Delta DC-380 Oil Seal Leaking

[Wayne A Hall]

Has anyone had trouble with this particular planer leaking oil? It started leaking oil several years ago so I replaced the bearings and oil seal and it has started leaking again. There didn't appear to be anything wrong with the planer head when I had it out.

I use it for hobby purposes.

Does this planer have a known problem with leaking oil?

WH

[Jerry Bruette]

Some times seals just dry out and start to leak. You could pull the seal without taking the cutter head apart and check for a groove where the seal rides. If there is a groove you can buy sleeves to fix that. Does the gear box have a vent? Maybe you're building pressure-from heat- in the gear box and it's forcing oil out.

The other thing that could give you trouble is the type of seal and how it's installed. If it's a single lip seal you should have it installed as an inclusion type seal. That would be with the lip sticking to the inside so it keeps the oil in the gearbox. If th lip sticks out it would be installed as an exclusion seal, which means it's main purpose would be to keep contamination out of the gearbox.

Best bet would be a double lip seal which does the inclusion and exclusion job at the same time.

Jerry

[Michael Mayo]

I have this same planer and mine leaks as well. Not terribly bad but it does leak. I ordered a new seal but when i received it I didn't bother installing it as it is the same crappy cork seal that it came with originally. Mine also leaked because I over filled the gear case after refurbishing the planer. Once I removed some of the oil the leaking stopped. But since using it more now it is leaking slightly again but not enough for me to worry about it much.