INCA 550 Planer/Thicknesser problems
tomas
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
I’m experiencing problems with my INCA planer.I’m not very technically minded so my description of the parts might be a bit vague.The problem seems to be that what I think is a worm drive roller that seems to be heating up excessively.This presses against another plastic drive roller and will melt or strip the teeth of the plastic drive roller.Is it common to have a plastic part in what I was told is a high quality machine?Is INCA machinery still being made and was it a seperate manufacturer or were the machines made by KITY?
Cheers
Thomas
Replies
Are you describing a drive gear which looks like coarse screw thread, and is made of steel, and a fairly ordinary looking driven gear which is made of plastic?
Are you sure the gear is getting hot, or are you presuming this from the wear on the plastic gear? Is the plastic gear actually stripped?
Plastic and steel gear combinations are used on high quality machines, especially smaller ones, because they are very low friction and don't require lubricating oils and greases. The down side is that the plastic gear can eventually wear out, not a problem if you can get the part, which will probably be a problem in this case.
Inca by all accounts is out of business, run into the ground by a company that took them over according to the story I heard.
Ther are INCA user groups and a couple of U.S. companies that may still have parts, and Ebay is always a possibility. I'd suggest starting a new post here headed "Looking for INCA parts".
John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine
There is a user group in YAHOO called....incawoodworking. Great source of information.
I had the Inca. I now have a Felder, which tells you what I think of the Inca, which is garbage. Plain and simple.
The main gear is indeed plastic. The main belt is this rather thin thing, fairly tough though, that has to be bent like a moebius strip to work. If you are having planer issues, try removing the plastic housing first, then planing. It actually does help; I think it just keeps everything a bit cooler, plus the casting of the plastic wasn't that good. Also, make sure the gear is out of neutral. The case sometimes pushes it into that setting.
After a couple of years of tinkering with that thing (designed in Switzerland, but built in France) I had enough, traded it to someone who is handy, and got a Felder. Now that is a great machine.
BTW, the Inca manual,which is English from a French translation from a German manual was so bad, Garrett Wade wrote their own, equally poor manual.
Call the folks at Eagle tool in California.
http://www.eagle-tools.com
They used to deal with Inca machines and I think they still have replacement parts or may know where to get them.
J.P.
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