Clamp will not close

[Donn the molder]

Hello I'm having a issue with a '91Van Dorn 400 rs 48f ht.... Clamp will not close auto,semi or Manuel. All switches are being made you can hear it wanting to close but no luck. Thought maybe the cn valve was bad so I switched it but still the same issue. Have a vdu control board and it doesn't have any errors or alarms displaying. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[iautry1973]

Is it looking for ejectors back or a core signal or anything that isn't being made?

[Donn the molder]

No the ejectors are fulling retracted. Nothing is in the mold all switches are met.

[Suhas]

Are you seeing pressure on the gage when you are trying to close the mold? If yes, how much?
Suhas

[iautry1973]

I am not the greatest with hydraulics, but isn't there a dump valve that is opened when the gate is open? Could that be stuck open therefore never letting you build pressure? We did have a machine that wouldn't clamp up that had lost the seals around the piston and then couldn't build the pressure. Not sure if any of those help.

[Donn the molder]

Yes pressure is 1000-1200 psi.. I've also checked to make sure I'm getting voltage to solenoid all check out fine. It's really baffling me. I will check the dump valve tomorrow. Would that be the hydraulic gate switch on the lower back side of the front gate?

[Suhas]

If you are getting pressure then the hydraulics is working. Check your mechanical drop bar to see if it is adjusted correctly.
Suhas

[Donn the molder]

Yep the mechanical stop is good

[iautry1973]

The dump valve is different on each machine, but most of the ones I have seen are hooked to the front gate.

[Donn the molder]

Turned out to be the proportional valve. I had only changed the directional valve instead of the whole cluster f my life lol very costly repair. Thanks for everybody's input.

[iautry1973]

Glad you got it figured out