Rockwell 18" Wedge Bed Question

[Vince Ryce]

I have a Rockwell/Delta 18" wedge bed planer. The cutter head rotates at the same speed as the motor, 3450 RPM, which by today standard is pretty slow.
Since it is belt driven, it would be easy to increase the speed by 1000 RPM.
Is there any reason why I should not be doing that.

[Bob Vallaster]

I am not an engineer, nor am I familiar with your machine. I have no idea of your background.
Over the years I have hot-rodded bicycles, computers, cars and, yes, some woodworking machines. The various efforts taught me 1) to be very respectful of original design and 2) to do nothing before anticipating what consequences might cascade from any change.
Check the drawings (might be available at owwm.org) to determine if the original pulley ratio was other than 1:1. Maintain original speed. Jumping speed 30% on a heavyweight cutting assy seems a leap into the dark.

BobV

[Rick Lizek]

I know the machine well. I have a model with direct drive and have worked on these in schools and shops as a tech fixing machines.

That machine at that rpm will still do a great job on figured wood so it it's not broken, why fix it?

On the other hand there is no reason why you can't up the rpm of the motor. I see no problem with running the head faster. The head and bearings can handle it. As you noticed many jointers and planers run around 5000 rpm. The reason that machine does so well with figured woods is the feed can be lowered slower than most machines.