Technical Guide · Bottling
Guide to Cap Application Problems
The 13 most common capper failures — diagnosis, root cause, and step-by-step correction. Used by bottling engineers and technicians to reduce waste and minimize line stoppages.
What you already get with this guide:
- Cocked closure — how to tell whether the problem comes from the cap, the bottle, or the capper by looking at thread deformation.
- Broken band and smiley band — ideal cap conditioning temperature (18–35 °C for 24h) and static torque adjustments on the head (10 ± 2 in.lb).
- Leakage and CO₂ loss — cross-checklist: cap, bottle, and capper. In what order to investigate.
- Caps jamming in the chute — correct sorter disc speed for 8+ heads and minimum chute clearance (1 mm in diameter, 2 mm in height).
- CIH vs Pick-Off systems — causes specifically tagged C.I.H. and P.O. so you go straight to your equipment type.
Practical threshold: if there is more than 1 failure per 10,000 applications, corrective action is needed. Know which.