I killed my Hammer A3-31 because I’m a dumb dumb...

[Peter Lashley]

Soooo, all the advice you’ve ever heard about not operating heavy machinery while fatigued is apparently true, much to my dismay. This sad tale of woe started out with a full day in the shop and ended with my A3-31 shattered and broken. After working all day, I figured I’d plane just one more board to finish a cutting board for my mother in-law. Yes, it was supposed to be for Christmas, and it’s really late but who’s counting...

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this scrap piece of walnut is tapered and because I was obviously not paying attention, I fed the tapered edge into the planer, not the edge I’d been planing down. Once the meat of the wood hit the in-feed roller, “BLAM” metal shrieking and the smell of smoke!!! Good grief I’ve killed it!

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Best I can tell, when the taper got too thick, the wood jammed into the cutter, the in-feed roller suddenly stoped and the torque from the motor striped the in-feed roller gear clean off. This caused a chain reaction, pun intended, back lashing the chain which doubled over and jammed into a bracket further down in the transmission drive. What a mess. Did I mention the smell of smoke.

Of course this all happened on a Friday evening so I had to stew in a cauldron of my own stupidity for an entire weekend while I waited for Felder to open on Monday morning... Long story, short, 5 callers to Felder Tech reps and 3 to a field repair Tech got the chain untangled, a bracket bent back into shape and the transmission and motor tested.

The diagnosis: on the plus side the motor seems fine and there’s no apparent damage to the other gears or jointer drive. The bad... the threaded stud that holds the in-feed roller drive gear is sheared off and rounded over. Just great... how much is this moment of stupidity going to cost me? Well the tech support guy adds up the parts I need, new in-feed roller, gear, lock nut, etc... about $200 plus shipping. Ok, that’s an expensive mistake and this is turning into an expensive cutting board but I can swing that and swap out the roller myself, right? Expensive but lesson learned and all, I tell myself... Not so fast turbo... very nice field tech guy proceeds to tell me he’s never had a customer successfully replace a roller and get the machine calibrated in his 15 years on the job...

“No problem”, I tell him, “I’m wicked handy and have already adjusted the jointer tables and all that... I should be fine right?” We’ll... not so much he says... Apparently, unless you’ve done this swap before and know what you’re doing it’s a nightmare. He was very emphatic that I’d ultimately be calling a tech out if I tried it myself. Ok fine, how much is it to send out a guy to swap it for me... “Hold on let me get you an estimate”... Now I live exactly 70 miles from the west coast Felder office, Anaheim and just to get the guy to my house and back... $400! And the time estimate to swap the part and recalibrate the cutter, the rollers, the table, the jointer beds... 6 hours at $125/ hr. WHAT!?! So at around $1500 bucks when it’s all said and done, this had better be the most amazing cutting board in the history of woodworking... Crap!

I told him I’d have to call him back after I finish smacking my forehead with a framing hammer...

I then ended up talking to a friend of a friend who’s in the UK and repairs a lot of Euro equipment including Felder / Hammer and he concurred, replacing the roller is a bear of a job. He recommended I look into having a pro welder come over and weld a new gear onto the in-feed roller. He said it would be a lot cheaper and if I had to someday replace the gear I could just cut it off and be no worse off than I am now... He went so far as to say, if this was his machine, that’s what he’d do, and Bob’s your Uncle. Hmmm, crazy Brits and the colorful colloquiums.

Well it’s official, I’m a moron, brought this on myself and I should just suck it up and get a welder out here for $300 bucks or so, (I’m guessing, as I haven’t called a welder yet) but pride of ownership is gnawing at my shattered ego and I really want my uber expensive jointer/planer combo to be whole again.

I don’t know what I’ll end up doing but I thought I’d share the moment of inattention that killed my favorite machine and if there’s anyone out there who happens to be friends with the “good idea fairy” and has an alternate idea on how to bring my machine back from the grave, please fell free to sing out as I’m a wee bit desperate right about now.

