RP3700 Paper Feed Issues

[PurDuboisPress]

Hello,
Our RP3700 is having trouble feeding paper correctly and gives a paper jam error 9 out of 10 times. The first paper feed system seems to be doing its job fine but after the initial feed, the second system doesn't seem to feed the paper onto the drum. Here a video of what happens: https://youtu.be/GjshPTkl2rg

Here's what I've tried so far:

-Cleaned pickup, scraper, timing, and pressure rollers, and the stripper pad.
-Checked the timing cam alignment from the back of the machine to make sure it's correctly aligned.
-Tried every configuration of the two green dials that change the stripper pad pressure and angle.

The problem persists regardless of what paper we use, or what drum is in the machine. Any advice? Thank you.

[20gaugeO/U]

Re: RP3700 Paper Feed Issues

If you have the manual and everything checks out, I'd clean/replace the feed clutch. Don't forget the FT and sep pad are rubber so they may look good but may be hard from old age. Nothing lasts forever

[Iowatech]

Re: RP3700 Paper Feed Issues

Make sure the green lever and green knobs in the print paper supply area are in the correct position, too. Especially the lever, I have seen machines act in a similar way when the lever was set to the thick position but twenty pound stock was being fed.

[PurDuboisPress]

Re: RP3700 Paper Feed Issues

Thank you both for sharing your insight. I noticed that the green lever that releases the feed clutch was busted off so I replaced it. It now prints more often, but is still rather finicky. It prints better when the lever is switched to "card" so I'm wondering if my pickup and scraper rollers are worn out. I think I'll try to order some online and see if that helps.

[Iowatech]

Re: RP3700 Paper Feed Issues

Thank you both for sharing your insight. I noticed that the green lever that releases the feed clutch was busted off so I replaced it. It now prints more often, but is still rather finicky. It prints better when the lever is switched to "card" so I'm wondering if my pickup and scraper rollers are worn out. I think I'll try to order some online and see if that helps.

Replacing the rollers should help, but you should also replace the separation pad, too. And unless you are printing exclusively on stock that I've never encountered, the amber colored pad works the best. (P/N 019-11833-XXX (those Xs represent numbers that change from time to time, but as long as the first eight digits of the part number are the same you should get the correct pad))
Paper feed tray height sometimes caused that problem on the GR line, but I have never seen that on RP machines. So that's a pretty long shot.

[PurDuboisPress]

Re: RP3700 Paper Feed Issues

I think I fixed it. Just ran about 100 prints w/o issue. In the rear of the machine there is an arm that gets pushed by the timing cams. I believe this arm engages the timing roller. I noticed the arm wasn't springing back down and it seemed to be gunked up so I took it off, cleaned the shaft, and put a little lube in there and now it's printing great.
This took me probably 25 hours of work to realize this, but I learned a ton about how this machine works. Worth it. Thanks everyone for your guidance.
-John