthetic corks
and everyone will leak as soon as it's laid on it's side but being that
natural corks are more pliable most of them do ok, of coarse I never
really paid attention in the past because I always used natural or
agglomerated corks.

Also I talked to the local wine & beer supply shop and was informed
that all the Italian floor corkers they get in have this problem.
Does anyone have a fix for this particular problem.

Rick

Floor corker malfunctioning
 

Rick,
The only ways I can think of to fix it may ruin it. You may need to
disassemble and shave down the flat of the one jaw that is creasing it.
That's tricky, it can mess up the alignment of all of them. There is
not a whole lot of brass to these; it would not take much of a mistake
to ruin them.

What you may want to do first is pull the top off and loosen the fixed
jaw (or jaws) and reset them; then see how it works. I had a heck of a
time fixing mine.

The springs in those are under a lot of tension, be really careful
working on this.

It is a known issue from what I see; I use a Portuguese with plastic
jaws and it never does this and i have used most of the synthetics;
SupremeCorq, Guardian, NomaCorc to name a few I can remember.... I
use Nomacorc now on everything.

I only use my Italian one for sparkling wine corks now; I modified it
to seat them partially.

Joe

Floor corker malfunctioning
 

Thanks Joe, I'll pop the top this evening and have a look.
Being that the irises ride smoothly against each other with no cork
inserted lends me to believe it my be fixable, I'll post the results
later tonight or tomorrow night.

THanks,
Rick

Floor corker malfunctioning
 

I wonder if a little lubricant like PAM might help?

Floor corker malfunctioning
 

No, I don't think that would help. You can actually watch the segments
seperate as you compress them; it's like it overcompresses one segment.
(At least that is how mine was.)

Joe

Floor corker malfunctioning
 

Pino, I did lubricate inside and it unfortunately it made no
difference.

Joe I trial ran the corker with the top off (have to be carefull using
all body weight on a stick to keep the back end from flying out) and
all goes well unless under a load.
It appears that if the steel V section that connects to the handle
which the 2 rear irises slide against were brought together/ closed a
bit it may do the trick, one of them already has a large 1/6" gap on
the farthest end as if it's not aligned or the V is slightly out of
square.
I will (Carefully) dismantle and attempt to adjust this weekend and
post my findings by the end of the weekend.

Rick

Floor corker malfunctioning
 

The following is a scenario I've seen on 2 separate Italian corkers:
as the handle is brought down the side links start to push the jaws
closed; just before the bent rod begins to move the cork down into the
bottle, the jaws reverse and open up a bit. On a properly functioning
corker this slight reverse movement does NOT occur.

Rick and Joe, if this is what you are seeing I think I can tell you
what the problem is. I've never used synthetics so I don't know if
this behaviour is causing your creases. In my corkers, what it does is
cause the leading lip of the cork to scrape against the hole in the
corker as it goes into the bottle. This causes the lip of the cork to
fold back or tear and results in an unacceptable closure.

Here is the cause! It has to do with the lubrication of the handle
"journal" bearing. This bearing is a simple steel cylinder welded onto
the handle. The bearing normally rotates on a shaft (also mild steel)
that is threaded on each end and retained in the sheet metal housing
with 2 nuts. This is a "terrible" design, btw! When the lubrication
of the journal on the shaft diminishes (only a matter of time) the
journal will "freeze" on the shaft and the shaft will begin to turn in
the housing when the handle is moved. The shaft holes in the thin sheet
metal housing take no time at all to wear into an egg shape! The
result of this is that the jaw forces when the cork is compressed push
back through the links and move the shaft rearward! This allows the
jaws to open slightly! Viola! Crappy closure!

The solution to this would be trivial at the factory! A simple
redesign of the shaft/journal. The fix to a failed corker is not so
easy IMHO. I replaced my first one to fail. When that one failed I
probed and poked until I figured it out. I now own a Rapid 12
(~$600). The Swiss "do it right!" We run a small winery and do hand
corking for short runs and trials. For a HW the best answer may be to
"oil the hell" out of that journal EVERY time you use it!

Hope this helps!!!

Charlie
PCW



Joe Sallustio wrote:
> No, I don't think that would help. You can actually watch the segments
> seperate as you compress them; it's like it overcompresses one segment.
> (At least that is how mine was.)
>
> Joe

Floor corker malfunctioning
 

Pino wrote:
> I wonder if a little lubricant like PAM might help?
>
>
I'd think more about using a dash of mineral oil first... PAM is a type
of oil which supports the growth of bacteria, unlike mineral oil.

JMHO

Gene

Floor corker malfunctioning
 

Charlie,
I'll look at that, it sounds very similar to what mine did. I think my
brother has that one now....

Thanks!

Joe