New guy here with Yates/Delta Wedge Bed Planer

[Mike Fitcher]

Hello new guy here
I did a total rebuild on a Yates 18” wedge bed planer that’s the same as the delta style wedge bed planer and I had it all apart and now I’m at the point that I will be installing the cutter head but the left and right side are parallel to each other but are misaligned from each other by more than .075
If I remove the front casting that holds both half’s together I can move it to within .04 but that’s about it

My concern is that I will not be able to assemble the cutter head due to this issue any thoughts or recommendations?

I’ve been a member on OWWM for years and have had my rebuild post on there for awhile now and have had little or no luck getting any answers to my questions.

OWWM post below

https://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=220663

Any help would be appreciated
Thanks New Guy
Mike

[Kevin Jenness]

I looked at your OWWM thread and it is clear that you are doing a meticulous job. The question seems to be a) will having the side castings out of square slightly affect the cutterhead installation and operation and b) how to get them more closely aligned. The machine must have been functioning prior to disassembly: was there a problem at that point? Can you open up the bolt holes in the side castings to allow for proper adjustment?

[Mike Fitcher]

This planer is new to me and I’ve only had it running for less than a minute just to find out if it would run and per the sellers information before I bought it that it needed some TLC and running it for that short period of time it was obvious it needed cutter head bearings, I’m guessing the two sides were off to begin with but I never checked it before I took it apart

I could pull the trigger and go for it but I’m concerned that with it being misalign it will be tough assembling it and possibly lessen the bearing life

So the question I have is am I over thinking this and just go for it or is there a way to tweak it closer ?
Thanks Mike

[Bill Dufour]

I looked at the links and I do not understand what the problem is. You say they are parallel to each other. If one side is high shim the other side up. If it is a front to back issue bore out the clearance hole into a slot or reduce the bolt shank diameter in the region where it needs to move.
For 0.04 I would ream the hole bigger by 0.08 with an adjustable hand reamer. Are you concerned about keeping the gear train aligned? If the adjustable feed gears die people replace it all with a 3phase gear motor and vfd. A worm gear set will cost around $500 so a new motor and vfd is cheaper and better. The new motor can be direct or chain drive into the planer.
Bill D

[Mike Fitcher]

The overall height of the cutter head bores are within .004 to each other checking it from the table top but the left side girth casting is set back far enough the bearing bores with max movement are still out .040

The square bed key that rides up and down in the slot in the left side casting that has the removable cast iron cover will not allow much for movement so is there a way to adjust each side to align the bores inline to each other?

Thanks Mike