TRADE SECRETS Roger Cawood


Equipment clothing and settings


Roger Cawood takes a look at equipment clothing and automated equipment settings – both of which play a critical role in producing good production rates, quality work and in the reduction of staff fatigue


I


n my experience both ironing table and press clothing are at the lower end of maintenance priorities with few cleaners really understanding the huge contribution soft resilient clothing makes to reducing the time and physical effort needed to produce high quality work.


Types of clothing


There are very many alternatives when it comes to clothing so I will discuss those that are the most widely used. There are three basic types of bottom buck clothing available to the cleaner. Traditional clothing: comprises a wire/ synthetic gauze, a knitted cotton pad ( KCP ), a felt pad and an outer cover. While this type of clothing initially provides an excellent, resillient pressing surface, it is not as durable as the modern alternatives and if left on the equipment too long KCP’s decompose into a fine brown dust, making their replacement messy and time consuming. I have often seen the cotton canton placed on top of the wire gause with the KCP over thecanton. This can result in faint patterns from the KCP being impressed on fabrics when the vacuum is applied with the head locked, for example on trouser centre leg lays. Composit pads: used on both ironing tables and presses, these are a single structured pad that replaces in one unit the components of traditional clothing. This form of clothing is now thought to


Nylon press cover Canton (flannel)


Knitted cotton padding (KCP)


Copper gauze


be the the most popular, particularly in unit shop operations as it can be quickly replaced. The pads are available in various sizes for use on both presses and ironing tables. Silicon pads: adhesive is normally used to stick the pad to the buck and it is then covered with either a canton flannnel or a siliconised foam pad followed by an outer cover. While silicon pads are very expensive they are extremely durable and can be expected to last several years.


Spring tension


Excessive spring tension (often due to incorrect positioning of the springs) causes intermittent soft main creases on trouser legs and waves in the fabric.


Top buck


As for bottom buck (1 or 2) Some alternatives include:


‘Fabric-safe’ ray plates - frequently used on scissor presses dedicated to trouser pressing.


Wire or synthetic gauze, followed by a canton flannel or silicone foam pad and an outer cover


Managers should note that to avoid premature consolidation it is critical that when press clothing is changed that the locking pressure is carefully adjusted to accommodate the added thickness of the new clothing.  


Automated equipment settings


WELL CLOTHED: Correct clothing order for traditional clothing


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Automated finishers for the most part should be regarded as finishing aids and not as the sole means of finishing items and they vary considerably in the standards of pre-finish they produce. Generally, you get what you pay for with the very best standards being produced by stretch formers which normally achieve finishing temperatures of 120°C followed by form finishers at around 100°C whereas I have


• Next month we will be looking at 


If you have topics you would like the


author to explore, please E: kathy.bowry@ laundryandcleaningnews.com


FINISH AID:


Form finisher (Susie) is, a


long-established finishing aid in drycleaning


seen temperatures as low as 70°C on basic rotor cabinets - finishing temperature is fundamental to good standards of finish.


Recommended steam/air settings


These settings are recommended for rotor cabinets, form finishers and stretch formers.


Recommended settings : Steam 10 - 20 seconds Air


11 - 30 seconds


Ideally, the air time should exceed the steam time by around 5 seconds. The lower settings should be used for lightweight items. Where applicable, air volume should be reduced for lightweight items. Some equipment and in particular rotor cabinets have an additional timer that allows a dwell period between steaming and air blowing ( humidification ) this timer should be set at around 6 seconds.


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