Rotating insert cutterhead knives

[Mick S]

Lately I've noticed a couple of small nicks in the knives on my Hammer A3-41 16" J/P with the Silent Power cutterhead, so I decided it was time to do the necessary rotating of the 62 carbide inserts after 3+ years. Something I've put off for a while. I've done it on other machines before and it can be a tedious process. This time I decided to try to speed it up a little by "automating" the process.

Start time - 2:10 

Using a cordless drill/driver with the appropriate Torx bit, I removed all the screws and inserts, placing them into a small tub of mineral spirits. While they were soaking I used a brass brush to clean out the seats on the cutterhead. I then used the drill driver set on its lowest torque setting to replace the inserts, followed by my dedicated 5Nm torque wrench to manually seat them. Since the inserts are numbered on each side it's easy to orient them to the #2 position.

End time - 2:49

In the past, I've removed one, cleaned it, reseated it and torqued it. Too much wasted motion.

 

 

[Coop]

Not knowing each was numbered, I would have suggest a mark with a black Sharpie on the used one but, it sounds like their automation is far ahead of mine. 

[wtnhighlander]

That's actually the first I've heard of inserts with numbered sides. Others I've seen may have a single index mark in the corner. Maybe the numbers are a Hammer / Felder thing?

[gee-dub]

Glad to hear the bulk process worked out well. My inserts have a mark in one corner so it is easy to remember you started with everything having a dot in the lower right corner and want to reinstall everything with the dot in the lower left, etc. I will give the bulk process a try at my next rotation. I too have  only done them one at a time so your post is encouraging me to try the bulk approach. Thank you.

[Mick S]

7 hours ago, gee-dub said:

Glad to hear the bulk process worked out well. My inserts have a mark in one corner so it is easy to remember you started with everything having a dot in the lower right corner and want to reinstall everything with the dot in the lower left, etc. I will give the bulk process a try at my next rotation. I too have  only done them one at a time so your post is encouraging me to try the bulk approach. Thank you.

I just remembered how much my back hurt from leaning over the machine for so long when I've done it one at a time. I won't dread it from now on.

[Tpt life]

When the time comes, I hope mine have indexing marks also. Thanks for sharing. 

[BillyJack]

Maintenance use to have to rotate them on a SCM Sandya. 58" I believe. 2 people would start it and they couldn't leave till it was done that night...they like the overtime, but I'm sure they payed for it...

[Mick S]

4 hours ago, Tpt life said:

When the time comes, I hope mine have indexing marks also. Thanks for sharing. 

They're very handy!

 

[BillyJack]

I thought they all did....