Scheppach planer feed rollers and Inca

[scholar]

Hello

This is possibly a long shot.

Does anyone have some old feed rollers from a Scheppach 260 planer?

I have a (mostly lovely) Inca planer thicknesser that is let down by the original knurled feed roller being worn. I also have a larger Scheppach planer with rubber coated feed rollers that are light years better.

A replacement Inca roller is not available, but even if it was, it would not be as good as the rubber coated rollers. I want to investigate the possibility of re-engineering some Scheppach rollers to fit the Inca. Ideally I would like to adapt some worn Scheppach ones as the diameter of the Inca rollers is I am sure smaller (I also have unresolved questions of whether the Scheppach rubber can be turned down on a lathe and the feasibility of adapting the spindles and drive cogs to fit the Inca).

I am guessing that the original Scheppach roller rubber must be machined, because the finish is very true and smooth.

Anyway, if anyone has anything lying around (or any more insight), it would be good to know!

Cheers

 

[Trevanion]

What about having the Inca roller re-knurled? Pretty straight-foward job.

 

[scholar]

That is a good thought, thank you. However:
- I am not sure that “knurled“ was a good description - I couldn’t think of a better one - see the picture below that shows the points and where they have worn on the middle section particularly.
- I think any remachining would reduce the diameter of the roller, although maybe this could be compensated by (even) tighter spring tension, and slightly lower feed speed (not a big problem).
- even when the feed does work, usually with a bit of push and pull, you cannot take off “just a hair” (Norm flashback there!) without leaving indentations, whereas this never happens of course with the rubber rollers.

Cheers

 

[scholar]

Forgot the picture!

 

[Inspector]

If you are sure you want to go with rubber rollers there are companies that refurbish industrial rollers with polyurethane. Get your roller machined down and send it to the refurbisher along with the finished diameter you want it to be. I'd ask the refurbisher what diameter they wanted the shaft to be before getting it machined (they may want it knurled or roughed up too). You will want to research what hardness you want the roller to be. It will usually be specified as a Shore hardness. If the shaft is fairly simple I would suggest making a new one over turning the old one down. Keep the original in case a future one wants it stock.

Pete

 

[scholar]

Thank you for that.

It is a good question about polyurethane (I guess that is what is on the feed rollers of my spindle moulder power feed (much squidgier and the Scheppach rollers are a higher hardness). The Scheppach rollers are widely described as patented; that must have expired, but I am not aware of other manufacturers using this method, or polyurethane.

I think the easiest method would be to buy some Scheppach rollers and see if i can get the rubber turned down. The Inca planer is elsewhere at the moment, but I think the feed roller is 25mm diameter - I have found some reference to the Scheppach roller being 34mm. Scaling off the picture below, I guess the spindle is 20mm, which would only leave 2.5mm of rubber all round, against the standard 7mm - hmm

Does anyone have any thoughts on machinability of the rubber? And 2.5mm of rubber may be too thin a layer to hold up anyway.

Cheers

 

[marcros]

how much adjustment is there in the spring, is the diameter that critical? could you cover the Inca rollers in something like a bandsaw tyre?

 

[scholar]

Hi Marcros

The French parts supplier (Incamachines.com) has confirmed the roller is very worn, but suggested it may be worth replacing the springs (to increase tension) but I have rebuilt the machine a while ago and the spring tension seems very high already to me.

The diameter would need to be the same as the outfeed roller (that is smooth and probably doesn’t help things) as they are both driven by the same chain. Any increase in diameter (on both rollers) would change the feed speed and the machine already has the potential weakness of the weird nylon gear that I aim to stress as little as possible

Cheers

 

[Trevanion]

That infeed roller looks like it would feed timber alright, have you tried lubricating the bed with wax?

 

[Inspector]

I replaced the original rollers on my Williams &Hussey Planer/Molder with their multi-pass ones. They say they are a 60 Durometer and their other is a 70 Durometer. That would be 60 Shore D and 70 Shore D. I don't know what the original black, presumably neoprene, was. They are 1 1/2" in diameter (7" long) with a 1/4" of rubber. If you were to have a shaft made it likely could be reduced in diameter where the rubber goes to ensure a decent thickness and still not loose too much strength. Might be better to get a replacement knurled roller rather than fluff around trying to buckshee something. Could even have a machinist cut off the knurling and shrink fit a metal sleeve and recut the knurling or build it up with weld and recut. Just throwing options in your direction.

Pete

 

[scholar]

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

I am still making another enquiry from Switzerland as to whether the original replacement part is available.

If not, I will figure on the other thoughts - of all of them, I had wondered about the feasibility of welding a build up on the points and then remachining.

We will see.

Cheers all

 

[powertools]

There is no way that the indeed roller has worn down enough to make it inefictive.
Just go over it with a wire brush and lubricate the bed with machine wax.

 

[scholar]

This issue remains unresolved..

Firstly, I confirmed with the Inca Maschinen specialist in Switzerland that the indeed roller is indeed very worn in the centre - a replacement was available at an eye-watering price, but I went ahead and it got lost in the post in Switzerland!! It is really uneconomic at the current price.

A subsequent enlightenment is that there are various clones of this Inca planer that may just have alternative replacement rollers. The principal candidate is the Elektra Beckum/Metabo HC260, but also the Record Power PT260 as a well as others. The Metabo rollers seem to be available:

- Infeed roller is grooved - somewhat different pattern to the diamond pattern on the Inca

- Outfeed roller is rubber-coated - an efficient type based on my experience with my Scheppachs. The Inca has a smooth steel outfeed roller that doesn’t grip as well.

The overall dimensions appear to be the same and I need to dismantle the Inca to check that the bearing ends look the same which at first sight I think they do; assuming that to be the case, I hope to replace both rollers - the Metabo spares seem a reasonable price.

I am just wondering whether it would be OK to try replacing both the infeed and outfeed rollers with the rubber-coated part - the Scheppachs operate really well with rubber on both and I have never had any problem with grip.

I will probably replace the roller springs at the same time - I think they are OK, but they (the Metabo ones) are very cheap.

Does anyone have any experience to add?

Cheers

 

[MikeK]

I don't know if this helps, but I was at Michael Klein's shop yesterday, and it is packed with what appears to be the complete Elektra Beckum production line of machines in various stages of rebuilding. He sells solely on the eBay Kleinanzeigen (similar to Gumtree) and from what I could see, he does a lot of business.

Here is one of his listings for the infeed and outfeed rollers for the EB HC 260 P/T. The price of €38 is for each roller. Does the infeed roller look like the roller for your machine?

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s...ze-druckwalze-einzugswalze/1836171261-84-4422

 

[scholar]

Ah that is really helpful Mike. A better definition set of photos than I found - the grooves pattern on the indeed roller is different to the Inca, (see earlier photo above) but it does the same job and the rest of the machine configuration is basically the same based on the parts diagrams.

I need to take the Inca apart to check the machined profiles at either end. I am pretty sure the diameters and lengths of the rollers themselves will be the same. I am hoping the machined profiles and holes for the chain cogs are compatible - I am guessing they should be as the parts drawings of the respective machines are very similar.

I have dismantled the machine before, but it is quite a job and anyway it is at the project house, so I can’t lay my hands on it right now!

Cheers