Thanks for reading all this and putting up with my feeble attempts to hide my failings behind a wall of humor.

[John Goodin]

Ouch — I hope you really like your mother in law. I got nothing in the way of advice but a lot of sympathy — we have all been in similar situations.

[mreza Salav]

By no means I'm an expert but I have taken apart a few machines and put back together and would try to do at all myself before shelling out that kind of money for a tech guy. Ask if they can provide an instruction set of some sort showing the steps you have to go through.

[Bernie May]

I would check the infeed roller adjusters to make sure they were not harmed by the accident. I have had one of them fail on my A3-31

[Jim Becker]

This is a tough call. I just went through a similar, albeit different, situation with the feed system on my FS-350. But the maintenance I had to do to rectify didn't involve tearing down any of the feed mechanism internals...I only had to replace an idler wheel with a tire on it. (that setup lets the SCM/Minimax feed system actually slip if there is a jam) For a deep repair like you are facing, I'd probably opt for the technician, despite the cost. I'm not sure I"d engage a welder like your UK contact mentioned for something like this unless the welder was extremely and directly familiar with this kind of machine. But that's me...and yea, bummer that this happened to begin with. Unfortunately, that's how Murphy works. :(

[Frank Pratt]

I wonder if that gear could be welded back on in situ & have it perfectly perpendicular to & concentric with the shaft?

Given the cost of getting a tech out there, I'd be inclined to at least give the replacement a try myself. Have you scoured the YouTubes to see if there's any help there?

[Kevin Jenness]

Seems like a design problem- a jam really should not destroy the feed roller. That doesn't help you of course.

Just out of curiosity, how much material were you removing when the jam occurred?

I would probably try to repair the machine myself with as much advice as I could glean from tech service, but I am used to that sort of work. The welding option could work if you have someone competent, but it is a hack. Having a tech do the repair may be the best choice if you want the machine back to new condition and are not confident in your skills. Bummer.

[Matt Day]

I’d do the swap myself, no question. Worst case (assuming nothing else goes wrong), you spend time trying and fail and call the tech.
But it really can’t be that hard. I know it’s a J/P and you’ve got a big flip up table to work around, but it’s just some gears and chains right? Take copious amounts of pictures as you tear it down, take not of chain positioning and tension and you should be fine.
I guess you could afford the felder to begin with, but $1500 is a lot of money to me and I’d rather not she’ll it out if I could do it myself.

[Erik Loza]

Just my opinion, accept or reject as you like: I would have a lot of hesitancy about welding it. For the reasons Jim and Frank mentioned but also because "if" you ever need to service that component group again and it's all welded together... Good luck, whatever you end up deciding to do.

Erik

[Mark e Kessler]

I agree with Matt, give it a go yourself then call tech if it doesn't work out but I would check to see if they are willing to work on it if you have it dissembled. seems like the welding could go right if a competent person does it but would hack job...

One other thing, doesn't the Hammer have a steel toothed plate that is set to the max depth of cut? Usually they are in front of the kickback fingers, it would have stopped the wood from going too far in the first place in theory anyways. Also the Hammer is no Felder....

mk




I’d do the swap myself, no question. Worst case (assuming nothing else goes wrong), you spend time trying and fail and call the tech.
But it really can’t be that hard. I know it’s a J/P and you’ve got a big flip up table to work around, but it’s just some gears and chains right? Take copious amounts of pictures as you tear it down, take not of chain positioning and tension and you should be fine.
I guess you could afford the felder to begin with, but $1500 is a lot of money to me and I’d rather not she’ll it out if I could do it myself.

[Geoff Crimmins]

Does the machine still work fine as a jointer? If so, I wonder how much you could sell it for to someone who just wants a jointer, and what it would cost buy a new or demo machine. Would Hammer give you any kind of a discount on a replacement machine? Are there any other parts on the machine that you might not have noticed are damaged, that would be expensive to repair? I'd want to know the answer to these questions before spending $1500 or more on a repair. If your machine still works as a jointer, another option would be to buy a Grizzly 15" planer, which would cost about the same as repairing the Hammer.

