Portuguese Floor Corker Issues

[jbo_c]

Bottled 59 bottles last night. My PFC is not making me happy.
1) it’s all I can do to pull the handle. Seems way too hard to insert. ( I’m doing dry corks.)
2). It’s mangling the top of 50% of the corks. - tearing/significant dimpling

#9 corks

The two together make me think it’s not wanting to go down through the iris. Way back when I had a two lever corker I used a little glycerine for lube. Didn’t think id need that with the floor corker.

I looked to make sure the bottle neck is lined up under the iris.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks.

Jbo

 

[Johnd]

Bottled 59 bottles last night. My PFC is not making me happy.
1) it’s all I can do to pull the handle. Seems way too hard to insert. ( I’m doing dry corks.)
2). It’s mangling the top of 50% of the corks. - tearing/significant dimpling

#9 corks

The two together make me think it’s not wanting to go down through the iris. Way back when I had a two lever corker I used a little glycerine for lube. Didn’t think id need that with the floor corker.

I looked to make sure the bottle neck is lined up under the iris.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks.

Jbo

Sounds like something is out of line in there. Check your cork compression first, just compress the cork to the point where the plunger touches the top of the cork, make sure the plunger will contact the cork in the center. Release the compression and pull the cork out, inspect it to see what it looks like, looking for any damage you may be getting from compression. If your plunger isn't lining up centered on the compressed cork, tap it lightly with a hammer to bend it into the proper location.

If the above things are in line, the only thing left to check is whether or not the cork is scraping up against the metal frame that it is supposed to pass through cleanly on it's way into the bottle. Worn, damaged, or improperly adjusted jaws in your compression mechanism can also cause this to happen.

Had a similar problem a while back, it was just the plunger being out of adjustment and pushing the corks through the hole at a funny angle and they'd scrape against the metal, an easy adjustment and it was corrected. Good luck!!!