Dakota Pro Bearings

[Suprdave]

Here are the bearings, for those that want to know, they cost me $3.75 each at the machine shop.

[Hudson]

I have also purchased new bearings for my machine....I purchased a high quality American made (Browning) bearings...the ones that were in there was a stamped (good) bearing and the other one was a unstamped POS Chinese bearing. The only thing to remember is there are 2 set screws that hold the bearings in place when you slide the shaft with the 2 bearings attached into the housing. Only tighten these screws lightly, if you over tighten you will warp the bearing shell and cause the ball bearings not to run smoothly in the bearing itself.

[CBRO]

Im going to replace mine as well after I finish my capes this season. Im thinking the bearings are the source of my chatter problem. Ive already had to replace the motor due to a problem with the reset switch. 

[Hudson]

I will offer this tip with a bit of a disclaimer..LOL...When I replace bearings I like to use Loctite gel (I think it is Red) on the shaft prior to setting the bearing. On one of my shafts I had a 6/1000 difference in the lathing of the shaft from one side to the other. Contrary to VanDykes none of the 2 bearings needed to be pressed on or off. I shimmed the one bearing but still had a vibration, so I used the Loctite and it worked well. Loctite will fill any voids along with locking it on.

Disclaimer....If you use the Loctite you will have to heat the bearing to get it off, if I need to get the bearing off again it will probably be shot so I would not care. You will not get it off without ruining the bearing.

[Suprdave]

Thanks for the tip, I put my machine back together with the new bearings, still have vibration, but its better than what it was.
I think I am going to take it back apart and do what you said with a diffrernt new set of bearings.

When I took my bearings out, they are made in Argentina, the ones I purchased are also.

[Hudson]

Yes super Dave you are correct...only 1 of my bearings were stamped, and it was stamped "Argentina". Here is 2 other tips to reduce vibration....attach a "L" shaped bracket from the plate that the motor is attached to back up to the underside of your table. Do this at the end of the motor furthest away from the belt shaft. This design is to flimsy to hold the motor without vibration. This is why I have always said if they combined the structure of the old Dakotas with the new technology of the Dakota Pro they would have the ultimate machine.

Another issue that is prevalent is belt slap inside the belt column. No matter how tight you get the belt when there is a draw on the motor the belt slaps inside the column. If you have this problem simply reduce BOTH the pulley on the motor AND the pulley on the blade shaft. If you change both the and keep them the same size your speed will remain the same. Now if you want to change speed see the formula below:

motor rpm x motor pulley size divided by blade shaft pulley size = blade rpm
ex.current Dak Pro set up....1725 x 3"=5175 divided by 3"= 1725 rpm
now change the blade pulley....1725 x 3"=5175 divided by 2.5" = 2070 rpm
This formula can be used to also slower the blade rpm`s if you prefer. For those that are building tumblers this is also how you calculate drum rotation.....

[Suprdave]

Great, I do have the motor L bracket screwed to my table, but I will also do the pulley reduction, I do get belt slap.
I had a piece of wood wedged under, between the front of the motor and table to keep tension on the belt, but Im thinking that is putting pressure on the right side of the arbor and weraring the bearing.

thanks for the input

[Suprdave]

Ok, put new bearing back in carefully, downsized pulleys and put on a new belt.
100% improvement no chatter,

thanks Hudson