[Jeff Monson]

Why not give the welding of the gear to the roller a shot?? Unless I'm missing something....what do you have to loose? If it has to be serviced?? Well if and when that time comes you may have to buy a new roller and gear and deal with the PITA to cut your old roller and gear apart.

[Gregory King]

This scares me too. My 14" General will do one of two things: feed rollers slip or motor will start to bog and trip.

The welding idea might work if there is absolutely no wobble. Suspect a vibration otherwise. Best to bite the bullet and do the proper repair. I get a feeling you won't like the machine any other way.

[joe maday]

What about Hammer/peen/add weld to the opening in the gear, back to it's proper size and shape. Place it on the shaft, then place a washer on the shaft..Then well through the washer's hole to the shaft. If the gear needs to be removed just grind off the washer/weld. I doubt that the gear needs to be so exact you could not get it within tolerances by eye.If you can get the roller/shaft out you could get a machine shop to weld a threaded rod/bolt end to the roller.
A lot of choices before spending $$$$ for a tech. Just do what you can not to change or loose the settings/relationship of the beds to the frame.....

[Derek Arita]

Ya...I'd DIY too. Just takes tons of pics along the way. It'll take time and patience, but I'll bet you can do it, after all, it's not a skill or a talent, like playing the piano or something. If you hit the wall with it, you can always call in the tech. Felder techs may even be able to walk you thru the tuff parts. Good luck!

[Tom M King]

I knew one of the best welders ever, gone now, but has stuff sitting on the Moon that he welded. For a job like this, he would use a coathanger for a TIG filler rod, tack it enough to hold, but not too much not to bend easily. Then he would set up a dial indicator, and make sure the gear was true all around, tack it a couple of more places, test it, then weld it with a regular filler rod once it was okay, and secure in place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZjZJSig4bo

Since that shaft would need to be replaced otherwise, there really is little to lose, if you choose a good welder.

[Larry Edgerton]

Peter, I did the same last year. Decided as I picked up this piece that enough was enough but rather than put it down and walk away I ran it. Kicked back and smashed 4th and 5th metacarpals, several surgerys later I had a custom fabricated bone.Should have listened to that little voice.

I agree that it should not have broken. What you did I do to my SCM on a regular basis, at least once a month. No issues, but mine will slip the feed roller rather than breaking something. In using rough stock you just find that one occasionally that is larger than you first pass setting.

That machine was most likely assembled by a man no smarter than yourself. He had more knowledge of that machine, so that is what you need to acquire, either through research or just diving in. It bolted together, so you can unbolt it. I would take the shaft to a machinist and have it repaired and a hub machined for the sprocket that would not only regain true center but improve its rigidity. you could have a keyway cut into it if you are concerned about it being too strong. All very doable, and will cost a lot less.

I raced for years and have had several crankshafts repaired, so I would not worry about strength, much more force on a crank than a sprocket.

Is the feed roller direct or belt drive off of the one motor? I would consider loosening up the belt just a tad so it will slip in the extreme case of a stall to make up for the weak feed assembly.

That will be 2 cents please.......

[Tom M King]

Getting the shaft re-machined is a good idea. I just finished rebuilding the forward, and reverse clutch packs in the reverser assembly inside a 1979 John Deere tractor. Of course, Deere has really good manuals, parts diagrams, and availability, but it has to be a much more complicated job than fixing that machine, and I had never been in the guts of a tractor before. I did it because the dealer was honest enough to tell me that they didn't have a mechanic smart enough to fix it. It can't be that complicated.

In that process, I had the bearing journals, on the long shaft that went all the way through that assembly, built up, and re-machined. That's the kind of thing that machine shops do all the time. It cost me a little less than a couple of hundred bucks for the work on that shaft.

