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Rockford 36" Double Housing Planer specs?

Aaron B

Aluminum
Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Location
Northern Ohio
Just curious if anyone has good specs for a 36" Rockford hydraulic planer? My main interest is in the width. The only sales sheet I've found states 168", the seller thinks it's 8'9".

Probably chasing a pipe dream on this one, but the capacity of the machine is about what I'd like to have. The price isn't outlandish. Unfortunately said machine is not local, and if it requires wide load permits through three states...

Seems all the good iron is always so far away.

6be7c05b74d1cd12f0e52aad0e2ea790.jpg



-Aaron
 
Does it look like you could get 14 feet between the columns? - do you think it would fit thru that door if it was?

You more or less added 36 to your title.

If applicable, that is how wide the table is - and a bit more will exist between that pair of columns
 
Your thread title was glitched, I edited it for you.

There are a few different "Rockford" companies. This was from Rockford Machine Tool Co. The machine is a "Double Housing Planer". Has the cool looking Hy-Draulic up top.

A manual here:
Rockford Machine Tool Co. - Publication Reprints - Double Housing Planer - Manual | VintageMachinery.org

The PDF:
http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/697/25075.pdf

The specs from pdf:

382.jpg

You might also contact swatkins, his is a different style and though huge, I think his is smaller than what you're looking at. But I think he has read up and pretty knowledgeable about them:
1943 Rockford Planer "The Beast"
 
Sorry about the title mess, must've been a glitch with my phone or something, looked okay when I hit submit [emoji3166]

Yeah, neither the manual or brochure really answer the question of width for transport. Expect the brochure width is for the planer and hydraulic unit.

Reading through the manual seems to indicate that the table is removed for shipping, and that the counterweights are blocked. Kinda difficult if the machine isn't in running condition.

Probably better that I focus my efforts on other things. Shipping is likely astronomical considering the weight and likely "wide load" situation. Not to mention rigging costs on both ends of the move. There has to be one collecting dust closer to home.

Sometimes I wish I'd taken to stamp collecting instead of old machines.


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Sorry about the title mess, must've been a glitch with my phone or something, looked okay when I hit submit [emoji3166]

Its not your fault, its a programming or code thing. We often use quotes, brackets, and different things like " for inches. Well sometimes the software interprets it as computer code instead of a symbol for inches. Happens randomly. I see copied links come up funny too and other stuff.

And the site doesn't let users edit a title once posted, so now a guy can't edit it, when it posts wrong.

Its a shame about shipping and rigging. Hope you can get it financially viable. Seems like a common problem. I'd buy a lot more if I could get shipping sorted reasonable. :D
 
If it actually is 8'9" or 105", that just puts you barely within legal limits on width. Then you have to worry about height. Talking 106" plus whatever the trailer bed height is. So the trailer bed could not be higher than 56", which most all low boy trailers are much lower that that. Last, it weighs right at 50K lbs. That requires at least a three axle trailer to move, if the weight can be distributed over five axles, three trailer and two drive axles on the truck. I would almost say it may require permits to go across state lines. And that would be according to the states it would go thru.

Best bet is to take it apart, remove the columns and cross rail, leave the table in place. Be a two truck load without special trailer or two axle low boy trailer rather than three axle LB trailer, and no permits to worry about. I would advise against removing the table for many reasons.
 
My limited understanding of regulations led me to believe that 8'6" is the legal maximum. Guess the extra 3" would be tough to catch by eye.

Weight, I'm assuming Rockford specs include the hydraulic unit, so maybe 1500# less for the machine?

The setup instructions are adamant that the table isn't too be placed on the machine until it's leveled, and the hydraulics are bled. The leveling procedure actually requires the table to be off.

Any guess on the weight of the table?


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I would guess around 15K for the table. That's interested to take off the table to level it. They more than likely want you to place two harden and ground cylinders in the vee's with a precision straight edge across the cylinders and start leveling it for twist. Most back then used a autocollimator or K & E alignment transite to sight in the bed end to end. There's a lot of stuff on the building of the Rockford hydraulic planer in the Connelly book on scraping and fitting.
I know the 12 foot stroke openside planer my dad set up at his work place nearly 50 years ago, they used the K & E alignment transite to level it. They did not take the table off.

Personnely, I wouldn't take the table off for shipping if it was mine to ship.

Ken
 
Rockford does show using cylinders, straight edge and level to level the machine. Starting at one end leveling across, then diagonal to the next level screw and so on.

I'm not sure how difficult it would be to bleed the cylinder with the table in place. And with used machine I'd think it good to have the table off to make sure everything is clean. Probably would want to purge the oiling system as well.


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Unless the bed vee's are showing signs of scaring and lack of lubrication, I wouldn't pull the table. First thing I would do, if it was me, get the machine set up and running. Make sure the lube pump is pumping oil. Most setups, it runs off of the main motor driving the Oilgear pump by a single vee belt. Have to let it run for 30 minutes or more. Should see oil starting to seep out from under the table ways. Oh, pull the way wipers off of each end of the table and make new felts and replace. Slowly traverse the table, end to end. A couple strokes should tell you if oil is flowing and lubricating the vee's. If not, then pull the table and start finding the cause of non-lubricating of the vee's. I hope if you do this, that you have two over head cranes to lift the table up off the bed and flip it over. The table should have bosses on each end for handling with over head lifting. Just my two bits worth. I'll let others with more experience than me tune in with their thoughts. Ken.

Edit:
Get a hold of Steve Watkins, a member here, that has a Rockford Openside planer, that went thru a move, setup, and a chore getting it back up to running. It had been in storage for several years prior to him getting it. I believe there are bleed ports at each end of the cylinder that have to be blead to get all of the air out of the system. Seem like he had to replace some of the vee packing in the cylinder. He did not pull the table or cylinder for this fix.
 
I hope you get it! It's a big one, for sure, but it seems to me that most of the bigger ones over 8' (table length) that still remain are locked into specific jobs at unknown locations and don't surface predictably. Steve's is an open side plainer, and only an 8' long table, but he split it into three sections If I remember correctly, the pump, column section, and table section. He's got several videos about it on Youtube.
 
To level the bed up correctly you can do it with a pair of good quality spirit levels, short lengths of round bar and a good girder type straight edge. It pays to remove the table because when we installed machines they were always set up with a slight hump ( bias the level very slightly as you level up ) rising to a point just under the cross rail. You can do that with the table in place but it’s a bit tricky.
The very slight hump is to compensate for cutting forces and the weight of the table.

Regards Tyrone.
 
Yeah, like I mentioned earlier, it would be a very different situation if it were 40 miles from home.

For what I need the machine is nearly ideal, but the location isn't.

The search continues...


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