Capper locks up

Hi all
My capper locks up and is very hard to get off the bottles when I swap out the plates and use a 29mm bell.
It also leaves BIG dents in the cap.
It is a red Emily brand capper and I NEVER have problems when capping standard size bottles(26mm).

Any ideas on why this happens?
Cheers

The lip below the mouth of the bottle that the capper grabs is probably a little longer than on the standard beer bottles. The dent could be a result of this or using to much force to get the wings of the capper to function.

edit: A bench capper doesn't have this problem.

Yeah
I find myself hankering for a bench capper.
Do you think,if I were to screw the bell in further, it might stop the capper from coming down quite as far?

badlee said:

Yeah
I find myself hankering for a bench capper.
Do you think,if I were to screw the bell in further, it might stop the capper from coming down quite as far?

Click to expand...

I'll have to look for the one I have. Have an idea that the bell isn't adjustable. (Came with 10 cases of bombers for a birthday present. Haven't seen it for awhile.)

What I mean is,it has to be screwed in,right?
So,if I screw it in as far as it will go(not usually a good idea),it would restrict how far down it can go?

badlee said:

What I mean is,it has to be screwed in,right?
So,if I screw it in as far as it will go(not usually a good idea),it would restrict how far down it can go?

Click to expand...

I found my wing capper. The bell does screw on. Now I can't find my 29 mm bell. Try a test bottle with the bell screwed all the way on to snug. Wet the cap and bottle first so a dry cap is not a variable. If the cap still sticks and dents, screw the bell out three turns to see if this will change anything. The bell being not seated to the maximum will limit the travel of the capper arms. The capper arms not traveling as far may prevent then from locking up and prevent denting.

If this works find a spacer to screw the bell down to so it is snug. Without the bell seated snug the threads could be damaged.

I tried screing it out so that it was loose on the last bottling run and it just caused the bell to stick to the bottle.
I had to unscrew the capper from the bell and pry the bell from the bottle.

Not at home,but I will try when I am back.

Are you using the correct bell? Maybe it is too small for the 29mm caps?

I am using the correct bell for sure.
A normal sized bell would not even start to work