Pro-Planer pulley alignment
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JPG
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Is it possible that the planer is mounted an a power stand other than the one designed specifically for the planer????
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
╟JPG ╢
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10E[/size](SN E3779) restoration in progress, a 510 on the back burner and a growing pile of items to be eventually returned to useful life. - aka Red Grange
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dusty
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Yes, it is possible. The top of the proper stand for the Pro Planer exactly matches the footprint of the Pro Planer. This can be seen in the attached photos.
Dropping a straight edge off of the pulleys reveals that my pulleys are not exactly in line with each other and can not be made to be by adjusting. The position is mandated by the pulley on the planer itself and this position cannot be altered without moving the planer on the stand. I have my pulley moved right to the end of the shaft.
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Dropping a straight edge off of the pulleys reveals that my pulleys are not exactly in line with each other and can not be made to be by adjusting. The position is mandated by the pulley on the planer itself and this position cannot be altered without moving the planer on the stand. I have my pulley moved right to the end of the shaft.
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"Making Sawdust Safely"
Dusty
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Dusty
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dusty
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Some additional pictures.
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- Desktop 005.jpg (124.78 KiB) Viewed 2586 times
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- Desktop 007.jpg (126.33 KiB) Viewed 2583 times
"Making Sawdust Safely"
Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
Dusty
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horologist
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Don,rdonr wrote:
P.S. 8iowa: I would love to know where you found cast iron pulleys to replace the Shopsmith steel pulleys. I had a damaged 5 inch pulley and was never able to find a source other than Shopsmith for a matching size pulley. thanks.
I would guess he ordered them from McMaster Carr. Take a look at:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#pulleys-for-belts/=8y5o1x
If you aren't familiar with this company you will want to wander around the catalog a bit. Getting a paper catalog from them is essentially impossible, but their web based catalog is the best setup I have seen for any company.
You might also take a look at MSC they are happy to send a physical catalog for free (The Big Book) but their online catalog is one of the worst I have used.
Troy
The best equipped laundry room in the neighborhood...
planer pulley alignment problem SOLVED
PROBLEM SOLVED!
This is long winded. Hopefully someone else will find this some day and save himself some hassle.
Thanks very much to all the guys on this forum. Greatly appreciate your help. Especially the pictures from Dusty and SDSSmith. They steered me in the right direction.
I spoke to Linda at Shopsmith customer service yesterday morning. She was obviously very knowledgeable about the equipment and spent a lot of time on the phone (25-30 minutes) trying to help me even though I made it clear I am dealing with used equipment not bought directly from Shopsmith. Kudos to Shopsmith customer service.
Any errors in the following are mine and not hers:
-- There is only one model of power stand for all SPT's and planers.
-- All models of planers should fit the power stand.
-- (There may be some potential issues with very old planers with Woodruff keyways (crescent shaped) or even older planers with no keyways on the cutterhead shaft. We didn't cover these in detail.)
-- Verify that you have a 5 inch and a 3 inch pulley, with the 5 inch pulley on the motor.
-- Verify pulley hubs are placed inward towards the stand.
-- Verify that setscrews on the pulleys can be tightened against the keys.
-- The spacing specified in the Pro Planer manual of 1/2 inch from the planer frame for the cutterhead pulley and 1/16 inch from the legs of the stand for the motor pulley are approximate numbers.
-- The pulleys should -definitely- be aligned in the same plane vertically as shown in the manual.
-- The end of the cutterhead shaft should be flush, or nearly so, with the outside of the cutterhead pulley.
Linda said the only solution for misaligned pulleys that she was aware of was to remove the planer, invert the stand, remove the leg braces, loosen -all- the fasteners on the 4 legs and "draw the legs in as far as possible". She also suggested I might elongate one or more of the mounting holes to facilitate re-fastening the legs closer together. Planer and motor are very heavy. Do not drop!
This at first seemed unlikely to help. I had actually made a half-hearted attempt to do all that and didn't think there was enough play in the legs to make a difference.
BUT upon repeating the attempt, success! I loosened all the screws attaching the legs to the top, very loose. (But don't remove the screws completely. I don't think you'd ever get them back through the holes after moving the legs.) This time apply pressure to the legs with a clamp. And Eureka, the leg braces already have two sets of mounting holes. The manual clearly states to use the inside set for the short side of the stand and the outside set for the long side of the stand.