[Alex Zeller]

I'm not sure if I would weld it. Once you do it could be the weak link or even worse no longer the weak link. While you figure you've learned your lesson and will not repeat it only time will tell. If you do feed something too thick and it does happen again what part will be the weak link and more importantly, how much will it cost when it breaks?

[mreza Salav]

BTW, I've attempted (not noticing) doing the same on my Minimax J/P. It has a metal bar in front of the feed roller and it will prevent the piece from getting in further if it becomes "too thick".

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Jim, the Hammer feed mechanism is the same as yours, friction drive using a rubber wheel... Rod.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Larry, the feed drive is friction wheel like your SCM....Rod.

[Rod Sheridan]

BTW, I've attempted (not noticing) doing the same on my Minimax J/P. It has a metal bar in front of the feed roller and it will prevent the piece from getting in further if it becomes "too thick".

The Hammer has the same feature....Rod

[Darcy Warner]

Seems reasonable and pretty quick for the repair.
400 to show up is cheap. 1850 is more common.

[Chris Fournier]

As a member I am not allowed to see photos. This policy only hurts those who pay and hope for good content! Don't let those who say "Unless you've done this kind of repair on this kind of machine" deter you, they have no idea of what they are talking about. You have a machine, the world is full of them and welded repairs work. Truth be told many engine crankshafts are pressed together and the first hop up modification is to weld the crank! If done by someone who understands machines you have a repair on your hands. I am surprised about the damage caused by your operator error as I have done the same thing on a few machines. Best of luck in your recovery!

[Larry Edgerton]

Hi Larry, the feed drive is friction wheel like your SCM....Rod.


Mine is a 520S standalone. Has its own system with a 4 speed driven off of a separate belt run by the main motor.

[Jim Becker]

Hi Jim, the Hammer feed mechanism is the same as yours, friction drive using a rubber wheel... Rod.
Ok. Curious how getting jammed would have done the damage that's stated if the feed system could have slipped. What am I missing?

[Mark e Kessler]

I asked this question earlier, if the hammer has the toothed bar in front of the the kickback fingers. So it does? Confused how this happened in the first place



The Hammer has the same feature....Rod

[mreza Salav]

I asked this question earlier, if the hammer has the toothed bar in front of the the kickback fingers. So it does? Confused how this happened in the first place


I am also confused how this can happen then as that bar should block further feed of the tapered piece into the machine...:confused:

[David Buchhauser]

As a member I am not allowed to see photos. This policy only hurts those who pay and hope for good content! Don't let those who say "Unless you've done this kind of repair on this kind of machine" deter you, they have no idea of what they are talking about. You have a machine, the world is full of them and welded repairs work. Truth be told many engine crankshafts are pressed together and the first hop up modification is to weld the crank! If done by someone who understands machines you have a repair on your hands. I am surprised about the damage caused by your operator error as I have done the same thing on a few machines. Best of luck in your recovery!


Hi Chris,
For only $6 per year you can become a contributor and see the photos - a small price to pay to help support the SMC forum.
David

[Rod Sheridan]

Ok. Curious how getting jammed would have done the damage that's stated if the feed system could have slipped. What am I missing?

I don't think you're missing anything Jim, I had the same question.

I'm wondering if the sprocket was loose before the jam.............Regards, Rod.

[Rod Sheridan]

I am wondering if the sprocket was loose and the threaded portion worn before the jam.

If you have a piece that experiences a kickback it can be driven backwards with a lot of force.............Rod.

[Rod Sheridan]

Sorry to hear that Peter, however looking at the photo the depth of cut doesn't look excessive and the planer failed long after the wood contacted the cutterhead.

I'm wondering if the sprocket was loose for a period of time and wore the threaded portion of the shaft before the failure............Regards, Rod.

[Frederick Skelly]

Man, I'm sorry to hear about this Peter. I'm glad the damage was contained to the machine and that you were not hurt though.

Fred

[michael langman]

The specs for a3 31 say up to 4mm depth of cut.

