RC-33 Planer Rehab - a few questions

[Archie Hendrick]

Hi folks,

I'm still in the process of rehabing a Delta/Rockwell RC-33 13" planer and I'm hoping someone here can provide me with some guidance on a couple issues.

First, I'd like to remove and derust the bed rollers but can't figure out how to get them out. Each roller seems to be held in place by an adjustment pin on each end. The end of the pin outside the casting is slotted for adjustment with a screw driver. The end of the pin opposite the slot is inserted in a bearing on the end of the roller itself. The pin seems to be eccentric in that, when the slotted end is turned, the pin raises or lowers the end of the roller on that side

Does anyone happen to know if I can just loosen the set screw which engages the pin from the top and then try to knock the pin loose from the roller bearing and out the side of the casting? I'd have to do this on both ends of each roller. I don't see anything else holding the rollers in place.

Second question: When I removed and cleaned the drive chains, they appeared to be loaded up with old grease. The manual doesn't give any guidance on re-lubing the chains. Should I use bearing grease or would a good quality chain lube be best?

Thanks for any advice you may be able to throw my way.

Archie

[Chuck Wintle]

Hi folks,

I'm still in the process of rehabing a Delta/Rockwell RC-33 13" planer and I'm hoping someone here can provide me with some guidance on a couple issues.

First, I'd like to remove and derust the bed rollers but can't figure out how to get them out. Each roller seems to be held in place by an adjustment pin on each end. The end of the pin outside the casting is slotted for adjustment with a screw driver. The end of the pin opposite the slot is inserted in a bearing on the end of the roller itself. The pin seems to be eccentric in that, when the slotted end is turned, the pin raises or lowers the end of the roller on that side

Does anyone happen to know if I can just loosen the set screw which engages the pin from the top and then try to knock the pin loose from the roller bearing and out the side of the casting? I'd have to do this on both ends of each roller. I don't see anything else holding the rollers in place.

Second question: When I removed and cleaned the drive chains, they appeared to be loaded up with old grease. The manual doesn't give any guidance on re-lubing the chains. Should I use bearing grease or would a good quality chain lube be best?

Thanks for any advice you may be able to throw my way.

Archie

maybe someone can provide a manual to help you. I cannot give advise for the rollers but why not take the drive chains, clean them and use a dry type of lubricant?

[Archie Hendrick]

maybe someone can provide a manual to help you. I cannot give advise for the rollers but why not take the drive chains, clean them and use a dry type of lubricant?

Charles, I have the manual. It doesn't address roller removal or lubrication for the chains. I have the exploded parts diagram as well, but am still unsure how to remove the rollers. I'm thinking about using a dry lube on the chains, but, because they seemed to have old grease on them, I'm wondering if I should use grease instead.

Thanks for resonding.

Archie

[Chuck Wintle]

Charles, I have the manual. It doesn't address roller removal or lubrication for the chains. I have the exploded parts diagram as well, but am still unsure how to remove the rollers. I'm thinking about using a dry lube on the chains, but, because they seemed to have old grease on them, I'm wondering if I should use grease instead.

Thanks for resonding.

Archie
for the chains i was thinking that dust could collect on the chain if the lubricant is wet vs a dry lubricant. :D

[Chip Lindley]

For the roller chain inside the gearbox, use chain lube after cleaning off the old with mineral spirits. A dry lube will not provide the kind of lubrication roller chain needs. Chain lube is very thick and stays put. It will not ooze to make a mess like gear oil. The gearbox is shrouded and will not collect much dust. For the roller chain beneath the bed which raises/lowers the depth of cut, a dry lube could probably be used, since this chain gets only slight intermittent use.

As for removal of the bed rolls, their assembly is as you discribe. The only way the eccentric studs will come out is from the outside. If there is enough play to make the slotted end protrude beyond the hole, they can be removed. Then the bed rolls can be removed, cleaned, and polished.

> Remove the set screws and spray WD40 or Liquid Wrench in their holes and around the outside of the eccentric stud; also on the inside next to the roller bearing.

> With a screwdriver, twist the eccentric back and forth to work in the lubricant.

> Try tapping on the end corner of the roll within the table slot with hammer and wood block. See if it drives the eccentric stud outboard enough to grab it with padded pliars for removal.

My old RC33 is need of a rehab too! I would keep it forever if the cutterhead had jack screws for knife setting. That is a Royal Pain, and the RC33's only drawback, IMO. If only someone could bore the threaded jackscrew holes in the cutterhead!

Archie, if you need the RC33 manual, PM me with your email addy, and I will send my .pdf copy. Best of Luck!

[Archie Hendrick]

For the roller chain inside the gearbox, use chain lube after cleaning off the old with mineral spirits. A dry lube will not provide the kind of lubrication roller chain needs. Chain lube is very thick and stays put. It will not ooze to make a mess like gear oil.

As for removal of the bed rolls, their assembly is as you discribe. The only way the eccentric studs will come out is from the outside. If there is enough play to make the slotted end protrude beyond the hole, they can be removed. Then the bed rolls can be removed, cleaned, and polished.

> Remove the set screws and spray WD40 or Liquid Wrench in their holes and around the outside of the eccentric stud; also on the inside next to the roller bearing.

> With a screwdriver, twist the eccentric back and forth to work in the lubricant.

> Try tapping on the end corner of the roll within the table slot with hammer and wood block. See if it drives the eccentric stud outboard enough to grab it with padded pliars for removal.

