Jatoba woes and Hammer Breakdown

[Alister Orme]

The job is 500 bf of random width Jatoba.....some of it around 14" wide and most of it stayed at 17' except for five boards that were cut down to yield better.
first off I was playing with my drum sander with this stuff and the motor went on that.

I jointed the lot and was on my second pass of thicknessing and the Hammer 16" jointer planer spat some metal at me

It must have vibrated loose.....nothing on my end of the machine made me suspect anything.
Anywhoo..
The edge of the cutter head has a couple of dings on it and the holder is well stuffed

Is the repair to replace the bent bits.....or should I be more concerned???

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I am pretty sure that you are going to replace the cutterhead. I am thinking Byrd Shellix is the way to go.
You might need to replace the bearings too.

Was this blade installed at the factory? If so you might be able to make them eat it. I have observed that the Hammer assembler guys leave things loose that they should have tightened and over-tight that they should have used a torque wrench for.

[Jamie Buxton]

I don't get it. Near the bottom of your pic, I see a metal screw coming through a piece of metal. What is that piece of metal? It isn't part of the cutter head, which appears intact. It isn't the retaining bar for the knives; it doesn't have screws running through it. So what is it?

[Alister Orme]

Cliff,
Has anyone put a byrd in one of these?
That cost would be up there.

Jamie,
Here a better shot. It is the retaining bar

[Jamie Buxton]

Boy, that is ugly.

The retainer bar on my made-in-1999 Hammer J/P doesn't have screws running through it. They must have changed it.

In addition to the broken parts you've listed, how 'bout the tables? The retainer bar must have been broken by slamming against something...

There's a Felder/Hammer forum at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/grou...r-woodworking/. You might inquire there too for anybody putting a Byrd in a Hammer.

On the cutter head, I think I can see a screw head at the right end in your photos. On my cutter head, those screws are set screws, and they are well-buried inside the cutter head. If I can see one, it is backed out a long way from it's normal position.

[Brad Shipton]

Byrd does not have them listed, but you can request the head specs from Felder and they will send a release form for you and Byrd to sign. Once Felder has the signed release form, they will send you the specs so one can be built for you. For that 16" I bet a Byrd will run at least $1500. I was close to ordering one for my 12" when i was working with Jatoba. Very tough to work with.

If it were me, I would take it apart. Drag the bearings, and head to a machinst so he can check it with the proper tools. They might be able to fix it or give you some ideas. I know some shafts are replaceable with the correct tools, so if you are lucky maybe they can fix this. If you have to order a new one you could be waiting a while.

If you want to replace the retainer and have at er, thats another option, but I bet there has been enough damage that something will be out of spec now. At a minimum, remove all the retainers and knives so you can check out how it spins. You could check with a dial guage too.

Brad

[Alister Orme]

This morning I checked the spin with a gauge off the bed and it is still good....I think.
Talked to felder and ordered a retainer /gib/blade holder and asked for next day courier. Got a call this afternoon and it has to come from Austria.
I called a local broker and bought a 20" planer this afternoon and it gets delivered tomorrow ....with any luck this will get me to the end of this job....I can bugger about with the Hammer when the bits get here.
When I looked at the head today ,I noticed the missing screw from above the palls above the head in the photo......I suspect this fell into the head and started the event....... .Luckily most of the energy went into the sheet steel and missed the beds....I can bend it back out.
A replacement head would be around $750.00....If it turns out I need to go that direction I probably will look into the Byrd.
Thanks for the input.
Alister.