Shaper vibration

[Mike Kees]

I have a Steel City 3 h.p. shaper. I have had this machine since 2007,bought it new. Recently I noticed a vibration when I had my small rebate head in the machine and it was on the high speed.(10000) rpm. I switched to 7000 rpm and it was fine. The other day it was way worse (vibration). I proceeded to troubleshoot. I tried two different cutterheads, two spindles 1'' and 3/4'' ,ran the motor with belt off to isolate the spindle ,motor is fine. My thought is bearings need replaced. By feel they are smooth when turning the spindle by hand,no 'clicks' or roughness. No play when pulling,pushing against spindle. There is nothing else that could be causing this a AFAIK. Am I on the right track ?Anything else to look for before I pull bearings ?

[Bill Dufour]

Sounds like bearings, most likely spindle since speed change made it go away. I would check the motor bearings as well.
Bil lD.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Other than a mechanical weight imbalance that could result in a mechanical harmonic frequency, I think the bearings would be the most logical cause.

[Richard Coers]

If you don't hear any unusual noises, probably not the bearings. A bearing failure that would cause vibration would sound horrible. I'd look for sawdust packed in a pulley and also consider a belt change before changing bearings.

[J.R. Rutter]

I've had shapers with spindle size tolerances (whether from wear or manufacturing) that were very sensitive to exactly how the cutters were oriented. Even with fairly high quality balanced insert tooling, loosening the nut and rotating the cutter 90 degrees (or whatever) would get rid of vibration.

[Mel Fulks]

Agree with JR. Doesn't make much sense ,but it works. And even the things that DO make sense ....get no traction
without a "second" here.

[Mike Kees]

thanks for the replies. JR and Mel I had this vibration on my one inch spindle with both speeds and two different cutter heads. Also my 3/4'' spindle with yet another cutter. Only time yesterday that it was smooth was with no cutter and just the spindle and with belt off to isolate spindle so only motor running. I will go to my shop right now and try this out. How long would you guys expect my bearings to last in this machine ? It is made in China if that means anything one way or the other. I have used it quite a bit in last 3-4 years with shaper tooling mostly a euro block and some smaller 3/4'' spindle cutters and for the last year with a Freeborn tools rebate head with a 1 1/4'' bore bushed down on my one inch spindle. This head is steel but only 100 mm diameter and 25 mm thick (I think) will check that too. That should not have been overkill for this shaper ,or is it ?

[Mike Kees]

Went over to the shop and tried JR and Mels advice ,made no difference. So I pulled the cartridge and took it apart. It has two 6205Z shielded bearings. The top one was sratchy once I pulled it and spun it by hand,so shot. What bearings would you replace with ? I am thinking that rubber sealed would be better than shielded and if no one tells me a better choice will go with SKF.

[Edward Dyas]

I have a Steel City 3 h.p. shaper. I have had this machine since 2007,bought it new. Recently I noticed a vibration when I had my small rebate head in the machine and it was on the high speed.(10000) rpm. I switched to 7000 rpm and it was fine. The other day it was way worse (vibration). I proceeded to troubleshoot. I tried two different cutterheads, two spindles 1'' and 3/4'' ,ran the motor with belt off to isolate the spindle ,motor is fine. My thought is bearings need replaced. By feel they are smooth when turning the spindle by hand,no 'clicks' or roughness. No play when pulling,pushing against spindle. There is nothing else that could be causing this a AFAIK. Am I on the right track ?Anything else to look for before I pull bearings ?

Usually vibration is caused by the cutterhead being out of balance but if you have tried different cutters and spindles I would put my money on the bearings. It wouldn't take very much play to cause a lot of vibration. So little you wouldn't be able to feel it.

[Jared Sankovich]

The powermatic/delta and clones tend to eat bearings. If you got a few hard years of use you did well. Id go with 2rs sealed (14k max rpm) as they are relatively small and can handle the rpm in a sealed version.

[Carl Beckett]

Sounds like you are on track to resolving this, I am not a bearing expert so will learn with you on type.

But a consideration when troubleshooting for next time: I find that when bearings are going bad there might be certain speeds they go unstable or resonate. So pay close attention when turning the machine off and it is spinning down. New bearings will spin down smoothly and no vibrations or noise going through different resonant spots. As they wear, you might hear and feel a particular bad speed as it spins down when you turn it off. Something to calibrate your ears on when you get the new ones installed, and pay attention if it changes over time.

[Mike Kees]

Carl thanks for that advice. There was a rough spot in my machine on 'wind down' that I did not think about before reading your post. Playing with the machine in the last two days and paying attention to it ,there was like a turbulent spot as it slowed down. A good day ,I learned something. Thanks.

[Jeff Duncan]

Sounds like you got it figured out, that's good. Another sign your bearings are on their way is if the cut quality starts to degrade. It can be easy to miss as you may think its a dull cutter, but it will show itself there. Thats when I usually know its time for replacing. FWIW bearings 'show' they're going LONG before you hear any noise. In my experience with most woodworking equipment, buy the time you hear a bearing going it's actually past gone and time to replace.

good luck,
JeffD