I don't think it would be possible to draw the legs in enough to use the inside set, but you definitely can draw them in enough to use one inside hole and one outside hole. The difference is 1.5 inches, which turns out to be just enough. Based on my large scientific sample of one example I don't see how it can ever work if you use both the outside holes in the brace.
It was not clear to me at the time I was speaking to Linda if this is exactly what she meant. In any case, it did work.
With the planer re-mounted on the newly adjusted stand the pulleys -can- be aligned vertically, and there is enough vertical play in the motor mount to adjust the belt tension so that either the Shopsmith v-belt or a link belt can be used. (There is still a potential issue of clearing the inside of the pulley guard at the top if a link belt is used.)
I would suggest adjusting the motor to about it's halfway position vertically or maybe slightly nearer the top of the stand, on the motor mounts and getting it as level as possible before re-mounting the planer. I found it awkward to reach all 8 adjusting nuts once the stand is turned upright again. The horizontal position of the motor did not appear to be too critical. I think the shaft might not reach out quite far enough if you push it all the way towards the center. And too far to the outside might result in the shaft contacting the pulley guard. But there seemed to be a large middle ground.
With the cutterhead pulley about 7/16" from the planer frame, the end of the cutterhead shaft is still a little short of flush with the outside of the pulley, but by less than 1/8 inch. I don't consider that a problem.
I ended up using the link belt. With the link belt the planer makes a high pitched but smooth whine with no "bumps" or vibrations on either startup or shutdown. The v-belt makes a much lower pitched noise with some small but noticeable vibrations and a slight "thumping" noise. Possibly the belt had taken on a "set".
With the tension a little tighter than my previous attempt the link belt now rides lower in the cutterhead pulley. It might still have had some minimal contact with the top inside of the pulley guard if I had not accidentally "sanded off" the pulley guard during my previous attempts to use the link belt. It appears the plastic pulley guard heats up and melts at any point with even minimal contact with the belt. A careful inspection revealed no damage to the belt itself.
I knew this had to be something relatively simple that I was just missing. In what passes for thought I basically went through this sequence:
a: realized the pulleys can not be aligned because the legs are too widely spaced.
b: Fix that by replacing the pulleys with smaller ones?
c: Chop out notches in the steel legs to make clearance for the existing pulley?
d: Modify the frame of the planer itself, or remount it somehow?
e: Modify the pulley guard to allow for leaving the pulleys out of position?
OR
Since the legs are out of position, MOVE THE LEGS. Well, duh.
I am reminded of my second favorite Homer Simpson quotation. Homer is asked, "You're smarter than a monkey aren't you?" Homer hesitates and then replies "How big a monkey?"
Sigh,
don
This is long winded. Hopefully someone else will find this some day and save himself some hassle.
Thanks very much to all the guys on this forum. Greatly appreciate your help. Especially the pictures from Dusty and SDSSmith. They steered me in the right direction.
I spoke to Linda at Shopsmith customer service yesterday morning. She was obviously very knowledgeable about the equipment and spent a lot of time on the phone (25-30 minutes) trying to help me even though I made it clear I am dealing with used equipment not bought directly from Shopsmith. Kudos to Shopsmith customer service.
Any errors in the following are mine and not hers:
-- There is only one model of power stand for all SPT's and planers.
-- All models of planers should fit the power stand.
-- (There may be some potential issues with very old planers with Woodruff keyways (crescent shaped) or even older planers with no keyways on the cutterhead shaft. We didn't cover these in detail.)
-- Verify that you have a 5 inch and a 3 inch pulley, with the 5 inch pulley on the motor.
-- Verify pulley hubs are placed inward towards the stand.
-- Verify that setscrews on the pulleys can be tightened against the keys.
-- The spacing specified in the Pro Planer manual of 1/2 inch from the planer frame for the cutterhead pulley and 1/16 inch from the legs of the stand for the motor pulley are approximate numbers.
-- The pulleys should -definitely- be aligned in the same plane vertically as shown in the manual.
-- The end of the cutterhead shaft should be flush, or nearly so, with the outside of the cutterhead pulley.
Linda said the only solution for misaligned pulleys that she was aware of was to remove the planer, invert the stand, remove the leg braces, loosen -all- the fasteners on the 4 legs and "draw the legs in as far as possible". She also suggested I might elongate one or more of the mounting holes to facilitate re-fastening the legs closer together. Planer and motor are very heavy. Do not drop!
This at first seemed unlikely to help. I had actually made a half-hearted attempt to do all that and didn't think there was enough play in the legs to make a difference.
