I recently got my hands on an old siezed up Clark Foam planer that I’m trying to get working again because, well, free shit rocks… When I got it, an attempt to pull the trigger would just yeild an electric “buzz” and the drum would not turn… I opened it up and checked the belts - totally fine. I tried spinning the drum by hand, and it moved fine - however, the main motor pulley was not turning. I opened the vent on the motor side and tested the unit again - I noticed an arc between the motor and brushes on one side, and a bit of smoke, but no turning… I pulled the brushes and, while they still have plenty of material left, they’re pretty chunked up on the ends. After putting the old brushes back in I tried to turn the main motor by hand but it was stuck… I figured the bearings may be bad on the motor so pried on the pulley a bit and tapped on the other one to free them up and, viola! Well, kinda - the drum turns now but it sounds very rough (as if maybe foam penetrated the bearings or they’ve lost their lubrication)
So my question is: Do you think it’s more likely that the bearings are what’s causing the motor to bind? Or is this chipping at the end of the brushes enough to make it sound like an axel with no grease?
And… if the bearings need replacing, how do i get the large pulley off to access the motor?
Before you buy more bearings…disassemble until you can get to the bearings. Remove them individually (from their respective shafts also) and then refit into their holes. They should be in there tight and not turn on the outer races. Any evidence of the outside diameter spinning in the hole (i.e. worn or melted plastic) and the whole thing is history. If all of the holes are OK, fit them back on the shafts and they should also be very tight there. Sometimes when a motor’s bushes get worn way low, chunks of carbon will break off and cause shorting and arcing. When this happens it creates other shorts in the windings and the motor is then junk. So you may have two issues. If the bearing fits were OK, then the motor is probably gone. If the bearing fits were bad then the whole thing is trash anyhow. I’ve seen many Skil motors that were ruined because the brushes were worn down to the springs.
Okay cool - I knew all that chunked carbon was an issue, I’m thinking I’ll pull the motor and blow it off reall good, try to deep clean the whole unit… I’m guessing that I need to replace the brushes either way based on the ammount of chunking and chipping in there. Good to know about the bearings - I had a feeling they weren’t sealed… I wonder if I can retrofit the planer with sealed bearings of the same size?
I’ll follow your advice before moving forward petec - definitely would be pointless if the bearings arent holding strong, but based on the fact that I got it spinning again, but it just scrapes I’m really hoping it’s just the bearings and not the plastic.
Quick question - anyone know how I get the large pulley off (the one that turns the drum not the one for the motor)? The small pulley will fit through the hole beneath it, but the large pulley is larger than the hole on the body, so in order to access the motor I need to get that off. Any suggestions? It seems like I’d need to somehow lock the barrel from spinning and un-screw it (looks threaded on the post?)?
I would consider snagging a good deal off Ebay for a stock Hitachi P20SB (?) planer with very little use. Maybe 30 to 50 bucks. Then move all the Clark parts to the fresh planer.
That’s a possibility - but if it turns out to just be the bearings which I can replace for a few bucks I’m stoked. Plus, I’m all about repair and repurpose - we’ve been a throw-away culture for too long. If I’m trying to promote recycling with my boards, why not with my tools as well!
But if the housing is shot and the planer truly is done, that’s definitely the path I’m going to take, great idea
something Jim Phillips posted a long time ago about the hitachi planer "break down, remove dust shoot first, lossen and remove brush caps,remove the brushes, sometimes they have dust keeping them from seating any farther, they don’t always just pop out, so a little finessing when picking and tugging at them, remove small bearing cover next to exlaust shoot, when re-tightening caps only go finger tight, remove screws that hold on belt cover, removes belt by turning and working it off to the outside, remove large pulley, it turns clockwise to loosen, remove the screws on the bearing seat plate, use a scocket for a drift that will fit in the bearing seats on the brush side of the planer and GENTLY tap the armature and cutter head out of the bearing seats, the armature will come free with the outside plate still attached to it, rock it until it is free, same with the cutterhead, now you can have access to ALL the bearings, you will get to know which are good and what are in need of replacing, the worst case senario is the armature bearing against the brushes has gotten way too hot and flaired out the bearing seat, in which case, you are fucked, nothing to do but salvage all the parts and scrap the case, go to Tool depot and buy a stock Hitachi for 125 bucks and install the front shoe from the old one. "
So I got it broken down - for the record **THE LARGE PULLEY TURNS COUNTER-CLOCKWISE **to come off - I almost broke the thing trying to go clockwise and only figured it out when I really inspected the direction of what little thread was visible… THE SMALL PULLEY TURNS CLOCKWISE - not sure if that’s because this is a different model than Jim’s or what, but once I got that part the rest was easy
Once i got to all the bearings and had to opportunity to hand-spin them, it was pretty obvious where the problem lay… the two bearings on the armature side were just fine, though I may simply replace them as well for better performance… it was the bearings on the fan side - both the cutting drum and the motor, that had obviously blown their seals and taken on dust. The two bearings, both being on the belt side, dragging together was enough to bind the thing up and now causes that god awful muddy skateboard wheel sound when turning.
