All,
My one year old 12 1/2 Delta planer has stoped. The motor is running but the blades are not spinning. I have checked to see if anything is blocking and it appears to be clean…now anyway.. I can turn the blades by hand…jsut not fast enough..:) Any thoughts?
The gears appear(chains lubed, no teeth missing) to be okay but disconnected from the motor..Is this belt driven? Instruction manual is pretty useless, don’t know how to get inside and look at the connection between the motor and the gears.
Edited 9/27/2002 8:57:30 PM ET by BG
Replies
I think it is belt driven but if you only had your for a year delta has a 2 year warrenty on their products so call them and take it back and let them fix it thats what ld do.
Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Ron,
Thanks, I'll call them tomorrow. Of course, there goes my weekend project..sigh.
I was just looking on the web at the parts list...could not even see where a belt would go
Well, this is a long shot, but there's a member over at WoodNet named "Delta007" to whom people seem to address Delta-related questions. You could try posting over there and see if you get lucky this weekend. Put his (I assume) name in the title of the post:
http://www.forums.woodnet.netforestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Forest Girl: good advise, there is two Delta employees over on that forum Delta OO7 and Rock2car, there both excellent at taking care of Delta tool problems and also Porter Cable power tool problems.. Hey Jamie maybe if you asked them real nice and batted your eyes they would post here too. it worked for getting Charles M here from Freud....and besides there both spending just too much time in the basement over there < Grin>...
ToolDoc
FG and All,
I did get through to the service center a few minutes ago. I do have a two year warrenty, however that excludes the belt. He suggested I take off the panel on the lock handle side and have a look to see if it's the belt.
I tried the Woodnet option, registered on Sat. ..have still not received my password so I cannot log on and leave a message. All and all I'm having a tough few days...better check out my horoscope before I turn anything mechanical on...lol..:)
I'll let you know what I find on the planer ..
BG
BG, I know that feeling (re: the horoscope thing)! It's weird that you haven't gotten your password yet. I got mine right away after registering. Any possibility you might have made a typo in your email address??forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG,
I thought about that but when I went to re-register it would not let me..said the information belonged to someone else. That means I would have to come up with a new userid and password...and remember it (ugh, no way).
Anyhow, I did take the planer apart and found the the belt in perfectly good condition, except for the minor fact that it was no longer a loop but a line. I'll order two just in case this happens again. Also, the large pully wheel was loose which must of caused the belt to wobble because the plastic case was melted from the heat in back and had a hole in it. Lets see...enough heat to melt plastic and wood dust and chips all around...I think I was lucky the belt broke..whew!!
Holy Smokes [so to speak], that's scary stuff! So, let me get this straight -- the pulley loosened up, put lots of stress on the belt, melted plastic and eventually broke the belt? Wow. I think I'll take a peek under the hood of mine every once in awhile, just to head off anything like that early.
What about putting a link belt in while it's down? As you know, I'm madly in love with the link belt idea after putting it on my table saw :-)forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG,
My sentiments exactly(Holy Smokes..Golly Gee...and Gee Willikers). This appears to be a fairly specialized belt and pully set up..with 'matching tracks' built into all three parts and about a 3" diameter on the belt. I don't think your new boyfriend 'Link Belt' is thin enough to even fit inside the plastic housing. The replacement belts are about $17.95, I'm going to try and take care of that today. I don't know yet what kinda trouble I'm gonna have trying to put the thing on...
The pully is held with a large nut which has a reverse thread. When you turn the pully by hand its not as true as it could be. I do not know what the tollerances should be..and I don't know if this contributed to the problem. Checking every few months on the tightness of the pully would probably be time well spent.
FG & all
I don't think the link belt will fit on this model. It would on the big'uns like 20 inchers with 5 hp motors. plus you wouldn't be able to tension it. I remember I needed bandaids for my fingers after my foray into that side casing of the planer. Sharp machined pulleys in a real tight area.
The belt is probably like my sears/ryobi 12 -1/2 inch planer. It is like the belt on your car (serpentine type) except it has teeth on the inside of it.Could be grooves vs teeth but it was fluted somehow. Belt is no thicker than 3/16 inch but 1 & 1/2 inch wide and coated with a translucent gum rubber type of material. Not gum sticky, just weirdly translucent. To get it on, you have to start it on one of the pulleys and roll it on like you change the belt speeds on the drillpress. Use a screwdriver to shoehorn (provide motivation) for the belt to move into the position it needs to be on the pulleys.
I think the factory assembles these to not need a tensioner on the belt. it just fits tight. There is probably a method to disassemble the pulleys or the assemblies and make it less muscular an event. My way works and the belt has survived for +8 years since the change.
Mine smoked too, long ago though. I think when you run too much material off in the first pass, the drive pully gets overstressed and everything jams up. This happens when the rough sawn lumber is tapered a bit. Put the skinny end in and it jams up. Jam makes the motor mess up the belt as it also drives the feed mechanism.
Yep buy a couple and put one where I put my spare. (I think with the owners manual). I put most internal parts with the manuals as I go looking for the manual when everything goes south.
