Bob Grier
01-25-2013, 9:40 AM
The first time I used the planer I noticed belt dust outside the belt cover. Hours later I removing the belts, cleaned the dust up and adjusting the motor mount to align the motor and head pulleys, I reinstalled the belts and tried again. Same thing but this time I noticed the pulleys were hot to the touch. (They could have been hot after the first time I ran the machine, I don't know.) I checked the pulley alignment and they were not coplanar due to the belt tension deflecting the motor mount. I called Jet to discuss belt tension, heat, pulley alignment, and belt dust. They said belt dust will disappear soon and said they haven't had problems with the belts or alignment. They said I should adjust the pulleys to be coplanar and everything should be good. I tried again and this time I used shims under the motor mount and tightened the belts enough so they would not slap the belt shroud at start up and at the same time be coplanar. I talked to the people where I bought the planer and they thought a motor mount attachment might be broken. It isn't. It just flexes.
The planer has only about an hour on it and both the motor and head pulleys get up to 175 degrees, plus or minus a few degrees after five minutes planing. It does smell of hot rubber. Not much dust anymore but there is still some. This does not seem right to me but I do not know what to do. It is hard to describe how tight the belts are but they are tighter than I would like them to be. I also took flash pictures of the belts while running to see if they were slipping. They did slip while running as well as at start up when tension was at the original factory? setting. They continued to slip as I tightened the belts but now for some reason I am unable to get good pictures so don't know if they slip at the current higher tension.
The machine does a really nice job of surfacing even difficult wood and it is relatively quiet. I do enjoy using it but am concerned about the high temperatures.
I will probably try talking to Jet again but am wondering if anyone has similar experience or suggestions?
Thank you,
Bob
The planer has only about an hour on it and both the motor and head pulleys get up to 175 degrees, plus or minus a few degrees after five minutes planing. It does smell of hot rubber. Not much dust anymore but there is still some. This does not seem right to me but I do not know what to do. It is hard to describe how tight the belts are but they are tighter than I would like them to be. I also took flash pictures of the belts while running to see if they were slipping. They did slip while running as well as at start up when tension was at the original factory? setting. They continued to slip as I tightened the belts but now for some reason I am unable to get good pictures so don't know if they slip at the current higher tension.
The machine does a really nice job of surfacing even difficult wood and it is relatively quiet. I do enjoy using it but am concerned about the high temperatures.
I will probably try talking to Jet again but am wondering if anyone has similar experience or suggestions?
Thank you,
Bob