Hi All,

I am trying to put the cutterhead pulley back onto the cutterhead shaft on my Sherwood 20" thicknesser. I am having enormous problems and have broken one already. Timbecon have been great and sent me a new one but I still am finding it almost impossible hammering it onto the shaft.

I have sanded the shaft with 400grit to make sure there are no nicks or surfaces that could hold up the pulley. I am using a 4lb hammer with a block of wood between the pulley and the hammer. I am making sure I hit the pulley squarely. I have tried both with and without the locking key in place and the fitting is still impossibly tight. As I hammer it in you can see some metal shavings from inside the pulley as the shaft progresses through it. I already have a hairline crack in the second one despite trying to be so careful.

I wondered if the pulley was the right size for the spiral cutter shaft - Timbecon assure me it is.

Timbecon are sending me a second replacement and they have been extremely helpful in talking with me.

I am just about out of ideas. I don't really want to ship it back to Melbourne with the turnaround time and the fact that this should be a simple job. After all I managed to take the gearbox apart and get it all back together!

I would welcome any helpful suggestions or criticisms.