Planer belt slippage

[uler3161]

I have a Woodmaster 718 planer. I think it's a 2009 model. I've ran a lot of material through it and I'm starting to have belt slippage issues.

Right now I have it set up with ripping saws for edging 2x4 red fir. On the fence side, I have two blades doubled up on the arbor because I want the board to be able to run against the outfeed fence without having a narrow strip of material, but I don't really think that's affecting things very much. I've spent a lot of time trying to get the fence dialed in parallel to the blades. I also have a 15 foot infeed roller table with a fence the entire way. This has also been aligned as best I can. Normally this setup works great for me and it actually feels like the planer has way more power than needed, even at full feed speed

It seems I'm now running into slippage issues. I can barely run at half speed without it slipping and stopping the blades. Here's what I've tried:

• Bought new (cheap) belts off Amazon
• Adjusted belt tension as far as the slots will allow
• Bought new belts from Woodmaster. Unusable because the size is wrong (Their website has 4L560 for 718s, but this planer came from factory with 4L590)
• Bought new (goodyear) belts off Amazon
• Adjusted belt tension as far as the slots will allow

The goodyear belts actually seem worse than the cheapies. I've been reading about matched belts and it seems like some people say that's the fix and others say that industry no longer sells "matched belts" I guess because quality is more consistent these days. Woodmaster does sell an AX57 belt for the 725 so maybe that's the solution, but honestly I'm tired of buying belts just for them not to work.

I'm contemplating the following:

• Take pulleys off and try to rough up the finish so belts grip
• Belt dressing
• Given that I'm at the limit of my adjustment and I kind of think there's still too much slack, maybe a 4L580 belt

Any other ideas?

[Wlmedley]

Maybe pulleys are worn out. If belt is riding to the bottom of pulley grooves they will slip even with new belts.

[uler3161]

Maybe pulleys are worn out. If belt is riding to the bottom of pulley grooves they will slip even with new belts.

That makes sense. I'll try to figure out if that's the issue.

[Old Greenhorn]

Bill beat me to it. Mine is older and has bronze press in bushings on the pulley hubs. I had one that was so worn out and oversize that the belt just kept flopping off. Pressed a new bushing in and good as new.
 The good news is you can buy those replacement bushings off the shelf either from a bearing supplier or Macmaster Carr or Manhattan Supply for cheap. All standard English sizes.

EDIT: Just re-read Bill's reply, he said pulleys, and it might be, but I am thinking the bushings are more likely the culprit. I is, after all, a 'wear part' and most of us don't grease them as we should, or so I have heard.

[uler3161]

Bill beat me to it. Mine is older and has bronze press in bushings on the pulley hubs. I had one that was so worn out and oversize that the belt just kept flopping off. Pressed a new bushing in and good as new.
 The good news is you can buy those replacement bushings off the shelf either from a bearing supplier or Macmaster Carr or Manhattan Supply for cheap. All standard English sizes.

EDIT: Just re-read Bill's reply, he said pulleys, and it might be, but I am thinking the bushings are more likely the culprit. I is, after all, a 'wear part' and most of us don't grease them as we should, or so I have heard.

I haven't had the motor pulley off, so I don't know if it has bushings. The pulley that goes on the planer head doesn't have bushings.

[Old Greenhorn]

OK, I was thinking there was a tensioner pulley in that circuit, sorry. Still it's hard to explain how you are running out of adjustment with new belts unless what Bill suggests is your answer, but by golly, that's a lot of wear on a pulley. For sure, digging into all those details will likely get you the clue you need to figure it out. I doubt it's your belts, gotta be something else going on. You'll find it if you keep looking.
 You could try calling Woodmaster and getting some tech support. They are pretty good guys.

[Southside]

Before you said you had a 718 I was wondering if you had a Wood master. On my 725 I had the same issue so I re-worked the motor adjustment so the pulley actually hangs below the cross arms and allows a lot more adjustment. The belts aren't over tight at all and I can lock it into place. That stopped all of my slipping issues. 

[uler3161]

I went and looked. I took the belts off and held one up to both pulleys and honestly I think I have a lot more to go before it would ever bottom out on either pulley, so I don't think that's the problem.

I'm really thinking there's too much slop in the belts though. I decided to test deflection in one of the belts. I'm used to vehicles having somewhere around 1/2" deflection on fan belts. This belt has 2 inches, so that really has me scratching my head, though maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges. But, assuming it's way too much, I don't see anything on the planer that suggests the motor has moved closer to the head. All the brackets look straight.

[uler3161]

Before you said you had a 718 I was wondering if you had a Wood master. On my 725 I had the same issue so I re-worked the motor adjustment so the pulley actually hangs below the cross arms and allows a lot more adjustment. The belts aren't over tight at all and I can lock it into place. That stopped all of my slipping issues.

I'll see if I have any way to do something similar, but I'm not sure I do. Makes me wonder if it's a different design. You wouldn't happen to have a photo of the motor adjustment would you?

[uler3161]

The only way I see to take up slack is if I were to put washers in between the rails that the motor bolts to and the rails that those rails bolt to. Not sure how much would be safe. Maybe 1/4" of washers. That might help.

I swapped back to the cheapy belts and I aligned my straight edges again. It's better, so I think I had a bit of bind. I can run at full speed, but I do hear sometimes it lugs a bit. It seems pretty difficult to get this just perfect. I'm still not sure my roll case straight edge is aligned right as I'm seeing a gap between it and the boards. I probably went too far in the other direction. Been using a laser for alignment and I'm not sure it's that accurate. I'm thinking I might either try to find a really straight board or try my best to cut one on the sawmill without any waves and then align with that. The last time I did an alignment, I tried a string, but apparently that was a little off.

What I really wish I had was a measuring device that would mount on the accessory shaft and hang down below the level of the rollers that was either precision ground straight so I could measure off of it or even better if it had a laser. If I had a shop, I'd try building one, but unfortunately I don't.

[beenthere]

Are the feed rollers worn so not parallel anymore? Do the boards pass through straight without any contact with sawblades or fence? 

[uler3161]

Are the feed rollers worn so not parallel anymore? Do the boards pass through straight without any contact with sawblades or fence?

They have some wear. Maybe enough to matter. Infeed side is the serrated steel roller, so I don't think there's an issue there. First outfeed looks decent. I'm also running the roller for the moulding attachment as a second outfeed roller and it's a bit beat up. The old style rollers really never last near long enough in my opinion. I have one of the new urethane rollers, but haven't used it enough to see what the lifespan is. 

I haven't tried running boards straight through like that. I think to be reliable, I'd have to run them through where I'm using the rip saws and I didn't really want to tear down my setup. I'm getting reasonable performance now. Maybe when I get done with this batch of boards I'll test that.