BUT upon repeating the attempt, success! I loosened all the screws attaching the legs to the top, very loose. (But don't remove the screws completely. I don't think you'd ever get them back through the holes after moving the legs.) This time apply pressure to the legs with a clamp. And Eureka, the leg braces already have two sets of mounting holes. The manual clearly states to use the inside set for the short side of the stand and the outside set for the long side of the stand.
I don't think it would be possible to draw the legs in enough to use the inside set, but you definitely can draw them in enough to use one inside hole and one outside hole. The difference is 1.5 inches, which turns out to be just enough. Based on my large scientific sample of one example I don't see how it can ever work if you use both the outside holes in the brace.
It was not clear to me at the time I was speaking to Linda if this is exactly what she meant. In any case, it did work.
With the planer re-mounted on the newly adjusted stand the pulleys -can- be aligned vertically, and there is enough vertical play in the motor mount to adjust the belt tension so that either the Shopsmith v-belt or a link belt can be used. (There is still a potential issue of clearing the inside of the pulley guard at the top if a link belt is used.)
I would suggest adjusting the motor to about it's halfway position vertically or maybe slightly nearer the top of the stand, on the motor mounts and getting it as level as possible before re-mounting the planer. I found it awkward to reach all 8 adjusting nuts once the stand is turned upright again. The horizontal position of the motor did not appear to be too critical. I think the shaft might not reach out quite far enough if you push it all the way towards the center. And too far to the outside might result in the shaft contacting the pulley guard. But there seemed to be a large middle ground.
With the cutterhead pulley about 7/16" from the planer frame, the end of the cutterhead shaft is still a little short of flush with the outside of the pulley, but by less than 1/8 inch. I don't consider that a problem.
I ended up using the link belt. With the link belt the planer makes a high pitched but smooth whine with no "bumps" or vibrations on either startup or shutdown. The v-belt makes a much lower pitched noise with some small but noticeable vibrations and a slight "thumping" noise. Possibly the belt had taken on a "set".
With the tension a little tighter than my previous attempt the link belt now rides lower in the cutterhead pulley. It might still have had some minimal contact with the top inside of the pulley guard if I had not accidentally "sanded off" the pulley guard during my previous attempts to use the link belt. It appears the plastic pulley guard heats up and melts at any point with even minimal contact with the belt. A careful inspection revealed no damage to the belt itself.
I knew this had to be something relatively simple that I was just missing. In what passes for thought I basically went through this sequence:
a: realized the pulleys can not be aligned because the legs are too widely spaced.
b: Fix that by replacing the pulleys with smaller ones?
c: Chop out notches in the steel legs to make clearance for the existing pulley?
d: Modify the frame of the planer itself, or remount it somehow?
e: Modify the pulley guard to allow for leaving the pulleys out of position?
OR
Since the legs are out of position, MOVE THE LEGS. Well, duh.
I am reminded of my second favorite Homer Simpson quotation. Homer is asked, "You're smarter than a monkey aren't you?" Homer hesitates and then replies "How big a monkey?"
Sigh,
don
Very true. Also, I recommend using a link belt with the steel pulleys which helps to further reduce the vibration.dcottrill wrote:ShopSmith is now selling steel pulleys for the pro planer. They have a kit that includes both the 3" and 5" pulleys (made of steel), a new belt, and a belt cover. The kit is cheaper than purchasing the 2 pulleys' separately. The steel pulleys run truer and seem to cut down on vibration.
Dan
Bill Mayo bill.mayo@verizon.net
Shopsmith owner since 73. Sell, repair and rebuild Shopsmith, Total Shop & Wood Master headstocks, SPTs, attachments, accessories and parts. US Navy 1955-1975 (FTCS/E-8)
Shopsmith owner since 73. Sell, repair and rebuild Shopsmith, Total Shop & Wood Master headstocks, SPTs, attachments, accessories and parts. US Navy 1955-1975 (FTCS/E-8)
I also followed Rdonr's post on adjustment of the Stand. In my case I was able to get the stand legs to be "straighter"/narrower (at the bottom). This gave me an extra 1/8" of clearance on the motor pulley. Allowing for the motor and planner pulleys to be in perfect alignment with each other.
The unit is working as good as before pulley started to fall off. The aluminum planner pulley did not appear to be OK, but the alex hole had loosen up just enough to cause it to vibrate the key out.
The unit is working as good as before pulley started to fall off. The aluminum planner pulley did not appear to be OK, but the alex hole had loosen up just enough to cause it to vibrate the key out.