Retrofitting A Shelix Planer Head

[Rick_B]

Good morning folks

I am retrofitting a Byrd Shelix head to a Yorkcraft 15" planer - actually the retrofit is done. I was having a dust collection issue with way too many chips not getting picked up by the dust collector - I did two things that I found on NCWW via a google search. 1) moved the chip breaker closer to the cutter head - it is now very close; 2) removed a piece of foam that was applied to the underside of the dust hood cover. Unfortunately I made the classic mistake of experimental design - changed two variables at once so I'm not sure which solved the problem - maybe both?

I'm down to one problem - the squeal. This noise comes and goes - typically you can't hear it when first started, and after a short running time you can hear it. Then it comes and goes. I loosened the belt tension a bit and that didn't help. The Byrd instructions indicate to tap the gear box when installing to seat the motor side bearing. In my case I was able to simply slide the cutter head assembly into place - it moved very easily into place and I was able to easily slide it in and out. Right now I'm thinking the bearing may be spinning on its outer race - when I installed the head I did put a little shaft retainer on the bearing/housing because of this ease of assembly. I think the most likely issue is the bearing. The bearing I'm using came with the head and I can't remember if the bearing on the straight knive cutterhead was as much of a sloppy fit.

So what do you think - I can disassemble and try to get more shaft retainer (is that the same as bearing retainer?) on the housing. This would also tell me if the bearing is still as loose in its housing. I can use the OEM bearing (by the way these two bearings are marked the same) to see if that is a better fit. I can ignore the noise - likely going to be a longer term problem. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Mike Davis]

I would at least disassemble and look for signs of wear or movement on the outside of the bearing. Also check to see if the shaft is rubbing somewhere.

 

[Woodman2k]

I did the swap on my 20" Yorkcraft and used a automatic ##### punch to dimple the bearing location on all 4 sides so the bearing in loctite was tight when dryed. You surely don't want that outer race spinning in place, cause like the 20" I'm not sure the grizzlies are identical. Does the gear box have enough oil to keep it wet? Can you borrow a IR imager to see if there's heat around the bearing? Good Luck

The grizzly reference was in regards to replacement parts ie the gearbox.

 

[Rick_B]

I did a little disassembly this morning - enough that I couldjust see the bearing. I don't believe its spinning based on observation and the fact that I couldn't get the head out of the bearing housing very easily. I didn't force it - I figured if it was that tight then the bearing is likely not the issue. I had the base cabinet cover off and the noise seemed to be coming from the motor area. The only thing I had done is loosen the tensioning nuts to get the belts off. I rechecked that, made surethere wasn't any twist and tightened the nuts back up - maybe a little tighter than I had them. The noise seems to have gone away. I'm going to let it run for an extended period of time this afternoon and see what happens. I just hate it when things seemed to be fixed without doing anythingthat seems significant.

Rick

 

[Woodman2k]

Well if the belt was not tight enough then what you did was significant. Glad to here the noise is gone. Does your motor have grease ports for the bearings?

 

[cfield60]

I had a similar problem once. It was the fan shroud on the motor causing the noise. It too would come and go.

 

[Rick_B]

so my latest experiment - after letting the planer sit idle for an hour or so I went back and started it up. After about a minute I got athe squeal. Turned the planer off and back on and it ran 20 minutes or so without any squeal. I did notice that the belts and cutter head pulley were warm - not too warm to touch but noticeable warmth. No noticeable warmth on the cutter head itself or the the bearing. Is that perhaps and indication that I need to take more tension off the belts? This is a three belt design.

FYI - no grease ports on the motor - it is a 2005 vintage so I'm assuming sealed bearings.


Thanks
Rick

 

[Mike Davis]

One of the belts may be stretched more and therefor slipping. Belt dressing from the auto parts store may help.

 

[Woodman2k]

Mike went where I was getting ready to go. In the past I've had a difficult time finding three belts that were exactly the same length. Your belts might be mismatched enough that one or more is actually slipping. In work we use a variable strobe to see if the pulley rim and the belt go stationary at the same speed or strobe out at different speeds. Check napa, they actually had matched 3 belt sets for my unisaw and might have the set for the Yorkcraft. I got a new set from Grizzly parts for mine..