Alignment dual blade edger

[Cruiser_79]

I have an old dual blade edger with two separate 5.5 kW motors and a powered in and outfeed roller. When I bought it I noticed that the blades were not exactly aligned. The distance between the blades is slightly narrower at the infeed side. I made some adjustments and aligned them exactly. Afterwards I thought it might be better to align them slightly tapered so the flints are forced to go outside. What is the best setting? 

[Wintergreen Mountain]

    I used to work on and maintain a 5 blade edger in a full automatic sawmill. The blades slid on a splined shaft to gauge them and they all ran straight. the shaft got bent once and really messed up the flow of boards. It was only .29 inch off. That shaft was about 5 !/2" in diameter and not fun to replace.
   I would say they should run straight.


   Leon

[moodnacreek]

I agree, straight. Can't help but notice the infeed roll in the photo, looks worn down.

[Wintergreen Mountain]

    Moodnacreek;

      Good eye! You are correct. That in drive is worn bad. Most likely the out drive is worn badly also.

   Leon

[Cruiser_79]

I agree, straight. Can't help but notice the infeed roll in the photo, looks worn down.

Ok thanks, I will align them as straight as possible. I will check the rollers as well. But there are two discs at the top to adjust the upper (non-driven) roller, made out of the same material as the rollers. They look quite the same so I have no idea how new rollers looked like on this machine. It isn't really a brand, there is a label on the machine which says it's made by a workshop somewhere in Poland, probably custom made or so.

On this pic you can see the discs to adjust the upper rollers 

[YellowHammer]

Definitely, the blades need to be aligned straight, otherwise the saw kerf will impact and heat up the plate of the sawblade and cause scorching and buildup.  It will also cause the board to pull.

Since this is a well used unit, one reason it may have been taken out of commission is because it won't feed straight.  Since the rollers are worn unevenly, I would look at getting them all machined to the same diameter, from end to end.  They don't have to have such an aggressive tooth design, many of today's rollers are merely knurled, so you could probably machine down a good dealt the unworn tooth diameter to get them all to match up.



   

[moodnacreek]

Feed rolls can be made from sprockets. You need as much grip on the board as possible without damaging it with puncture marks. Surplus Center sells blank sprockets.