[Peter Kelly]

You might also try getting a quote from a different repair tech, there's a few to choose from in Los Angeles. I understand this guy is familiar with Felder stuff: http://www.allmachineryrepair.com

I'm sure Felder uses a third-party service, could at least avoid their markup.

[michael langman]

The shaft to the sprocket that failed looks like it is not hardened. Having 2 flats over a short length, of non hardened steel driving a large round sprocket of that diameter does not look like something that would hold up if the end nut on the shaft came loose. As Rod has pointed out.
Was the nut loctited to the shaft?
The sprocket is only 1/4 to 3/8" thick at most. The shaft would easily self destruct if things came loose.
Is the rotation of the shaft opposite the rotation of the nut when tightening the nut?

[Thomas Crawford]

I'd try to repair it myself first without the weld replacing the components. I don't see how it would be impossible for an owner to do it. If it were me I'd have two things go through my mind: 1) I'm an engineer and I like the challenge and think I can do anything a tech can do in the end (which I'm sure is false in any number of cases but I like to try) and 2) The hammer is expensive - people that own it will generally have more money and are more willing to pay for repair. Or they are a small production shop and can't afford the downtime to DIY repair. That could explain why the tech has never seen anyone fix it themselves.

[Darcy Warner]

Sorry, I still think the quote from Hammer to repair it was a good price. More to it then just knocking that shaft out and replacing it, but everyone is an armchair engineer.

My favorite part of fixing something after someone tried to fix something is that it always pays better.

[Gustav Gabor]

It's kind of hard to see from the pictures, but is there enough of the flat areas on the shaft remaining to still engage in the rectangular (slightly deformed) sprocket hole?
If so, I'd grind the end of the shaft flat and drill and tap the shaft and use a bolt and washer to fasten the sprocket. (assuming it isn't a hardened shaft!)

If the shaft and sprocket are deformed to the point that the sprocket spins or has very little bite, I'd get a welder to build up the shaft and the deformed part of the sprocket and then grind and file to mate the parts perfectly.
Probably wouldn't need a large bolt (maybe 5/16" or even smaller?), as the pressure is on the flats of the shaft and the sprocket, not the bolt.

If it were my machine, this is what I'd try first. Relatively easy, cheap, and the shaft can still be removed. Welding the sprocket onto the shaft may be quicker and would be very strong, but without knowing the machine, it might make it difficult if not impossible to remove the shaft once welded.

[michael langman]

Sorry, I still think the quote from Hammer to repair it was a good price. More to it then just knocking that shaft out and replacing it, but everyone is an armchair engineer.

My favorite part of fixing something after someone tried to fix something is that it always pays better.


This is sound advice.
When I was in machinery repairman class A school in the Navy we were required to repair a damaged pump shaft. This meant cutting off the damaged part of the shaft, drilling and boring the end of the shaft to accept the new piece that was a machined press fit onto the original shaft, and then remachining the shaft between centers with a center rest to keep things concentric within .001 of an inch, after the shaft was welded.
But those pump shafts were much more expensive then the shaft on the A3-31.And repairs were done in emergency situations. That shaft on the A3 31 is an inexpensive item from the manufacturer.
Disassembly is required to fix it properly.
If it were my machine, I would ask the manufacturer if there was a weak link that would prevent this type of damage from happening built into the machine. Such as a shear pin between the cutter head and the arbor. After all this machine looks like a glorified snowblower to me, in it's drive mechanism.
If not then I would be inspecting the machine on a periodical basis to prevent this from happening again. And loctiting all of the hold down nuts on the shafts.
If I had a kick back as Rod described, then I would also shut down the machine and do an inspection.
There are alot of these machines out there, so I hope the overall posts, on this topic may prevent this from happening to someone else.

[Ben Rivel]

Scary! Glad I read through this and am aware of it now! Just one more thing to be paranoid about in the shop! lol

[Peter Lashley]

Thank so very much for all the input and suggestions, very appreciated.

