Shelix install on DW735 help

[Ethan O'Neil]

I just finished instaling a Byrd Shelix on my DW735 planer. Everything seemed to go fine, all the pieces that were supposed to go back in, did. So I turned on the machine, sounded fine, then went to feed a piece of wood through and I can't. I think it's getting hung up on a roller which isn't feeding the wood through. What did I do to stop the roller from rolling???

[Myk Rian]

Did you have to remove the rollers to install it?
Does the depth of cut gauge still work on the front?

[Jeremy Rayburn]

I was about to do the same thing, good to know what other people screw up before I can do it!

[Ethan O'Neil]

No, I didn't have to remove the rollers, and I can still set it at whatever depth I want, and the material removal guide still works too. I can push the lumber past the removal guide, then it just gets wedged against the roller.

[Craig Coney]

Check your gear box to make sure it seated all the way. You may have to wiggle it a little to get it to seat properly.

I didn't have any issues with mine other than breaking a sprocket on my rollers after the install.

[Ethan O'Neil]

Finally, a suggestion!! I will go try that and see what happens..

[Ethan O'Neil]

Gear box is in as far as I can push it without hitting it with something. When I turn it on, the belt for the cutterhead is moving, but the chain belts that control the rollers (I guess they do) aren't moving...

[Craig Coney]

the gears should move with the pulley.

Loosen your gearbox bolts, wiggle it and try to get it seated. Also, try to move the cutterhead to seat it into the gearbox with it loose.

Everything should move together.

[Ethan O'Neil]

So I am getting nowhere messing with the gearbox. Could it be that I put the chains back on incorrectly? What about the bar that leads from the gearbox to underneath the top cover? Since I have to have the cover on to start the planer, I'm not sure what it does. I've put up some pics in case anyone notices anything I screwed up.

[Myk Rian]

Are the keys in the sprockets?
Can't see them in the pics.

[Ethan O'Neil]

Keys?? The sprockets on the same side as the gearbox have snap rings...

[Gary Click]

I didn't have any problems with mine but I did notice that the gearbox was knocked out of gear in handling it. This is what the long shaft under the cover contols.

I appoligize for being really basic but could it be between the two feedranges?

[Ethan O'Neil]

I'll mess with the gear handler then, it's not the feedrate, I actually did change that back and forth between 1 and 2 during the whole "process of elimination" phase...

[Gary Click]

Trying to think this thing through, did you remove the helical gear threaded into the end of the original cutter head and transfer it to the Shelix head?

You might want to watch the sproket on the output shaft of the gearbox as you turn the pulley on the cutter head by hand. It should rotate albeit slowly.

[Ethan O'Neil]

wow, that's what i get for not reading everything. i saw on the instructions where he was installing the bearings, but i just skipped it since i got the bearings already installed on the shelix. totally missed the helical gear part!!! thanks, figures I have to go back to totally disassembling this thing again to fix my screwup!

[Gary Click]

Great!!

I think that when you use the head you will be so pleased that it will all be worth it. The noise is greatly reduced both cutting and running and the cut is wonderful. I planed a piece of quilted maple yesterday that I couldn't hand plane with a low angle block plate on a skew. The Shelix cut it with no tearout.

[Ethan O'Neil]

Thanks a lot Gary, if I would have only read the instructions, you'd think I'd learned this by now.... at least I had a helper!

[Myk Rian]

at least I had a helper!
Well, short of tearing our own machines apart, we tried. Next time, I'll just sit back.

[Ethan O'Neil]

Now that I have gotten a chance to use it today, I can only remove about 1/32 of waste from a board or the cutterhead will stop. Anyone else have this happen? As long as I make sure the removal guide doesn't go above the 1/32 mark, everything is ok, more than 1/32 and the cutterhead just bogs down in the stock. I thought that maybe the helical gear had gotten loose, but that wasn't the case.

And don't sit out Myk, I need all the ideas I can get!

[Craig Coney]

I can take about 3/32 max. If i try to do an 1/8" my CB on the jointer tripps.

One thing I did notice is that my thickness indicator is slightly off after the changeout.

[Tom Veatch]

... I can only remove about 1/32 of waste from a board or the cutterhead will stop. ...

Motor too? Or just the cutterhead?

Belt tension too low and belts slipping?

[Ethan O'Neil]

Motor is still running, just the cutterhead stops. How would I adjust the belt tension?

[Tom Veatch]

I'm not personally familiar with that model, but generally, belt driven devices either have an idler pulley that can be used to set the tension by a tensioning spring on the idler or, if there's no idler, the motor mounts usually have elongated slots that allow the motor to be positioned a little further away from the driven pulley to increase the belt tension.

I gave a quick look at the owners manual for the DW735 on the DeWalt web site and it said that a drive belt replacement should be done by qualified service technicians. So I assume that it uses a special belt arrangement and maybe there's no tension adjustments like there usually is for V-belts. In that case, I'd try to watch the pulleys when the machine is running and see what's spinning and what's not. Maybe there's a key missing from one of the pulleys. If there are safety interlocks involved, you'll have to use your own judgement as to whether you can safely defeat them long enough to observe the motor/belt/pulley operation.

[Craig Coney]

check to see that the key is still in place on the pulley to the new head.

IIRC, there is no belt tensioning on the unit.

[Gary Click]

I agree sounds like a missing key or could the belt be turned over with the ribs to the outside?