Thread: How loud is your generic 15 inch thicknesser?

That definitely doesn't sound right at all, there's a pretty big jump in noise levels between no load and making a cut on most machines I've observed. I'd be looking at the belts as the first possibility and then checking the motor is securely mounted and aligned with the opposing pulley correctly.

What sort of noise is it? High pitched, rattling etc.

Like a loud whirring/jet engine. It is much much louder than other 'real' thicknessers ive used - obviously inductions scream like a banshee.

One thing i have noticed is that the belts produce some black dust, and the pulley cover warms up during use.

Putting two and two together perhaps i need to check belt allignment.

Well i just youtubed the grizzly model, and mine is much much louder, based on the difference in volume from no load and taking a cut.

I might add, that although loud, it is an exceptional machine, that i have put a huge volume of stock through and cant recommend it enough.

Yep I'd make that your first stop, the noise and black dust makes me think it's likely the culprit.

I have the same thicknesser, exactly the same issues your seeing on this end, extraordinary noise more so with the Dusty running and yes lots of black dust in the belt cover. Which I believe to be from the belts

I reckon the blades spinning through the air at some ridiculous seed would be the main culprit. A bit of a hassle, but take the blades out for sharpening, and give the unit a run with no blades. Make sure all blade holding devices are removed. I would expect the noise to be substantially reduced. If it is still noisy, then check bearings belts, belt alignment and any other rotating item.
(Might be worthwhile putting a board over the inlet and outlet openings to reduce the airflow and see if that makes a difference before removing the blades.)

A process of elimination - hope you get some noise reduction after the experiments.

Alan...

Cutterhead shaft bearings would be my guess. A bad bearing at 2000rpm is loud. A bad bearing at 5500rpm is unbearable

I put my noise down to the cutter head and blades moving through the air.

Originally Posted by Uncle Al

I reckon the blades spinning through the air at some ridiculous seed would be the main culprit. A bit of a hassle, but take the blades out for sharpening, and give the unit a run with no blades. Make sure all blade holding devices are removed. I would expect the noise to be substantially reduced.

Removing the blades and gibs should result in more noise, not less; you're basically taking a cylinder with a four 1mm projections in it and turning it into a cylinder with four 20x20mm channels in it which will generate LOTS of turbulent airflow

Can you get some sound level readings? Even just an app on your phone will be near enough. Before we went helical at work, our SCM S63 was at about 100 dB(A) spinning freely

I'd like to see some actual sound pressure levels reported.

There are plenty of Mobile phones apps to do this and while most are not all that accurate at least you can get a relative measurement when the thicknesser free running or under load, and when you make any physical changes so we can get some idea of what folks mean by loud. It also removes perceived changes to loudness that are actually just changes in frequencies.

Remember to take the reading at the operators ear position when the operator stands next to the thicknesser.

FWIW the mens shed had a 13" unit that generated 113 dB free running d 116 dB when operating at about half width. It was deemed too loud and disposed of.

Remove the belts and run it. If it is suddenly quieter then it could be either, or both, faulty/misaligned belts or damaged bearings. Also note that;

• misaligned belts can put an axial load on a bearing which will eventually cause failure,
• removing the belts also removes the cutter head and cutter head bearings from the equation

I have the generic thicknesser with the motor on the top. Fitting a segmented blade cutter head dropped noise level from NO CONVERSATION to not being able to hear it running above ambient noise level. I have even done the unthinkable and left the thicknesser running until I was closing up shop for the day!
fletty

I am concerned about black dust around the belt drive and the belt cover/guard getting warm. The black dust has to be rubber worn from the belts due to pulley misalignment or incorrect tension. V belts drive by wedging the edges of the belt into the pulley V, and wear generally occurs on the edges where it is less obvious unless you are looking for glazing etc. If the edges wear, the belt sits deeper in the pulley V, which has the effect of behaving as a looser belt and facilitating more slippage and wear.

I am thinking along the lines of original chinese belts that have stretched and slipping or worse still have the tails delaminating. In either case, heating the guard suggests that either the belt is able to contact the guard somewhere in its path to heat it and make it sound, or alternatively something near the guard is getting very hot and conducting heat to the guard. The likely suspects there would be motor bearings or cutter bearings, particularly on the belt side of both because the heat conduction path would be so much longer from the other side.

If the belts appear to be aligned and correctly tensioned and not badly worn, I would suggest removing the belts and giving the motor a run to eliminate it from the situation, and then consider replacing the belts with known reputable brand ones.

I have had a few machines where the original chinese belts function well for a while but stretch prematurely and cause a host of issues that disappear once the belts are replaced.

I just downloaded an app for the tablet, and went out to the shed. from the operators ear level on the infeed side of the machine it hovered around 79-80Db on the outfeed side it went to around 82 Db, with the DE running, how accurate it is I have no idea. I have had the 4 kids squeeling at it, and believe me they leave the thicky for dead, I mean ear piercing squeels and it seems to max out at about 87Db.