Planing machine repair

Good morning all,

You may remember my difficulty in removing damaged allen screws from the block of an old planing machine recently. Well, the good news is that we, [my friend who knows a lot more than I do, aided by my good self ] applied our combined technical knowhow plus a fair amount of grunting /.swearing and a large slice of luck and managed to remove all the offending ones.

Had to take the machine apart to do so, and decided to fit new bearings as well, since one was a bit iffy. All back together now, ready to be fitted to a new base and with a suitable motor, which is to hand.

Has been an interesting project and my thanks to everyone who responded.

Next on the list is an old bench drill, which has not had an easy life, to put it mildly.

I learned a lot along the way.

Good news, Larry

MichaelG.

It would be the grunting/swearing that got it done. Keep up the good work.

Glad to hear you got 'er done. I am sure the drill press will be easier. One thing with them, don't be tempted to fit all rubber sealed bearings throughout in place of the original steel shielded bearings. The rubbers cause too much frictional load on start up and the motor has little torque at zero rpm to overcome it. So it just sits there buzzing without turning. Don't ask me how i know this!

Maybe fit one rubber sealed bearing at the lower end of the spindle to keep swarf out, and go with the steel shields on all the others, including the motor and intermediate pulley if fitted. The steel shields don't touch the inner race so have zero friction but the trade off is a tiny gap there. Still, they seem to last ok so not much swarf or dirt must get through the gap.

Edited By Hopper on 04/03/2023 09:36:20

Thanks Michael and Hopper, I am delighted to get it finished and working again, The blades are just light rusted, not even pitted, so I will get them re sharpened while I am making up a proper stand for it.

The drill may not be as simple as I thought. The bearings seem to be OK, the quill is smooth enough, but the return spring is broken, I,m not sure if these are to be had as spares. the table is in rag order, full of holes, but I can always sheet it to hide its good looks [dont know people can do this damage !} It needs pullies, but I know these can be got, and a suitable motor will turn up. Spring is in the air, but not in the drill !

Again, thanks to all for your help and advice, I m still learning, do we ever finish ?

Sorry, back again !

Just did a quick check on Ali Express and there seems to be quite a range of springs available, so perhaps all is not lost !

Not sure how I got involved in this, must be due to old age !

Onward, ever onward !!

The holes can be welded and the table refaced.

Robert Butler

Or if the holes are not all the way through, you can fill them with "plastic metal" casting repair putty or JB weld etc and then file down flat.

Wear gloves when fitting that spring. They can be rather nasty on the fingers if they slip during installation. (Another one not to ask me how I know this! Yes, we never stop learning.)

Good morning Robert and Hopper,

There are so many big holes in this drill table that there is almost a complete slot from side to side! He seems to have missed a few spots, but not many. I was thinking of just sheeting the top with a piece if plate and milling out the bolting down slots.

Regarding those springs ???? dont even mention them! I have two fingers which know all about them, from my experience with my milling machine some time ago. After that I made up a clamp to help wind back the housing, and save the fingers, not pretty but it worked.

Nice to know I can get parts, since I hate to see a machine scrapped for the want of a little effort.

When it,s finished, I will end up with a machine I will most likely never use since I have a small bench drill and a floor standing one, along with the mill, but it,s nice just to get them working again.

Regards to all.

The clock-makers use special spring-winders / unwinders for handling these things safely. I don't know how these tools work and I have never used one but it would be worth investigating.

Gloves yes - also eye-protection! Even if an unleashed spring does not strike you it could flick something into your eye, as it releases violently in a tiny fraction of a second.

..if the drill has a separate housing for the spring, sometimes you can fit it in a relaxed condition, engage the end and then rotate the housing to wind up the tension before locking it off, sometimes with a set screw, occasionally slots around the periphery that engage with a pin, there are probably other arrangements..

I keep getting excited about the thread title and then remember it was only a wood planer....

Yes Bazyle, sad to say it is only a wood planer, but then, one cannot have everything !

If I ever come across one of the other type, I will be sure to let you know. Are they still around ?, never used one, just know of them.

And yes Nigel, those springs can be deadly, much like a woman scorned

At this point I am just setting about finding spares, cone pullies, chuck ect, a suitable motor will turn up sometime.

Amazing how one can get hooked on things like this.