Dewalt 1150 Planer Thicknesser - Very Loud.

[samej1987]

I have a planer thicknesses i got from my father. It has always been loud but over the weekend became alarmingly loud. One of my neighbours came round to see what the racket was!

Taking the drive belt off the motor runs quite quietly. It only seems to be when the block starts to spin up.

Turning the block by hand it seems to run around without any resistance and i cant feel any play in it, but i assume the bearings have given up. Could anyone give any advice before i spend money and time pulling it apart?

I cant find any info on changing the bearings but hopefully i can figure it out.

The noise is like a knocking/metalic banging sound that sounds once per revolution of the block, obviously at full speed it is just a constant loud noise.

Thanks!

 

[Trevanion]

I would normally say try and find the manual but they rarely if ever go into how to change the bearings, they usually say something along the lines of “Uses greased for life bearings and require no maintenance” and that’s that. The only thing the manual could help you with is that it might have a parts diagram which you can decipher how to remove the block from. Ideally when you’re testing bearings you want a little resistance when spinning the block as this shows the bearings are nice and tight, greased, and not worn, free spinning can be a sign that the bearings are on their last legs and are dry. Especially if there’s a clicking/grinding noise.

I don’t know how to remove the block from one of these machines but it should be fairly straight forward to work out how to pull it out. Most machines will have bearing blocks that the bearings sit in that are bolted down to the machine either from above or below, undo these with the belts off the pulley and it should pull out with the blocks on the shafts of the block. You’ll need a set of bearing pullers to pull off the blocks and bearings which can be picked up cheap enough for a set and they’re always handy to keep about.

Once you’ve managed to get the bearings out you want to read the numbers on the bearing outer raceway which will tell you the size it is and will look like “6002/2RS”or similar. 6002 denotes the size, in this case 15mm x 32mm x 9mm and the RS2 denotes two rubber seals whilst ZZ would be shielded, it’s worth changing shielded type bearings for 2RS because the shielded ones don’t keep fine dust out which you get with woodworking gear. Get a good quality bearing like a SKF or FAG if it isn’t too cost prohibitive, there isn’t much cost difference between the budget bearing and the high quality ones when it’s standard sizes.

Ideally you want to press the new bearing back on but not everyone has access to a press so second best thing is a hollow pipe or socket the same size as the INNER raceway and tap it on gently, never hammer on the outer raceway as you will damage the bearing. It would also help to bung the cutter block in the freezer overnight so that it shrinks a thou or so to help get the bearings on, and even putting the bearings in a warm place or running a hair dryer over them to make them expand a little makes the job so much easier.

Hopefully that helps you out.

 

[samej1987]

Thanks for your reply!

I think looking at the diagrams is about as close as i am going to get.

 

[Fitzroy]

I’d try a new belt first. Only a small possibility It’ll fix the issue but way easier as a first step than changing the bearings

F.

 

[Fitzroy]

There are good exploded drawings of the unit on the web, video below shows a chap replacing the rollers, found a few years back when thinking about replacing mine. Looking at these it looks like the bearing housing is an integral part of the casting for the side of the unit. You’ll need to pretty much disassemble the whole unit, or at least one side, to get the cutter head out.

DW1150 Manual

DW1150 roller replacement

My experience is that the unit is easy to work on so an interesting project if you have the time to compete.

Fitz

 

[sunnybob]

If its a knocking noise, then it isnt the bearings. bearings moan and groan, and rumble, and finally sound like split peas shaken in a rusty can. First check the cutting blades for accuracy and tightness.
You need to take it apart slowly and inspect each piece. Its possible a shaft has seized in a block which then heated and cracked
No way of being sure without a strip down.
Theyre not rocket science, its within any amateur mechanics scope.

 

[Orraloon]

Being a card carrying amateur mechenic I tend to have bits left over after the rebuild. To help prevent this take pictures as you go of the strip down. Really helps when you put it back together. Really good when doing electrics also.
Regards
John

 

[samej1987]

Thanks all,

I am determined to solve the problem. I spoke to my dad and he said 'it always made a loud noise' which wasnt very helpful. It sounds like its about to tear itself apart and i don't believe they could ever have produced a tool sounding quite this bad!

I will try and update on the progress.

 

[Quickben]

Hi James(?)

I have one of these machines. Is the noise in both planing mode and thicknessing mode ?

If it's in planing mode, check that the chip extraction cowl isn't touching anything. Or it could be something as simple as the blades hitting the edge of the infeed or outfeed beds.

 

[samej1987]

Hello to anyone that might stumble back on this post. I started taking the planer apart today, the noise was driving me mad.

I have the body of the machine lose but struggling to get the cutter block out. It is the only thing holding the sides together.

The good news is the bearing next to the motor is clearly knackered, it isnt tight on the spindle in any way. i can move the block without the bearing spinning, there is that much slack. The belt pulley is refusing to come off but a bearing puller will probably solve that, its just how to get the other end out. As someone on here said the bearings are pressed in to the casing of the planer so i think im going to need some sort of internal puller.

I will try and keep you posted on how it goes.

 

[samej1987]

So i managed to get the block out by spreading the casing using a pair of clamps. The bearings pulled out pretty easily. I then used bearing pullers to remove the bearings from the block.

The bearing closest to the motor was in good condition but the spindle of the block had worn away. Taking this to a friendly engineer he said that the bearings surface is hardened and that the spindle is not, therefore when there was some play that lead to the spindle just being worn away over time. This also meant the noise was getting worse and worse.

Engineer is going to turn the damaged area a little to remove the surface material (it is contaminated with crud he says). When he gets it back to a nice surface he will build it back up with weld then turn it back down to its intended 20mm.

Hopefully next week i will be able to put it back together! (with new bearings).

 

[Horsee1]

How did this work out?

 

[samej1987]

Hi Horsee,

He is a good engineer and his repair was as good as he said. He said i needed a new set of bearings and he wanted them before he started work, so he knew precisely what size fit he was trying to achieve. He built the area up and then turned it back to the correct size. He even turned me a correct sized tube so i could drive the new bearings on while only touching the inner race.

I then cleaned, oiled, greased and waxed all the relevant parts and re-assembled the whole planer. Setting the planer beds correctly was a bit tricky but i got there in the end.

The sound is now beautiful. I can still hear the radio over the noise of the thicknesser! I'm so pleased i persevered with it, very satisfying to get it working again.

 

[Irish Rover]

Thanks for coming back with all the updates.
There's nothing worse than forum questions that receive suggestions but don't have a conclusion.

 

[K.Wilkins]

Hi can any body help and tell me to get the cutter block and spindle out so I can change the two bearing. With the body being a one cast unit. Ken