My old RC33 is need of a rehab too! I would keep it forever if the cutterhead had jack screws for knife setting. That is a Royal Pain, and the RC33's only drawback, IMO. If only someone could bore the threaded jackscrew holes in the cutterhead!

Archie, if you need the RC33 manual, PM me with your email addy, and I will send my .pdf copy. Best of Luck!

Chip,

Thanks a million - that's the only way I could figure they'd come out and I'm glad to have you confirm it before I tried something stupid. I'll see if I can loosen things up with Liquid Wrench and then wale a way a bit and see if I can get the screw ends out enough to grab them.

I'm looking forward to putting this thing back together and finally having a planer (although not necessarily looking forward to setting the knives :(). BTW, I have the manual in hand, but thanks for the offer!

Archie

[Bryan Cowing]

chuck a wire cup brush in a drill, takes only minutes to clean them up. I used old 6" wide sanding belt to clean the rust off the drive rollers on a RC-51.

[Archie Hendrick]

chuck a wire cup brush in a drill, takes only minutes to clean them up. I used old 6" wide sanding belt to clean the rust off the drive rollers on a RC-51.

Thanks for the advice Bryan, but I was able to get them out and clean them up on a grinder with a brass wheel. They're a bit pitted but will do the trick.

By the way, for anyone else who may be interested, after cleaning out the slot in the end of the eccentric pin, I noticed there was a threaded hole in the middle of the pin. I was able to thread in a screw, grab the screw head with a cat's paw and lever the pin out of the bearing on the end of the roller.

Archie

[Bruce Wrenn]

My old RC33 is need of a rehab too! I would keep it forever if the cutterhead had jack screws for knife setting. That is a Royal Pain, and the RC33's only drawback, IMO. If only someone could bore the threaded jackscrew holes in the cutterhead![/QUOTE] The Delta DC-33 used jack screws. The head from a DC-33 will probably fit your RC-33. I would check over at OWWM.

[Steven Woodward]

Hi folks,
....Second question: When I removed and cleaned the drive chains, they appeared to be loaded up with old grease. The manual doesn't give any guidance on re-lubing the chains. Should I use bearing grease or would a good quality chain lube be best?... Archie

I am a decade late to this question but perhaps someone else will have the same question. For the all the RC-33 chains (underneath and roller drive chains) I cleaned them thoroughly with kerosene, let them dry, and then sprayed with Dupont Chain Saver. This is a Teflon lubricant that dries and does not attract dust. It gets good reviews from motorcycle people who claim it is good for a few hundred Km on motorcycle. So more than adequate for RC-33 chains. I have also started using on my bicycle chain - nice to have a chain that I can touch and not get greasy fingers.
439549

[Steven Woodward]

Hi folks,

I'm still in the process of rehabing a Delta/Rockwell RC-33 13" planer and I'm hoping someone here can provide me with some guidance on a couple issues.

First, I'd like to remove and derust the bed rollers but can't figure out how to get them out. Each roller seems to be held in place by an adjustment pin on each end. The end of the pin outside the casting is slotted for adjustment with a screw driver. The end of the pin opposite the slot is inserted in a bearing on the end of the roller itself. The pin seems to be eccentric in that, when the slotted end is turned, the pin raises or lowers the end of the roller on that side

Does anyone happen to know if I can just loosen the set screw which engages the pin from the top and then try to knock the pin loose from the roller bearing and out the side of the casting? I'd have to do this on both ends of each roller. I don't see anything else holding the rollers in place.

Second question: When I removed and cleaned the drive chains, they appeared to be loaded up with old grease. The manual doesn't give any guidance on re-lubing the chains. Should I use bearing grease or would a good quality chain lube be best?

Thanks for any advice you may be able to throw my way.

Archie

I am a decade late but perhaps another person has similar questions.

Be sure to lubricate the feed roller bearings at top of machine. The bed rollers have sealed ball bearings but the feed roller bearings are bronze sleeves which should not be run bone dry. The RC-33 manual says nothing about lubrication of feed roller bearings, but when I bought the machine the sales person advised me on this. The Delta DC-580 planer appears to have similar feed roller bearings and the manual for DC-580 says to use 10W machine oil. As it turns out ordinary 3-in-1 oil is 10W. The 3-in-1 electric motor oil is 20W. The DC-580 manual says to oil feed roller bearings every 50 to 100 hours of use. With the RC-33 feed rate of 11.5 feet per minute, that would be 35,000 to 70,000 linear feet of lumber through the machine ! To keep life simple I just oil these bearings once a year.

I made a video of RC-33 restoration https://youtu.be/zFdcSKi47ZU which includes feed roller bearing cleaning at 10:20 and lubrication at 13:54

Manuals and other RC-33 info can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_Qm84_ZeMmsxgP-hHsI-Ppf39kiUOEU3

As for bed rollers: I always run wood over the jointer first, therefore don't need bed rollers at all. So I set the bed rollers flush with table, but could have set them below table. So that is an option if your bed rollers are damaged.

Also don't forget about the gear box oil.

[Steven Woodward]

My old RC33 is need of a rehab too! I would keep it forever if the cutterhead had jack screws for knife setting. That is a Royal Pain, and the RC33's only drawback, IMO. If only someone could bore the threaded jackscrew holes in the cutterhead! The Delta DC-33 used jack screws. The head from a DC-33 will probably fit your RC-33. I would check over at OWWM.[/QUOTE]

Knife sharpening and setting was my Royal Pain as well, but no more. I installed a Byrd Shelix cutter head. Turned that old RC-33 into a state of the art planer. YouTube instruction here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_Qm84_ZeMmsxgP-hHsI-Ppf39kiUOEU3