I did get confirmation from another Felder / Hammer Tech that it is a 4-6 hour job. Don’t know yet if I can replace the roller and parts myself and perhaps just have a tech calibrate the machine if I can’t get it right or if that’s risking making a tech repair job all the harder. Just noticed there are some heavy duty looking castle nuts holding the cutter head in place and my only wrench for those nuts is way too small, so need to figure that into my plan but who doesn’t look for any excuse to by more tools...

I will call the repair guy suggested by Peter Kelly, just to get a different perspective and as he’s in LA, so might be a bit cheaper.

in response to some of the questions, and I’m sure I’m missing some, the nut was sheared off and still has the threaded rod bit inside it. I tried seating the gear onto what’s left of the feed roller rod and there’s not enough of the flats for the gear to bite onto, it just spins freely. As a side, while going thru the machine again I found the drive chain, which usually spans the two roller gears running directly over the cutter spindle, had dropped onto the cutter drive rod, when the gear failed, and the friction of it spinning forced the chain in to an arch, (small bridge) and fused it in this shape, grinding the underside of the arch smooth. So have to add a drive chain to the parts list. This may have been the smoke smell but not sure.

Some inquired about the A3-31 depth of cut protection and indeed it does have it. There’s a row a pawls and a the bracket that holds them when combined, act as depth protection and kickback preventers. I think what got me was the taper of the piece I was working. It was thin enough to initially get under these pawls and the bracket but as the thickness rapidly increased it eventually forced the in feed roller to stop, causing the back lash.

Just for perspective on the Hammer itself, it has been a phenomenal machine, at least to my non-professional eyes. I agonized about spending so much cash on a machine but at the end of the day when I looked at two comparable capacity Grizzly, Jet, etc., machines and the size they’d take up in my garage, I decided to save up and get the Hammer when it went on sale several years ago. It really has worked great and I’ve really enjoyed working with it. This current debacle is completely my fault as I was tired and lost focus, planning to square up the three sides and rip the taper off at the table saw. But, I feed the tapered side in and this was the result. Very expensive lesson but as several have said, very grateful I wasn’t hurt.

Still working out what direction to take moving forward. I’ll make a few more calls, including the guy mentioned earlier, as he does repairs and welding so it might be the perfect guy to get perspective on both options, repair or weld.

Again, I really appreciate all the suggestions, advice and reminders to learn from my mistakes.

[mreza Salav]

Dont blame it on yourself. I still think the machine should have not behaved the way it did. Simply trying to plane a tapered piece shouldnt be self destructing to the machine.

[Rod Sheridan]

I still don't see any evidence of damage to the workpiece, or excessive depth of cut.

The burning smell could have been the friction roller that drives the planer feed. Inspect it carefully for flat spots or damage.......Regards, Rod.

[Bruce Lowekamp]

I keep reading this thread, mostly out of the horror, like watching a car crash. I'm sure we've all put a board into our planer that got a bit thicker toward the end without realizing it. On my lunchbox planer I always make first passes with the cutterhead unlocked and sometimes increase the depth of cut midway through if I hear the board starting to get thicker and the planer bogging down. I know I've stalled it a couple of times. I would be upset if that broke my lunchbox, and obviously more so if it were a truly high-end planer.

I do agree with others wondering if there was some significant wear already and this simply pushed it past the breaking point. I would still expect a shear pin to break somewhere, though.

Bruce

[Matt Day]

The more I think about it, it sounds like a design flaw to me. I’ve had three planets, a Dewalt lunchbox, a Jet 15” 4 poster, and now an Oliver 399. For all of them, if I fed a wedge shaped board that gets progressively thicker, they just get stuck on the depth limiter and the infeed roller spins. No explosions.

If I were you I’d take this up with Hammer, not as a repair issue, but as a warranty issue. It simply should not do what happened, especially on such an expensive dive machine.

[Jim Becker]

Matt, rather than a design issue, it could merely have been "that one machine" that had some weakness. I think this was pretty much a "one-off" problem, given how many of these things are out there in use far heavier than the OP likely puts his machine through based on context.

