Shopsmith Forums

I just purchased a used pro planer. I was removing the blades to get them sharpened and several of the retaining screws were frozen.

They are now stripped out - rendering the whole cutter head useless. I've tried everything I have the tools for to remove the screws to no avail.

If you have a spare cutter head I'd consider purchasing it from you. I've got knives on order so as long as the cutter head has the retaining screws and wedges I should be in good order.

Thanks

Was that the one listed in King George? I couldn't get any pics so I passed on the drive.

The case, motors, and table were all in good shape. Definately needed new knives though. Got my new toy home, checked alignmnts, and then started to remove one knife and stripped the Allen bolt on one of the retaining pins. Now it's in pieces and I'm VERY upset that I need a new cutterhead assy.

Did you strip the threads in the cutterhead or just the allen hole in the head of the screws?

Sounds to me that just the retaining screw heads are just stripped out. Sounds like it's time for a #30 drill HS drill and an easy-out.

The screws can be extracted using an easy-out "correctly" to prevent further damage.. Many people often wollow out the head even worse then it is or will even break off the easyout or drill in the screw!

Just a tip: put a piece of wood on the planer table and raise it up tightly to the cutter head to prevent it from rocking back and forth will attempting to remove the screws. A good solid not moving cutter head should help the process of removal.

Shopsmith will surely sell you a new cutter head but the cost is over the top in my opnion.

Above all, have patience with the screw removal work and you'll get it done.

The above information is based on my practical experinece and does not express the opnions of other users of this form. Hence, you will get advise that will or will not reflect the same action/s as provided here in my reply. Therefore read as many replies as you can before you proceed

What's an easy out? Is it like the grabit self extractor? The Grabit I used couldn't drill the head and wouldn't take a bite on the metal.

Using a #30 drill bit to drill the hole in the head of the screw so the easy-out (screw extractor) won't bottom out before it "bites into the metal". The hole has to be drilled deep enough usually the first time to prevent further damages.

Screw extractors like the ones sold at Sears have very little gripping surface and will sometimes break off in the screw head. The screw extractors I use are machine shop quality and mil-spec certified.

I have removed "thousands of frozen screws and bolts"..... also damaged many! Although it's not a highly skilled proceedure, it does take some time to do it correctly. What works for me is using a sharp, high quality drill bit to make the initial hole in the screw head, carefully inserting the screw extracter with a slight (light hammer) tapping while counter-clockwise turning with visegrips. All done by hand, no drill motors (except for drill the hole itself) Hammer tapping does 2 things.. First it assures a good bite of the screw extractor and secondly it aids in breaking free the frozen threads.

work slowly, don't try to "wank it loose all at once" and keep tapping on the end of screw extractor while attempting to turn the screw free~!

BTW watch this. This is the method I always use:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKg-rX_U ... re=related

hudsonmiller wrote:I just purchased a used pro planer. I was removing the blades to get them sharpened and several of the retaining screws were frozen.

They are now stripped out - rendering the whole cutter head useless. I've tried everything I have the tools for to remove the screws to no avail.

If you have a spare cutter head I'd consider purchasing it from you. I've got knives on order so as long as the cutter head has the retaining screws and wedges I should be in good order.

Thanks

I have several Planer cutter heads available. Please contact me by Email (annbill.mayo@comcast.net). Thanks.

That was a good video - thanks