Performance issue

After spending 20 years at the “sharp end” of the industry, in 1983 I joined the Fabric Care Research Association (FCRA) as a technical consultant/training officer. During my 15-year career with FCRA I visited more than 2,000 drycleaning shops throughout the UK carrying out quality assessments, technical audits and training.

A fundamental aspect of the work involved checking and assessing the performance of the production equipment. The FCRA had, of course, many years’ experience in the practical and technical assessment of drycleaning equipment and I was immediately aware after my first few assessments that all was not well with a surprisingly large proportion of equipment – in particular presses, ironing tables, garment formers and spotting tables.

In the majority of cases where equipment faults were identified, management, production staff and engineers were unaware of the problems and the impact they were having on production rates, the additional time and effort required to finish garments and on quality. In retrospect, this was not surprising, as the faults often required specific tests to identify them.

Every cleaner should be aware of the range of basic tests that can be used to identify equipment faults and assess the performance of their equipment. If finishing equipment is not functioning correctly it will not produce the standards of finish it is capable of. As an example, on numerous occasions I found garment formers (in one case all four formers in one factory) that appeared to be working correctly and were emitting lots of steam noise. However, the garments were only just getting warm. On many occasions I have come across formers with steam times of six seconds or less. I am sure that most cleaners will be familiar with at least one of the following finishing equipment performance checks that were developed by the FCRA many years ago. (Note – a stopwatch is recommended for many of the checks.)

Press locking pressure

To check the pressure, place two-thirds of a sheet of A4 paper over the narrow end of the bottom buck and lock the head. Paper gives a much more accurate indication of locking pressure than a handkerchief. Grip both sides of the projecting A4 paper and, if possible, pull it from between the bucks.

When the locking pressure is correct, it should be possible to pull the paper out without tearing it. If the paper slides out freely, the locking pressure needs to be increased.

The check should be carried out at both ends of the press and at the back of the buck to ensure that the bucks are correctly aligned. I have found new presses where the bucks have been way out of alignment.

On manual presses when checking the locking pressure, check the operation of the head damper. If the damper is working correctly it should not be necessary to hold on to the top buck handle when the head is released.

Turning to the press/ironing table vacuum, heat the bottom buck/ironing surface fully using bottom steam or the iron. On a press this will probably take at least five seconds. On some automatic presses with their own boiler it may require 12 seconds or more.

Shut off the steam, apply the vacuum and simultaneously run a hand over the bottom buck/ironing surface. A good vacuum will fully cool the buck/ironing surface within five seconds. Any areas that remain warm indicate a blocked vacuum or a problem with decomposed clothing.

On a press, apply bottom steam and vacuum simultaneously. A good vacuum will completely take away bottom steam. Poor vacuum distribution is indicated in any area where steam continues to penetrate the bottom buck.

The distribution of vacuum can also be checked with an A4 sheet of paper. Place the paper on the bottom buck/ironing surface, apply the vacuum and pull the A4 sheet off the buck/ironing surface.

Repeat this over the whole area of the buck/ironing surface and it will be possible to identify any areas where the vacuum is weak by the variation in the effort required to pull off the paper.

Next, the press steam response/distribution. When the top/bottom buck steam valves are opened, the steam should penetrate evenly and simultaneously over the surface of the buck.

For good response the top/bottom steam must penetrate through the clothing within two seconds.

Both top and bottom bucks can be clothed in the order indicated below.

• fine wire gauze

• knitted cotton pad (KCP)

• canton flannel

• outer cover

Some finishers prefer to omit the KCP on the top buck and this is quite acceptable provided there is good resilience in the bottom buck.

Garment former performance

Before starting the following checks on formers, the air timer should be set to zero and the steam time set to 20 seconds. This is essential – if air blowing starts when you have your hand in contact with the garment the sudden pulse of air/steam often results in an immediate rise in temperature, which can be uncomfortable or, at worst, result in a burn.

Forming equipment steam/air times should always be checked using a stopwatch. Garment former timers in particular are unreliable.

Prepare a medium-weight jacket/coat on the former and start the automatic cycle and place a hand in contact with the back panel, just below the collar. Remove your hand when the garment starts to become too hot. If the former is working correctly, no more than eight seconds should elapse before you have to remove your hand – the temperature rise is progressive and quite slow. More than eight seconds indicates that the former is not hot enough. Always remove your hand at 12 seconds.

As an alternative to the above, a digital thermometer can be used with the thermocouple being placed in the fabric approximately six inches below the collar. This method will have to be used on rotor cabinets and other enclosed equipment. In this case the former’s settings should be adjusted to 15 seconds steam and 20 seconds air. If the former is working correctly the temperature should reach 100ºC after 10 to 12 seconds. (Note: in my experience rotor cabinets seldom achieve temperatures of more than 75ºC.)

Garment former/rotor cabinet

For garment formers and rotor cabinets steam time should be 10 to 20 seconds and air time should be 11 to 30 seconds. In addition, rotor cabinets should have humidification of 0 to 7 seconds. Ideally the air time should exceed the steam time by five seconds. A good general setting for both formers and rotor cabinets is 15 seconds steam, 20 seconds air.

Looking at spotting tables, the steam gun nozzle should produce an even uniform jet of steam. A severely distorted steam pattern can cause unexpected fabric damage. There must be no wire ends projecting from the wire mesh fitted to some spotting tables.

The air compressor must be capable of continuously supplying air to the table at its normal working pressure. Substantial drops in air pressure are unacceptable. The vacuum must also be in good working order.

Steam pressure at the press/finishing equipment should be 60 to 70psi, the same as press/rotor cabinet boilers. Ideally the equipment’s steam pressure should be maintained at around 65psi.

All the above checks should only be carried out by trained staff or management who are accustomed to operating and using the equipment.