Photo Index - J. A. Vance Co. - No1 Planer Matcher 4 head

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
J. A. Vance Co.
Salem, NC; Winston-Salem, NC

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Planer, Wood
Machine Size:	4" x 16"
Submitted By:	Jamie Cass

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	No1 Planer Matcher 4 head
Date of Manufacturer:
Serial Number:
Last Updated	7/26/2008 10:36:23 PM

Comments:

Machine came from Rhonda, NC supposedly been in a furniture plant close by until about 2000. The owner was going to sell if for scrap but backed out because he thought someone should be using it. Most everything was there and would work to some degree. We completely disassembled it, made 6 new feed gears for the feed works, bored out one large gear and made a new tapered key hub to replaced the brazed up crap there. replaced the tapered keys, bored and bushed the feed gear mount brackets to get shafts back tight and stationary. The top front fluted feed roller weights were mounted under the shafts... we straightened the hooks and lever arms and welded up some new weight hanger arms from the one piece of remaining arm on the machine, removed the broke old bolts and mounted the weights back inside the frame above the feed shaft and piggy back lower head drive shaft. Replaced the side head shafts and keyed them for the correct tapered key and remounted the original sheaves using tapered keys. Made two new side heads using one original existing side head for pattern. all rollers were loose on shafts.. busted old shafts out and made new ones and epoxied them in using spiders and indicators to get less than .005" TIR. Had to nickel weld one roller back that split down the side. Turned rollers around to get worn side away from work. Originally the rollers were cast around the steel shafts and then machined. The keyways in the original shafts were cut with a chisel. Replaced the Up and down top head shaft, welded the hand wheel and rebored, and made two new screws that run each side up/down, They are 3/4-8 thread, one side right hand, one side left hand, then we welded up the missing gear teeth on the up/down top head bevel gears, and machined them back. We milled the side head tables and main bed under top head down .070" to clean up and then shimmed them back up. The infeed bed was cracked up we welded it up and ground back good the infeed bed cross angle was broke we welded it up and shimmed it back. We got a box of blades and spare parts with the thing, and I found the original moving head guide and added a piece to it to take for for the end that was wore off and put it back on in place of the mess that was bolted on. also made a new guide for behind the moving side head and put it on. Made some blade mounting bolts from grade 8 fine thread 5/8 bolts and mounted 4 blades on all heads. ground and honed on blades for almost two days. Made 4 new side head blades because 4 were missing. Made new hold down straps for the bottom feed rollers, because 3 out of the 4 original cast parts were broke. Made new ones from a36 hot roll and put the originals in a part box. The original bolts were 1/2-12 thead square head.... I just retapped to 1/2-13 and replaced with hex heads since we are running the machine, and I had neither the time or desire to make square head 1/2-12 replacements. We replaced most of the square head bolts with hex heads where possible and saved the square heads. Replaced the main drive shaft because the old one was bent and some moron had welded the fan drive sheave to the shaft after wringing off one of the set screws. cut up old shaft, drilled set screw out, and then pressed the piece of shaft out after grinding away weld. Made some new right and and left hand nuts for the top roller drive mechanism, original nuts are cast iron, and I figure one got broke, I made a replacement and then a spare right hand and a spare left hand. made all four "bolts" for the top roller drives new. The top roller drive dog bones and gear sector dog bones were only wore about .010" so I left them alone. The roller bearing housings were all very tight so I didn't mess with them. Tweaked the sheet metal chains in the top rollers Up/down adjusters by taking apart and lengthening the guides with new wood. Straightened bent "u" bolts. Welded up two of the 4 main roller frames that were broke. The rear of the machine Is not factory some of the guide/hold down over the bottom head in the back is gone and some welded contraption is there... it works so I haven't messed with it. All of the Babbit had been previously repoured and was OK, so I laser cut new shims and just put everything back up snug. Fixed/cleaned all oil caps. Installed a pto drive system using 16" tire/wheel (31" OD) running on the 22" main drive pulley gives us about 3000rpm head speed at 540 pto rpm. It planes good anywhere after 1200 tractor rpm... about 350 pto. Frame is spaced with poured babbit everywhere to get the width right without machining, every hole in the machine was apparently hand done, because they are all in random locations... no identical parts will switch places due to hole miss alignment. We mounted it on some I beams to aid in moving and protect it. An 8,000 lb forklift is necessary to move it. I haven't weighed it, but I would guess somewhere between 5,000-6,500 lbs. All the cast iron except the rollers welded very good with Mig welder and was plenty strong. The rollers required some nickel 99 rods and a modicum of skill to get right.

Photo 1:

Comments: end showing model no1, and added pto drive.
Source: cass

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Photo 2:

Comments: side for user adjustments and upper roller feed works.
Source: cass

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Photo 3:

Comments: feed gear and head layout
Source: cass

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