Loose cooling fan on a motor?

[6Gtdf]

I bought a used jointer a few months back with a 3hp 220v motor. It had always been a bit loud, particularly on startup. Occasionally making a noise something like a high pitched bell being rung.

I as underneath the cabinet of the jointer today and took the fan guard off to take a look and it seems the plastic cooling fan has around a half inch of play between the back of the shaft it sits on and the snap ring holding it on to that shaft. The shaft is also threaded so I assume something used to sit between the snap ring and the fan to hold it tight.





It is fairly loose on the shaft and tilts at least 10 degrees front to back.

I have a feeling this tilt is causing it to hit the fan guard and causing my noise.

Unfortunantley their is no model information on the motor itself. Any thoughts? Should I try and find a nut and just tighten the fan down? Rubber washers?

Thanks in advance

 

[alfadan]

I don't believe there was a nut there, just the clamping of the fan to kinda hold it in place. You might take the fan off and shim the shaft with something like pop can metal to give it something to clamp around.
I think it won't last forever.

 

[RTM]

Long shot, maybe it’s the wrong fan? I agree with trying to shim the shaft out to better fit the fan mount should help.

 

[6Gtdf]

Shimming it is not a bad idea.... also totally possible that it is the wrong fan. Maybe I should just measure the shaft diameter to see if I can't find a new fan which would fit?

 

[david3921]

Maybe there were lock nuts behind the fan that kept it in place.

 

[Bert_]

The plastic should clamp tight to the shaft. The shaft has been spinning inside the plastic for a while so it's all wore out.

How long are you running this jointer at a time? Unless you're running lumber through it constantly for hours at a time it will never overheat.

 

[6Gtdf]

Good point on usage. This is for a hobby shop so not exactly beating the tar out of it. Looks like a cheap similar fan is $8 on amazon though so may throw one on just to be safe.

 

[micromind]

If the jointer doest run for more than 5 minutes at a time, the fan is not necessary. There's enough thermal inertia in the frame of the motor that it won't overheat.

Edit......Bert beat me to it......

 

[MadMechMaster]

Looks like that shaft isn't threaded. Just crudely machined for grip with bits of plastic in the tooling marks. That fan has been loose for a while.

I'm in the shim it group. Take it off and clean. I'd use a softer material like thin plastic instead of metal. New fan would work if you go that route, but I'd try saving the $ first.