Help adjusting planer feed roller pressure - BelSaw 910

[Henry W]

I have had my BelSaw 910 (912?) planer for years and used it occasionally. It is a heavy duty beast; 12-13" floor model 220V tool, uncertain if it is a 3 or 5HP motor. Lots of belts and chains and pulleys and sprockets. .
I have never adjusted anything except the height of the table; it has simply always worked for me. Except today I have needed to mess with the feed roller pressure because of the difficulty feeding the boards. I got a few through by pushing them, but that ain't the way it is supposed to work. Of course I wonder why the feed roller have changed 'all of a sudden', but that is not really my question. It has likely been a year or more since I used it.

While there are a few things that don't make sense to me, adjusting the feed roller pressure has not worked. I have backed of the spring tension significantly (more than 1/2" less tension on a 2.5" spring!), and still can't make it work. It seems like the position of the rollers is too low (especially compared to cutterhead position) and all I can do is back off the tension. THere is a complicated set of pulleys/belts/sprockets/chains that drives the rollers off the primary cutter heads movement. I have the manual, but pretty much all that tells me with which way to turn the adjuster screws to decrease/increase tension.

Anyone have any experience on these tools? I can post pics if someone would like - or screen shots of the manual too. I believe Craftsman cross-marketed them - or at least there is some very similar Craftsman tool out there.

I'm in Raleigh near Cary Crossroads in case anyone would like to show me in person - happy to pay for time/expertise.

Henry

 

[bob vaughan]

Wax the bed.
Test the feed rollers to see if they are still supple and rubbery.
Check under the feed roller bushings for impacted sawdust.

 

[bob vaughan]

 

[Henry W]

Wax the bed.
Test the feed rollers to see if they are still supple and rubbery.
Check under the feed roller bushings for impacted sawdust.

Thanks Bob - for both descriptions/assessments

A better description of the issue I am having is that the feed rollers are not too loose, but are exerting too much pressure. Rollers will push/pull the pieces through just fine, but only when the table height is too low for the cutter head to engage (1/4"?). To me this seems like the feed rollers are set too low and/or exerting too much pressure. Granted these rollers are not the in most supply or rubbery condition, but I am not convinced this state of the rollers is a change (i.e. they seem the same as when I received the tool 10+ years ago).

I have not looked super closely, but to me the feed roller bushings do seat all the way down in the casting grooves (no impacted sawdust).

The drive belt you highlight in the last picture IS INDEED something that concerned me - it is loose. But here's where my relative inexperience comes into play, I did not see how to adjust tension there. Now that you have pointed to this specifically pointed to this, I re-read the manual which states that the 4 screws in the side are to be 'tightened to take up the belt' - I presume means tighten screws to take up the slack in the belt. I have no idea how much play is acceptable, but this was loose enough that I was surprised the belt remained on the pulleys. I will definitely try to adjust those this afternoon.

Do you just have an archive of photos on all these tools? How did you come up with better pictures than I could get?
Amazed and thankful for the expertise of this group.

 

[zdorsch]

Do you just have an archive of photos on all these tools? How did you come up with better pictures than I could get?
Amazed and thankful for the expertise of this group.

Bob has a great rebuild article on a Belsaw planer that I’ve referenced with my 9103.

Belsaw 910 planer bearing and roller replacement - Old Woodworking Machines

 

[bob vaughan]

Do you just have an archive of photos on all these tools? How did you come up with better pictures than I could get?

I ran into a lot of these same problems in years past so I took photos to help myself and others when the same problems arose again on different machines.

Yes, I have an archive of photos sorted as to machine type. 1249 on planers alone. The side shot was taken in 2011 and the sawdust in 2014.

 

[Fishinmike]

Looks like the same setup on my 912 woodmaster. I had to replace both feed rollers and belts. the rubber had dried out so much it would not feed. the new ones are polyurathane.

 

[Chris C]

Wax the bed.

I've had the same problem with mine and a little bit of Johnson's paste wax solved the issue. I'm not saying that will solve your problem but I'd try that before I turned any wrenches

 

[Henry W]

Restating the issue
This is not a matter of 64ths here.... rather more like a 1/4". The feed rollers move the wood very effectively at one bed position (the head is stationary and the bed moves). The problem is that the cutterhead is nowhere near the wood when the feed rollers are effective. If I want the cutterhead to actually cut wood, then I have to raise the bed about 1/4", and in doing so the feed rollers exert so much pressure that the wood does not even start under the first roller.

 

[bob vaughan]

Sounds like maybe the knives are too low in the cutterhead but that's not real likely since they only stick up 5/32 above the circle of the head.

A real outside possibility is that the bearing blocks are too high, but if the roll pins can be seen between the mounting bolts, then that's not the problem.

 

[Henry W]

and an update on my attempt to take up the drive belt for the feed rollers. The 4 screws in that pulley that are used to adjust the belt tension likely have not moved in 30 years and I was unable to get any of the 4 to budge. Ideas? Penetrating oil? Recommendations?

I have a work around for the immediate need - as in a friend planed my boards today. That helps in the short term, but not in resurrection the function of my planer.

 

[Chris C]

Restating the issue
This is not a matter of 64ths here.... rather more like a 1/4". The feed rollers move the wood very effectively at one bed position (the head is stationary and the bed moves). The problem is that the cutterhead is nowhere near the wood when the feed rollers are effective. If I want the cutterhead to actually cut wood, then I have to raise the bed about 1/4", and in doing so the feed rollers exert so much pressure that the wood does not even start under the first roller.

I'm not trying to be difficult as I understand your predicament. But as I stated, that is exactly what mine was doing. Boards would not feed when it was anywhere near the cutter head.

Did you even try the wax?

 

[Henry W]

I'm not trying to be difficult as I understand your predicament. But as I stated, that is exactly what mine was doing. Boards would not feed when it was anywhere near the cutter head.

Did you even try the wax?

Thanks Chris - I will definitely wax when I get back to assessing/diagnosing my planer.
As I think about your suggestion, I realize that friction on the bed of this seldom used tool causing this 'change in operation' makes more sense than any other theory I can come up with. Thanks for repeating it (seriously!).

For right now I am focusing on getting my project completed - but I expect I will need this plane again relatively soon and will report on any results.