Planer maintenance

[Paul Stroik]

Hi All,
I am a hobbiest WW and just recently retired. It has taken me 20 years to accumulate tools for my hobby (bought as I needed them). One of the biggest investments was a 12" Foley-Belsaw Planer/Molder purchased about 20 years ago. At the time they were out of 3 hp motors so they offered me a 5 hp at no extra cost. Couldn't pass that up. Used it occasionally with only minor maintenance. Now that I am retired and have more time I would like to give it a major overhaul of cleaning, lubricating, blade sharpening, and maybe even replace the belts with the link type. The belts don't look bad but thought of replacing them anyway due to the age!! Needed to sharpen the blades and replaced only once. But now have about 5-600 bf of lumber to plane and would like to have the planer running in peak performance. One thing I have noticed more of is the noise - very loud. Another thing I have am experiencing is that a little manual pressure is required when the board is about 6-8 inches in. The rollers stop pulling the borad through and I need to provide a bit of a nudge to get it/keep it going through. I am thinking the outfeed roller may be to low. A lot of noise and vibration from this machine compared to others I have heard but still think it is worth hanging on to.

My questions are - will following the owners manual be sufficient to perform this overhaul? Is there something I need to be aware of which may not be listed in the manual? I feel somewhat confident in breaking down and putting it back together but we'll see. Will definitely be a learning process but don't mind trying it and am kinda looking forward to it.


Any advice would be appreciated.

Paul S. in WI.

[Joe Jensen]

Paul, a friend had one of those about 15 years ago. If I remember correctly, they have rubber feed rollers. If so, have you changed the rollers? I would expect them to get hard after a few years...joe

[Paul Stroik]

Ahhh, never thought of that. I have only cleaned them on occassion. Never checked for hardness. Thanks

[Curt Harms]

I wonder if some of the noise is from dull knives?

[CPeter James]

Dull knives will make it feed hard. Waxing the table up helps the feed too. I put the wax on heavy and don't wipe it off.

CPeter

[Paul Stroik]

I will be sharpening the knives as part of the tune-up but have noticed shavings and not dust when planing. I suspect the rollers need to be adjusted or replaced as the stalling takes place about where the outfeed roller starts. Will be starting this project this week.

What is the opinion on replacing belts with link belts? I figure as long as I've got things apart I may as well replace the belts as they are oem - 20 years old. I am thinking that all the vibration may be the result of the belts.

Paul S.

[Kirk Poore]

I will be sharpening the knives as part of the tune-up but have noticed shavings and not dust when planing. I suspect the rollers need to be adjusted or replaced as the stalling takes place about where the outfeed roller starts. Will be starting this project this week.

What is the opinion on replacing belts with link belts? I figure as long as I've got things apart I may as well replace the belts as they are oem - 20 years old. I am thinking that all the vibration may be the result of the belts.

Paul S.

I'd do the belts last, and I don't think you need to worry about link belts as long as you get the right size (unless it's a major disassembly effort to change belts). I agree that it's most likely dull blades. I'd worry first about getting the knives sharpened, then set properly. After that, do the chip breaker, pressure bar, feed rolls, & bet rolls. You might check your manual for feed roll and bed roll settings--they might be different for softwood vs hardwood, depending on what you're using for that big job.

The board stopping partway in might be from having the pressure bar set too low or the infeed roll too high. That would let it start cutting,but the infeed roll wouldn't have enough grip to shove it past the pressure bar so the outfeed roll could pick it up.

If the manual is too sketchy, try this reprint of an article from Fine Woodworking:

http://www.owwm.com/Parks/FWW/tuning.asp

Kirk

[Tyler Howell]

Welcome Paul,
We like Cheese with our WW:D
Great bunch of creekers over your way

[Homer Faucett]

I'd replace the belts for sure. If it has been setting for a long time, belts can take a set and cause some serious vibration. Link belts are a pretty inexpensive way to help solve that, as I learned with my table saw.

[Paul Stroik]

Thanks everyone for the info. Good info on tuneup site also. I may have more questions as I get into the tuneup phase. Have left over link belt from table saw so may give that a try.
Kirk - Will take your advice. Starting with the blade sharpening and then into the rollers. Thanks
Tyler - Don't personnally know anyone in the Stevens Point area that's a Creeker. Not yet anyway.

Paul S.