Bridgewood 24" planer rebuild

[jar944]

Picked this up last Saturday for $300. It's a 1988 bridgewood 612-PVG 24" (actual 630mm/ 24.8") capacity. Power wise it has a 15hp main motor, 1hp feed motor and 1hp table elevation motor.



My intention was just to scrape the rust off and run it, but after powering it up (took a bit of head scratching to make that work) I noticed some squeaks in the feedworks where there shouldn't be.

Beyond bearings I need to fix the previous "fix" on the outfeed roller.


I believe it should match the infeed sprocket retaining method (threaded) and ideally not be undersized as well as round.


The feed roll sprockets are not the same but they are the same size. I think the replacement one should be fine to use with a correct spacer.

 

[PCustoms]

$300?

I'm jealous. Even if you put $1k into it that's an amazing deal!

 

[jar944]

$300?

I'm jealous. Even if you put $1k into it that's an amazing deal!

Yeah it was cheap regardless of the condition. Hopefully I can fit the feed roller on my lathe and weld/turn/thread back to the original design.

 

[jar944]

Looking at this bridgewood a bit more, and looking at a late model oliver 299 rebuild thread, they are very similar in design but different.

The nice thing is at least I have something to go off of.

Having never paid attention to the internals on a 299, searching for the correct amount of grease in a segmented infeed roller and seeing one from a 299 tipped me off.

Bridgewood


Oliver


The tables share a lot of similarities on the bed roller linkage and drive

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Looks like you're making good progress on that Bridgewood jar. You'll have her looking and working like new in no time...Ed.

 

[niget2002]

That's a pretty good deal. Good luck with the rebuild.

 

[jar944]

Looks like you're making good progress on that Bridgewood jar. You'll have her looking and working like new in no time...Ed.

Thanks
Hopefully ill be done sooner than later. I ordered a 5 gallon bucket of evaporust and picked up a couple sticks of 3 and 4" pvc to soak the feed rollers.and possibly the head. I'm still debating on pulling the table to get at the bed rollers.

 

[jar944]

That's a pretty good deal. Good luck with the rebuild.

Thanks. Hard to go wrong based on the price. I shouldn't have that much in it all said and done.

 

[jar944]

Pulled the rest of the segments off the infeed shaft, and started cleaning them in one of my ultrasonic cleaners with evaporust..



I found one cracked weld that needs some attention. Hopefully welding it doesn't warp the shaft.

 

[The Cobbler]

that's one nice planer !

 

[jar944]

Started working on the planer this weekend after a bit of a hiatus. I ended up pulling the yoke, cutterhead/blocks and table rollers. A couple of the table roller bearings were bad so I ordered new bearings for all four rollers, and some new snap rings since I seem to be missing five of them from the factory.



This was definitely welded and new keyway machined. Oddly it wasn't turned it seems to have been hacked with a angle grinder. The shaft should have been 25mm 6205 bearing (bearing seat was 75% intact so i left it) beyond the seat was ground off center. It cleaned up at .962" and finished at .950" for a .025" sleeve for a 1" bore sprocket. Hopefully it works how I envisioned

 

[jar944]

The rollers and cutterhead are all soaking in evaporust currently.

 

[jar944]

As removed


After evaporust.


After 180grt emery


And after getting the infeed almost installed I realized why that side was missing most of the retaining rings from the factory. It's currently locked up tight because the roller bearing journals don't have clearance to the shoulders and the overall length shoulder to shoulder is too long by at least 1/8". Looked like I'm pulling it and machining some clearance.

 

[acer66]

Your skillset/craftsmanship is really amazing jar944.

 

[M635_Guy]

I love threads like this, and appreciate you sharing your work!

 

[jar944]

Fixed the clearance issue. I took .100" off each shoulder (retaining clips were 2mm) ans reinstalled the roller. Everything works as it should now, unlike how it left the factory.

 

[M635_Guy]

Was that why it fell into disuse? (not to spec from the factory)

 

[35k0]

This is an awesome rebuild.

 

[jar944]

Was that why it fell into disuse? (not to spec from the factory)

No, the factory solution was to omit the snap/retaining rings and let the bearings float on the shaft. The sprocket was the outboard retention. It sort of worked, though one bearing was almost out of its bore when I got ahold of it.

As far as I can tell this machine was at a small sawmill that shut down. It went to the owners brother and sat in a open shed until he was tired of looking at it.

 

[The Cobbler]

superb restoration and re manufacture to be better than new

 

[M635_Guy]

No, the factory solution was to omit the snap/retaining rings and let the bearings float on the shaft. The sprocket was the outboard retention. It sort of worked, though one bearing was almost out of its bore when I got ahold of it.

 

[jar944]

I'm reasonably impressed with the evaporust.

 

[larry4406]

I'm reasonably impressed with the evaporust.

I have never used evaporust but you can't argue with your success!

 

[jar944]

I decided to match the original sprocket retention method and thread the outfeed roller shaft. Left hand .950"x 24tpi because I was lazy and didn't want to swap change gears to cut metric threads.



Just need to assemble the infeed roller and get both into the bearing blocks.

 

[loganb]

Looks good sir!

 

[jar944]

Looks good sir!

Thanks. Hopefully it's back together this weekend.


Turned a bushing for the previous owners replacement attempt using a incorrect 1" bore (original was 25mm) sprocket and welded it in place. Boring it back out to .951 to match the outfeed roller. I'll cut the keyway last.

 

[The Cobbler]

coming along nicely

 

[loganb]

If you decide you need a slightly smaller one and a road trip to the midwest...$450 gets you this 16" Powermatic right now here in Omaha



A much more manageable 5hp motor

 

[jar944]

If you decide you need a slightly smaller one and a road trip to the midwest...$450 gets you this 16" Powermatic right now here in Omaha



A much more manageable 5hp motor

Lol I'm trying to sell my 18" powermatic currently.. though not at that low of a price. Prices are depressed from the last few years apparently.

 

[jar944]

It's back together. I need to get the knives sharpened and installed then set the upper rollers/chipbreaker/and pressure bar heights based off the final knife height. I'm also looking for a pm224/225 knife grinder bar to retrofit to this planer to be able to grind in place.