iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Woodmaster feed motor problems

Started by uler3161, August 14, 2014, 10:23:30 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

uler3161

I was wondering if anyone has ever replaced the feed motor on their Woodmaster with something better?

On the end of the motor is a metal housing with two plastic inserts and the brushes slide into them. The motor doesn't have anything to keep these inserts from sliding into the commutator, so when that happens it eats things up. I already bought a new housing with new inserts and brushes and the same thing happened. An internet search turned up similar issues happening to other people. I've also noticed the outfeed side brush gets ate up noticeably faster than the infeed side. That was the case with both housings.

When I bought the end of the motor through Woodmaster, I asked if there was a better quality motor available. They couldn't help. I'll probably try to get this running again temporarily, but I'm definitely not going to spend any more money on it. The motors are junk. I was thinking about getting a Leeson or Dayton. Probably a 1/2hp and probably somewhere around 100rpm. I assume I'm going to need a different motor controller. I'm wondering if the mounting holes are standard.
1989 LT40HD, WoodMaster 718

Dan

pineywoods

I'm somewhat familiar with the problem. It's not quite as simple as it looks, the end result sorta covers up the root cause. Which is...The brass insert which holds the brush is slightly undersize or the brush is oversize, so the brush hangs, arcs to the comutator creating a bunch of heat which melts the plastic. Usually trashes the comutator. Fix is simple enough, use a coarse file to smooth the brush so it fits slightly loose in the holder. Bunch of woodmasters in my neighborhood. The only other feed motor failure I have seen was operator induced. Fed in a real thick board which stalled the feed motor. Left it turned on and stalled and went to lunch. Toasted the windings.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

uler3161

That's interesting. I didn't know the brush was too large. I still think I'm going to go with a different brand motor. My gut says I'll have less problems that way.
1989 LT40HD, WoodMaster 718

Dan

36 coupe

Check with Surplus Center for a better motor.Treadmills have a speed controlled DC motor that should be a far better motor.Mfg wont admit mistakes or make improvements.They tend to build things cheap.A sure fix would be a 910 Belsaw planer.No junk feed motors on them.Autos are a good example of poor engineering and much money spent on recalls.

uler3161

I went ahead and ordered a 1/4hp Dayton gear motor.

I thought I was going to have to get a new motor controller. The original controller said it was only good for 1/8hp (which I thought was odd because the motor was 1/6). However, I guess it's as simple as ordering a different plug-in resistor which I have ordered as well.

I noticed one thing that I thought strange. The replacement motor that Woodmaster lists on their website is 58 rpm, but the motor we have was only 40. Must have been a change in the last few years, but I didn't really want to risk that motor having the same issues. The Dayton I bought is actually 90 rpm, but rarely did I go slower than 50% feed with the old one, so this should be a lot better when using the ripsaws or planing 4" or 6" boards.

I'll try to remember to update this post when I get it all put together in case anyone else needs to do the same thing.
1989 LT40HD, WoodMaster 718

Dan

uler3161

Success!

I found a good deal on ebay for one of these: http://www.grainger.com/product/DAYTON-DC-Gearmotor-2H575

Some things to note:

1. The shaft sizes were different, so I had to buy a new pulley. Kept the same diameter pulley though
2. Had to slide the planer head motor farther towards the side of the planer because this gear motor was much longer.
3. Two of the four mounting bolts could be reused, but I had to drill two more. As a result, the motor is actually offset from where the original one was a little bit. Seems to work fine though.
4. New motor has 3 wires. One is a ground, though I didn't hook it up. I'm not really sure if I have to.
5. Speed now seems to be about right. Old motor was 40 rpm according to the sticker on it. This one is 90. I feel it will work much better for planing 4", 6", and ripsaws.
6. I thought I needed to do something about the feed control box. The sticker on the box said it was rated at 1/8hp which I thought was screwy because the old motor was supposedly 1/6hp. So I ordered a different resistor for the feed that was good for 1/4hp to 1/2hp. Pulled the control box apart and guess what did I find? It already had a 1/4 to 1/2 resistor.

We've only sent one board through it, but everything worked fine.
1989 LT40HD, WoodMaster 718

Dan

Larry

A friend always uses Dayton motors on his conversions.  Here is one on a 13" Rockwell he did about 5 years ago.



Its a pretty standard conversion for many different planers.  Buying everything new its quite expensive.  VFD's may be moving into the application as you can get away from brushes.

Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Thank You Sponsors!