dkmc
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2002
What's the Strokes Per Minute of YOUR mechanical shear? I'm looking to compare an average base line speed.
Would also be helpful to know if it's a modern steel or substantial cast iron machine as opposed to a more spindly antique like mine with thinner castings that have webbing instead of solid.
So my 1914 Niagara 6ft 14 gauge shear has been around the track a few laps. And there's been some sketchy pit crew action done to it too. At that age it was probably flat belt driven back in the day. Now it's had a 2hp motor cobbed onto the drive end with 'shot in the dark' V belt pulleys added as a guess on input RPM from the looks of things. The motor pulley was probably one of those 'dual width' type but with a 1/2" belt that sits low in the groove and slips.
Had enough, it got to the point of -not usable- and I installed the smallest cast iron pulley I could find made for a 1/2" belt. Now it seems FAST... I timed it and it's about 24 strokes per min. That's hitting the pedal, letting it cycle, and when it stops, step on the pedal again. As opposed to just holding the pedal down.....which is 36 strokes per minute. Point being, it's had some weld repairs and reinforcing plates cobbed in on the right side between the cracks, between the second set of reduction gears. I don't want to run it too fast and break it worse. There is room to increase the size of the driven pulley from 5" to 6 or 7 inch, with a bit of screwing around and crawling on the floor. I'd do it if it would help prevent a catastrophic failure that's coming but I don't know about it yet. Obviously, up to a point, a minimum speed is required to have sufficient "flywheel effect" to power the blade thru the material. I'm not sure how much the motor helps to power the blade thru the work as well. I want to be -there- but not way past that to the point it's gonna stress the design and overload it....like some morons apparently already have.
Would also be helpful to know if it's a modern steel or substantial cast iron machine as opposed to a more spindly antique like mine with thinner castings that have webbing instead of solid.
So my 1914 Niagara 6ft 14 gauge shear has been around the track a few laps. And there's been some sketchy pit crew action done to it too. At that age it was probably flat belt driven back in the day. Now it's had a 2hp motor cobbed onto the drive end with 'shot in the dark' V belt pulleys added as a guess on input RPM from the looks of things. The motor pulley was probably one of those 'dual width' type but with a 1/2" belt that sits low in the groove and slips.
Had enough, it got to the point of -not usable- and I installed the smallest cast iron pulley I could find made for a 1/2" belt. Now it seems FAST... I timed it and it's about 24 strokes per min. That's hitting the pedal, letting it cycle, and when it stops, step on the pedal again. As opposed to just holding the pedal down.....which is 36 strokes per minute. Point being, it's had some weld repairs and reinforcing plates cobbed in on the right side between the cracks, between the second set of reduction gears. I don't want to run it too fast and break it worse. There is room to increase the size of the driven pulley from 5" to 6 or 7 inch, with a bit of screwing around and crawling on the floor. I'd do it if it would help prevent a catastrophic failure that's coming but I don't know about it yet. Obviously, up to a point, a minimum speed is required to have sufficient "flywheel effect" to power the blade thru the material. I'm not sure how much the motor helps to power the blade thru the work as well. I want to be -there- but not way past that to the point it's gonna stress the design and overload it....like some morons apparently already have.
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