From what I can tell, the motor appears in good condition and the seats for the bearings have no signs of melting or other damage… The body could certainly use a long, romantic session with my air compressor though.
Thanks for the help guys, I’ll post an update once I get the bearings and get the planer working again. Hope this thread helps someone looking to take on a similar project!
See that little dimple on the end of the shaft? Everytime you see that it means that the bearings were meant to be removed and replaced at some time using a bearing puller. I think that every shaper should be required to replace their own bearings!! LOL Anyway, there are good sets out there and there are cheap ones like these: http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/pullers/three-jaw-puller-set-4-pc-69104.html Just measure the clearance between the base of the bearing and the fan and the smallest puller might be the one you want. The thickness of the jaws are what limits the puller you are using but you might already know that. My grandpa was a master machinest and he gave me his set so I can pull tiny roller bearings up to tractor axle bearings. (Never had to do that, tho) Tools like pullers will last a lifetime and you can always recycle used ones off EBay. Banging on stuff and wedging in screwdrivers or other bits of metal is never the way to go! Just my 2c…
Yeah I kinda got that impression after a skinny wrench and a hammer didn’t do the trick, lol - I wasn’t sure what kind was best and some I saw were upwards of $400 but I don’t think I need some large tabletop machine, lol - thanks for the reccomendation, I’ll hit the hardware store tomorrow. Maybe they have brushes and bearings too!!!
True, and a good last option if this does not work - but as earlier stated in the thread that defeats the whole purpose of me trying to do this. We are a throw-away culture because it’s so much “easier” to just buy something new to replace what’s broken - but that’s why our landfills are landfulls. I’m just trying to do my little part to create as little waste as possible in my small corner of the earth. I like fixing things, and I like recycling things - so while this way is easier, there’s just no fun in it
Sealed bearings are used to keep the grease in more than dust out. At 16K rpm the grease just liquifies and sprays right out of open bearings spinning that fast and hot. Maybe OK on a fishing reel or wheelbarrow and this tells you something about the Hitachi’s design. Also looking at the photos your commutator needs resurfacing, it’ll just tear up new brushes; how do you think the old ones got like the photo? This puller set both separates and pulls off the bearings http://www.harborfreight.com/14-piece-gear-puller-set-30305.html , it’s only $40 but “real” ones cost $150. So about $35 for bearings + $40 for the tool, well you know where this is going. Never ceases to amaze me how some guys here spend so much time (and eventually $$) trying to cobble a planer for shaping that invariably produces crappy results and soon needs to be replaced anyhow. If you’re serious about shaping, please get a one good planer that will last and is worth fixing. If you’re still shaping 5 years from now you’ll understand the value of this advice. Just opinion - We are a throw-away culture due to years of “competent consumerism” and the effect of dimishing quality of products based on industry demand for lower production costs and higher profits. Part of that decreased production cost is shithouse engineering, and this is precisely why you can’t fix most of the stuff not yet in a landfill. It barely worked right in the first place with only a very small window of operational life inherent to the design. Repurpose and recycle, yes; rebuild no. Just sayin.
If you know anything about the power tool industry, it actually IS much cheaper to repair a tool than replace it these days, because of the open availability of parts etc… There’s something you guys who are saying “just get a new planer” need to understand about me - green is my whole thing… and green as possible. Recycle, repurpose, refurbish EVERYTHING - My surfboards are called “Resurrect Dead” because this all started from my love of tearing down an old board and shaping it into a new one… sure, it’s “easier” and “more professional” to go buy a new blank or planer, but then you’re just simply adding to the demand, which adds to the consumer waste, which adds to our carbon footprint, which affects the planet we live on… I’m sure you can see where I am going with this.
This isn’t some poor kid trying to “cobble together a planer” to try and shape - this is an attempt to make the dent I put in the earth just slightly smaller.
I searched many moons before I came across a bearing puller that had enough clearance for the Hitachis, most bearing pullers are built for auto type of work and are far too beefy to get behind the bearings. I have used a heavy duty stamped router wrench that will slide behind the bearing, clamped in a vise and then with a drift punch forced the shaft out, but I have also mushroomed the shaft doing this, so beware of the bigger hammer syndrome, gentleness is the word of the day
Thanks Jim… I’ve been avoiding using brute force thus far because I’m scared of just that, or breaking the fan… I distinctly remember rollerblade bearings being easier to change… lol
We’ll see how far I take this just based on the availibility of a puller - it’s a shame that’s really the key piece that makes this worth it or not. As stated before, at least I have the clark mods to move to a new Hitachi if I can’t find a puller (not gonna buy one considering I have zero other uses for one at the moment)