More importantly, after it is fixed, don't pretend it it is one of those 20 inch monsters. You need to look over the board for tapers and swells in the rough stock. My solution is get one of my boys to catch. I then run a pass that almost doesn't touch the stock. So what if it takes 20 passes to plane a board. This is quality time with the kids!
BG, I read on another forum that the early models had this problem. I heard they fixed it on the later ones. Fourtunately I ahvent had this problem with mine. Other problems but not that one. But I think your warrenty starts from time of purchase not date of manufacture. So they'll honor it. Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Ron,
Your correct on the warranty thing and the start date. They told me (over the phone)they would honor my amex receipt from Woodcraft....which is void of just about all details except date and purchase price, ie. no description of what was actually purchased for that price. However, they are probably waving the evidence requirement because it is a known problem....and probably should have had a recall.
So..what other problems can i look forward too with this machine?....lol
Well,
Be sure to lube the gears periodically
Dont let the kids unscrew the cutter head lock cuz I heard the head might come out of alignment
Be sure to clean the rollers with alcohol or mineral spirits periodically
Sometimes the springs behind the rollers which puts pressure on the stock will fill with sawdust .
Be sure to blow the machine off with compressed air when you're finished useing it.
Even though the blades are "self aligning" be sure to check that they are aligned. after a while the pins might wear and cause the blades to come out
I havent experianced all these problems but I had some problems with mine and these were the suggestions given to me by the delta techs.
Its been a good planer had mine for about 5-6 years. Had some problems with the wood snipeing. Delta service center said it was all in my head that it was ok. I havent tried it since I got it back but Ill use it soon got some more F/F's to do. Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
BG,
Lets us know what the problem was/is. I'm guessing the "drive belt". But, when mine quits I'd like other things to look for.
Dale
Did you call the Delta consumer help line? Probably not too helpful, but maybe they have heard of the problem before. Should still be under warranty, but watch out for the Delta-Porter Cable and other certified repair shops. They charge enough for repairs to make you consider buying a new unit all together.
Joseph,
I called one of Delta's Service Centers. He was helpful and was able to pull up the schematics right away. It is under a two year warranty, but belts are not covered. He gave me the 'How -To' and suggested I buy two belts..just in case..for the future. Every knows if you have a back-up the original will last forever ...:)
I'm not sure I'd accept the "belts aren't covered" response if the pulley isn't running true! Sounds to me like there's a good possibility there's something inherently wrong with the machine that caused the belt to break, in which case they should either fix it or replace it (it being the machine, not the belt).forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I had a Delta portable planer, probably the same vintage as yours. I think I had the exact same problem as you. I took it in to a authorized service center and there was more to it than the belt. As I recall, the overall fix was to be quite extensive. The reason I am not more specific is because the real difficult part was that the service center could not get parts because it was during the time that Delta was moving their manufacturing plant and thay were not shipping any parts. Anyway, after I believe 4 months or so, I felt that enough time had passed and I contacted Delta. Fortunately they too felt that too much time had passed and shipped me a new planer. During that time, however I went and purchased a new Rigid planer. If I could do it all over again I would not buy a portable planer, I would buy something that would take some time to outgrow, if at all. Not to get too far off the subject, though, I would recommend taking it in. If it is the type of problem I had, it is more than the belt.
Rogue and FG,
I did talk with the service center this morning and when they heard about the cover melting they decided the whole thing was covered by the warranty...one little issue is the machine is actually 6 years old...altough I bought it about 1/2001. I did not bring up the fact that the pully did not run true. Maybe I should call one more time....
Did you buy it used, or did it just sit around for alota years before it sold?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG,
Bought new from Woodcraft (apparently, the first two digits of the serial number indicates the year it was made). I called the service center one more time about the pully tolerances...he is repacing that too along with the nut, cover, key and belt. Nice guy and was concerned also. I'll get the stuff in about a week.
Between now and then I'll be working with the hand planes...gotta do that scary sharp thing first, this maple is a bear...
Edited 10/1/2002 5:27:28 PM ET by BG
BG,
If Delta doesn't take care of you we could arrange for a "run over my Delta with a steam roller" party. I'm at that point with my sharpening center.
Jeff
Ohhh, I think I've heard about their sharpening center :-(forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Forest Girl,
Might you have something to contribute to the party?
Jeff
Welllll, if you mean Delta-wise, fortunately not. So far, my little Delta planer's doing a fine job, as has the bench-top drill press, though I have a couple of minor complaints about it. I bake a mean brownie though, if you need some yummies for the party!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Forest Girl,
How nice! Brownies would be wonderful, but I'm afraid if you had in mind someone running them over with a steam roller... Well, my conscience could never allow that to happen. I would simply dispose of them in an environmentally friendly manner.
Jeff
MMMM.. Brownies yummy not only are you a fine woodworker but also a great cook.. you sure would be a Great catch..
Hey some of those Delta tools might be junk, But those Delta Girls sure are CUTE.... LOL..... <G>
ToolDoc
Now if Delta would only come out with a Delta Girl poster......
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