[John Gornall]

One of those times on the job where you just do it because everybody is waiting and there's a deadline. Ran a rough sawed Douglas Fir 8" X 8" by 12 foot column through my A3 31 in planer mode. I measured and planned to hit the high spots first but it bogged down, I hit the stop button, reduced cut, and all went well. The machine handled this big hunk of wood with no problem. One guy on each end supporting it with me running the planer. 8 passes through.

[Jim Andrew]

Most guys on this forum do not have to maintain and repair machinery like farmers do, so if you are in that camp, you probably should just have someone come and repair the machine. If you could haul it to the technician, and save the travel time that might be a good idea. I had a 83 model JD tractor transmission fail, and I had to have the dealer pick it up and repair it, the bill was 21,700. So this repair job is not that bad. Of course if I had it, would attempt to fix it if I could figure how to, maybe look on U tube for a video. I have fixed a lot of things that looked difficult, and managed to get by, but not always. Would help if you have a machine shop neighbor who could check it out.

[Matt Day]

Matt, rather than a design issue, it could merely have been "that one machine" that had some weakness. I think this was pretty much a "one-off" problem, given how many of these things are out there in use far heavier than the OP likely puts his machine through based on context.

That one machine, as in this model or this individual machine? Either way, trying to plane a board that’s too thick shouldn’t destroy any planer - lunchbox or this $5,000 (or whatever it cost) one.

[Jim Becker]

That one machine, as in this model or this individual machine? Either way, trying to plane a board that’s too thick shouldn’t destroy any planer - lunchbox or this $5,000 (or whatever it cost) one.
That one specific machine, not the model. I don't believe that the problem that the OP experienced is common or there would be lots of examples and complaints. But Felder/Hammer sells a ton of these machines. I agree that it "shouldn't" happen...Mr. Murphy apparently had other ideas for the OP.

[Mark e Kessler]

I agree, unless there was no limiter, maybe I missed it or we are not hearing the whole story (totally possible I missed it) the wedge shaped wood would have been stopped by the limiter with no harm done, I have had similar experiences over 30 years on big planers to 12" scmi j/p to my 16" current j/p no issue just lower the table and keep feeding.

Did the OP make any modifications or extreme adjustments? Like maybe cranking the infeed roller down for maximum pressure?



That one machine, as in this model or this individual machine? Either way, trying to plane a board that’s too thick shouldn’t destroy any planer - lunchbox or this $5,000 (or whatever it cost) one.

[Alex Zeller]

Think of it this way. You were tired and weren't paying attention around powerful machinery. Even if you spend the $400 to have the work done be thankful. Lots of tired people end up in the emergency room with a much larger bill. I would try to fix it myself simply because I like a challenge with the idea that if I couldn't I would have all the parts and just have to pay for the tech to fix it.

[Matt Day]

Tired or not, a planer shouldn’t explode like that.

[michael langman]

Most sprockets are driven by a key in a key way machined into a shaft.
Having a long key way in a shaft helps to spread the load to the shaft and the key becomes damaged when something like this happens. Then you would just replace the key. Sometimes the key way in the shaft gets deformed too and you have to remachine the key way 180* opposite the damaged key way.
The A31 has 2 flats machines onto the shaft, if I am right. I am going by what the poster said at beginning of the thread. This is not a good tool design because the length of the 2 flats is very short, and it can easily be rolled over if overtorqued.
Chain drives can be very unforgiveing in a situation like this. A V-belt may have slipped and not caused so much damage.

[Andy D Jones]

The A3 series combo jointer/planers have a "friction wheel" in the feed-roller drive train. The manual states:

10.3.7 Checking/changing the friction wheel (transmission)

Note: The friction wheel is subject to wear.
Should the examination reveal a heavily damaged or worn surface, then the friction wheel must be replaced.

Note, the find numbers and the legend for the accompanying Figure 10-9 appear to be mixed up, perhaps in the English translation of the manual.

-- Andy - Arlington TX