Delta planer problem

[Kent Follmer]

My 13 inch 2 speed Delta planer seems to have a jammed gear in the transmission. I noticed that shifting between the two speeds was difficult and the rollers would not turn when on the finishing speed, unless I wiggled the switch a little bit.

I vacuumed, put in new blades, cleaned out the inside, lubricated where I could with wd 40, it worked for a few seconds then it jammed.

The motor is trying to turn the blades but it clearly is jammed. I started to take it apart but I thought I would post this message first to see if anyone may have an idea.

It's a bummer cause I was in the middle of making several cutting boards for xmas.

I imagine the cost to repair it would approach the cost of a new one, and would take weeks or months etc.

[Bill Huber]

That is a bummer.... I guess its time to buy a new one for Christmas...

[Bob Cooper]

are you saying that you just can't get the switch to go all the way to the left -- i.e. to the slower feed rate? if so, i think this is pretty common. essentially wood can get in that gear and it's kind of tough to get out. i ended up paying someone to get it out for me but it didn't cost that much.

also i woudl think you could finish your chopping blocks w/o having to use the finest (slower) speed.

[Joe Mioux]

Speaking from experience and from some good advice I received here, you are not fully engaging the lever over to the left.

This has happened to me and unless I am missing something, nothing is wrong with your 22-580

joe

[Gary Breckenridge]

;)My new 13" Delta planer wouldn't shift either. I took it to the warranty repair center and it was ready the next day. It has worked fine sense. Call the Delta help line.:cool:

[Ralph Barhorst]

Don't buy a new one. It is not that hard to fix.

Same thing happened to me.

A lot of wood dust accumulated inside and kept the switch gear from properly engaging.

You need to remove the side of the planer and clear out all of the dust near the gears. I haven't had this problem since I cleaned it out.

As long as you have the planer open you might want to check out another problem that I had with the planer. It sounded like it was going to come apart. I found that the pulley that is attached to the cutter head was loose.

In order to fix this, you will have to remove the other side. There is a large nut on the outside of the pulley. This nut was very loose. At first I could not get it to tighten until I figured out that the nut had a left hand thread.

Now the planer works great.

Good Luck.

[Quesne Ouaques]

Don't buy a new one. It is not that hard to fix.

Same thing happened to me.

A lot of wood dust accumulated inside and kept the switch gear from properly engaging.




Ditto. This has happened to me several times, too. First time it did I was pretty bummed. Then I looked at the switch position and realized it was not fully engaging. I blew out the chips and the switch slide over another 1/8 inch or so.

[Kent Follmer]

Thanks a lot for your replies everyone. I am pleased to report the old Delta Planer is running great and sounds better than it has in a long time.

Here is what I did: I jiggled the switch for a while but it remained jammed - the motor would not spin and it sounded like it was jammed pretty good. I took the cover off over the gears and chain to the left with only 2 allen keys on top and 4 screws inside for additional covers over the chain; I was surprised how quick it was to get to them; I did not find any wood jammed in the gears or chain. I blew it all out with air, regreased the chain and spayed lub where it needed it; then it was still jammed. I could not understand why the gears would not move when I turned on the motor; I could release the drum from the motor drive by pressing the switch so I knew there was nothing jammed there; there was nothing broken;......so what was the deal here?

The cover over the blades presses down this same switch I mentioned above, (the switch you have to press down to spin the drum while changing blades). When I manually pressed the switch, and turned ithe motor on, it ran just fine! It is hard to say for sure but it is possible that the blade guard was not pressing down that switch as it was installed after I changed the blades. This does not explain the way it was exacting before when I had to push the boards thru, but perhaps that is now fixed after putting in new blades and cleaning it all out.

I would rather waste an hour cleaning a machine and feel a little stupid than waste $400 buying a new one! Anyway, I am glad its working and thank you much for your replies.

I am back at my cutting boards. I have six under way now.

Kent