Need help removing cutter head on Delta 22-590 planer

[rkrueger]

I finally took the leap and got myself a Shelix cutter head for my trusty Delta 22-590. It arrives Wednesday, so I decided I'd get the original cutter head removed today in preparation.

I thought there'd be at least one instruction set or video out that that covered this, but I'll be damned if I can't find a single thread or video that covers this. I've torn the thing down to about as far as I can go and I'm not sure what else I need to do to get this cutter head out.

I took a few pictures, but not sure how helpful that would be in trying to figure this out. I can post them and work from there, but I figure I'd see if anyone out there done this with this planer before? Or perhaps is aware of a resource that covers it. Any ideas or help is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance.

 

Edited July 13, 2021 by rkrueger
spelling

[Just Bob]

Shelix included written instructions for my Dewalt.  They may do the same for you.  If not contact them and see if they have info or ideas for you.

[wtnhighlander]

I would suggest that you start by removing the pulley on the end of the cutter head. May require a puller, you can often rent or borrow those from auto supply stores. That should reveal what comes off next.

[rkrueger]

On 7/12/2021 at 10:42 PM, Just Bob said:

Shelix included written instructions for my Dewalt.  They may do the same for you.  If not contact them and see if they have info or ideas for you.

Only thing in the box was a paper that tells you how to rotate or replace the inserts, and a link to installation instructions:  https://www.byrdtool.com/tech-corner

There is not one specific to my planer, unfortunately.

[rkrueger]

On 7/12/2021 at 10:47 PM, wtnhighlander said:

I would suggest that you start by removing the pulley on the end of the cutter head. May require a puller, you can often rent or borrow those from auto supply stores. That should reveal what comes off next.

I'll try the pulley first and see what I see. It will need to come off to put on the new head anyway

[Tom King]

What does the drive side of the Shelix head look like?  I expect the first thing you're going to need is a pair of snap ring pliers.  Looks like only the one doubled pair of chain sprockets will need to come off, but I could tell better if it was in front of me.

Some more disassembly required.

Pictures like this, of every step, will be worthwhile.   At least everything is easy to get to, and not too dirty.

[rkrueger]

On 7/13/2021 at 7:11 PM, Tom King said:

What does the drive side of the Shelix head look like?  I expect the first thing you're going to need is a pair of snap ring pliers.  Looks like only the one doubled pair of chain sprockets will need to come off, but I could tell better if it was in front of me.

Some more disassembly required.

Pictures like this, of every step, will be worthwhile.   At least everything is easy to get to, and not too dirty.

I did buy some snap ring pliers ahead of time just in case. Here are both ends of the Shelix head since I'm not sure which is the drive side 

I also took the bolt off of the pulley and it looks like there's a nut that I can unscrew, but I don't have a big enough socket for it right now. 

[wtnhighlander]

The end of the shelix head that has the longer shaft and keyway cut into it should be the drive side. That's where that big pulley will mount.

[rkrueger]

Progress...  Pulley is off, snap ring is off.... and..... still stuck
I did contact Byrd and they weren't able to help.

New Pics...   thoughts on next steps? 

[Just Bob]

Don't know if this will help, and you probably have one, but ereplacements has an exploded parts diagram that might be of use.

[Coop]

I don’t see where you have tried to contact Delta? 

[rkrueger]

On 7/14/2021 at 10:15 PM, Coop said:

I don’t see where you have tried to contact Delta? 

I have sent them an email. No response yet. 

[rkrueger]

On 7/14/2021 at 10:08 PM, Just Bob said:

Don't know if this will help, and you probably have one, but ereplacements has an exploded parts diagram that might be of use.

 

It does help, and it will certainly help when I put it back together. It appears I would have to lift the entire carriage off the posts. I tried raising to the top and lifting it, but it didn't really budge. I may need a second person to help.

[Coop]

Damned shame that Shelix couldn’t or wouldn’t help! 

