A prickly problem in the press, or which needle for a dicing press?
Despite the passage of years, Sipma Z-224 dicing presses still have their supporters. As many of them say, it’s an essential piece of equipment when farming and they don’t want to replace it with anything. It’s hardly surprising to see such reviews, since the machine is one of the cheapest ways to iron. However, in order to prevent its operation from becoming a technical nightmare, spare parts need to be replaced regularly, because taking care of proper technical performance is the key to the trouble-free operation of the press.
Recently, we discussed the brace, its construction and proper adjustment. It is insanely important for proper tying of the string fed through the needle. Well, that’s the needle, because it’s actually where the complicated process of tying the cube begins. The task of the needle is to pierce through the pressed green material and precisely, literally to the point, feed the string to the binding apparatus.
The needle is subjected to a fair amount of stress during its movement, so it has a structure that is a slice of a sphere. This is a deliberate measure to be able to control the proper distribution of needle stress. However, even so, it sometimes succumbs to curvature or fracture. The reasons for this can be found in the incorrect alignment of the slide, poor adjustment of the top level of the piston or loosening of the attachment of the needle itself. Sometimes all of these things occur simultaneously. Then it’s time to replace the needle.
Which needle is better?
Dicing press users can be divided into two groups: those who prefer to use cast iron needles and those who choose sheet metal needles. Discussions about which is better have been going on for years on Internet forums, heating up users of Sipma Z-224 dicing presses. However, which group is right and are cast iron or tin needles better?
Aside from the difference in the material they are made of, both types have the same tasks and both perform them. Both are also supposed to be durable, and they are. Although users are divided on this point as well: some point to the greater faultlessness of cast-iron ones, while others speak of the quality advantage of tin needles. So what are the differences other than the material they are made of? Perhaps therein lies the problem of press user division?
Cast iron or tin? The key is quality
The solution to this conundrum may be a matter of the quality of the needles themselves. Their manufacturers are many, but not every needle available on the market meets high quality parameters. We mentioned earlier that the needle is subjected to high mechanical loads during its cycle inside the press. They occur along its entire length, but the critical place is its attachment. It is here, over a short stretch of the length of the entire needle, that the negative breaking and torsional forces are accumulated.
The mounting location of the needle is sensitive in that it is responsible for the correct position of its tip in the working space of the slide several tens of centimeters farther than the lower resting position of the needle. Therefore, the quality of the needle material affects all the parameters we want: durability and trouble-free operation. Of course, a good needle is not only the right material from which it is made, but also high quality machining during the production process. The final quality is influenced by such parameters as the cooling rate of the cast steel itself in the case of the so-called “steel”. iron needles or the temperature of steel in the process of bending tin needles.
It is the selection of the right material and the precision of its processing that makes the finished needle a replacement part of high and sought-after quality. The answer to the question of whether tin or cast iron is better lies precisely in the high quality of the needle itself.
But maybe a tin needle is better?
Among users of dicing presses, however, there are growing opinions that it is the tin needles that have greater durability. These opinions are not without basis in the case of needles, where the main asset is the high quality of steel and its processing in the production process. Importantly for trouble-free operation, the head of the tin needle has been made to virtually eliminate the resistance of the string sliding along it. To further increase its free flow, it is further precisely guided by a special rotating roller that replaces the sliding insert technique used in cast iron needles.
If you use a Sipma Z-224 baler and need high-quality needles, you can find them in Exparto‘s offer.