[wtnhighlander]

Have you removed anything from the non-driven end of the head yet? It looks like there is a gear on that end, which drives the pressure rollers. I'm sure it will need to come off before the head can be extracted. And it appears you are correct, the head assembly should be lifted off the posts for the head itself to clear those two flat bars rising on either side of it.

[rkrueger]

I'd like to thank everyone here who was able to help me through this. I was able to finally get the cutter head removed. I'll document the last few steps here in case someone else needs the same help I did.

I did have the lift the entire carriage up, but not fully off the posts. You can raise it high enough to get by those flat bars the would have prevented the cutter head from sliding out. The reason I couldn't pull it up any last time was due to the power cable being secured to the frame via a small bracket. 

 

 

Now that I had the carriage raised high enough, I needed to get access behind the chains. I thought I would have to disconnect the entire gear assembly, but once I removed the snap rings on the two sprockets and pulled them off, I could see the the end of the cutterhead and bearing clearly.

 

 

There's a snap ring nestled inside that I thought I had to remove to get this out. I spent some time trying to pull it through, but it's not supposed to come off our out this way.  Not seeing anything else holding this in, I took a wood block and lightly hammered the end of the sprocket in the pic above. The cutter heard slowing slid out. Once both bearings were free of the housing, I was able to slide it all the way out. 

 

 

Now I just need to figure out how to get this small gear off the end of this cutter so I can install it on the new one! 

 

 

[Tom King]

Easy with the right gear puller.  Near impossible without.

[rkrueger]

Since I'm using new bearings and not worried about saving the originals, I used a hammer and tapped the small bearing off the cutter head. The gear on the end is simply screwed in. I was able to unscrew it and put it onto the shelix. 

I did run into an issue though with the shaft on the drive side being a fraction of a mm too wide to fit the aluminum pulley. I had to sand the inside of the pulley down a bit and then used quite a bit of force to get it on. It's on now, but I doubt it's ever coming off again.

Oh, and I had to remove all the inserts in order to slide the head in. That was a PITA to do and putting them back on was even more so. I'm waiting for a torque wrench to be delivered so I can tighten them properly, then I should be able to do a test run soon.

 

 

[Tom King]

Glad it was that easy!

[JFII]

I don't know if you found your answer. But I found a series of video's where your Planer is featured. Might be worth a look either way.

 

 

[rkrueger]

I was able to get it replaced. Unfortunately that video is for the 540,  mine is the 590.

[Woodworking_Hobby]

Have you been able to run any boards through the upgraded machine yet!  I got one for my DeWalt sometime ago and it made a huge difference in the noise level, quality of cut, and ease at changing blades. Best part in my opinion is you also don’t have to worry about setting and aligning the knife height like you do on the fixed blade. I feel your pain on the install!  There were lots of videos luckily for the DeWalt but it was still a bear to walk through all of the steps. Happy Milling!

[woodtalker124]

Thank you rkrueger for all the detail. I just had to go through the whole thing and I appreciate your write-up. For anyone else working through this, I will note a couple more things that threw me as I was going through...

1. You need a 23mm socket to take the nut off of the pulley. I didn't have one ahead of time so had to wait for AMZN to ship it to me. For some planers (e.g. 22-540),  it is a left-handed thread on the cutter-head to take the pulley off. This is not that. 

2. There are two ways to remove the cutter head - the key is sliding it past the two anti-snipe forks (that's my name for them - two flat bars on each  side of the cutterhead) side  that run the height of the cutter. You can either do as above (with the key step of unbolting the electrical cord from the base) or you can remove the forks from below the base - to do that, you need to also remove a chain from below and that requires a chain link break tool. The method listed above is def. the better one but the instructions that Byrd tool now sends (only if you ask directly) with the instructions suggesting going in from underneath and removing the forks. 

3. You dont need to remove the old bearings from the old cutterhead - you can just unscrew the pinion from the gear side. The Shelix ships with two new bearings. 

4. There is no other way than removing the cutters off the head and then reattaching them once it's inside. 

Gluck if anyone is still doing this.