Bell Skiver blade safety cover

[CdK]

Good afternoon y'all

My loving wife along with my conniving friend got together and ordered me a bell skiver head from an online resource. It arrived yesterday and, as usual, I got to know it better by examining and tinkering with it.

I noticed that there was a glob of grease on top of the sharpening stone and started to take parts off to get to it. The sharp edge of the bell knife is obvious and it struck me that some kind of safety cover would be a smart thing to have in place. So, some measurements and off to my desk to do some CAD, then onto the trusty 3D printer and voila!

In this machines instance the insert in the bell has a threaded area so the bolt from the ejector fitted and keeps it in place. The weird thread used on this machine precludes the use of off the shelf screws but the cover can be held in place by adhesive tape if needed. The included .STL file is what I used to feed the printer. Feel free to make your own. Below are some photos of the piece in place and screen captures of the CAD and sliced part.

For those that may be interested I will be setting up the head with 2 Enduro motors and drive the knife and the feed independently of each other. I will take some photos as I go and will share if there is any interest.

Regards

Carl

SkiverProtector.stl

[TomE]

So the blade guard is used for working on the machine with the drive roller removed?

[CdK]

1 hour ago, TomE said:

So the blade guard is used for working on the machine with the drive roller removed?

@TomE Yes, the drive roller is removed.

The drive shaft universal joint was seriously over packed with grease, so much so that about a teaspoon sized piece ended up on the sharpening stone. I needed to get in there and clean it out and doing so would mean that my hands would get too close to comfort to the bell blade. I will also at some point fit a metal drive roller that I have on hand and then this safety cover will get used again as at that point the blade would have been run through at least one sharpening cycle.

I noticed in some older manuals that I found online that there is a rubber boot covering the universal joint that will retain any grease there. I'm looking to find such a part, or maybe need to design and print one using TPU or repurpose a boot from somewhere else... This journey in getting to know this machine is interesting to say the least. My mantra is that to get the most out of a machine is to understand it fully. YMMV

[TomE]

6 hours ago, BliksemDonder said:

@TomE Yes, the drive roller is removed.

The drive shaft universal joint was seriously over packed with grease, so much so that about a teaspoon sized piece ended up on the sharpening stone. I needed to get in there and clean it out and doing so would mean that my hands would get too close to comfort to the bell blade. I will also at some point fit a metal drive roller that I have on hand and then this safety cover will get used again as at that point the blade would have been run through at least one sharpening cycle.

I noticed in some older manuals that I found online that there is a rubber boot covering the universal joint that will retain any grease there. I'm looking to find such a part, or maybe need to design and print one using TPU or repurpose a boot from somewhere else... This journey in getting to know this machine is interesting to say the least. My mantra is that to get the most out of a machine is to understand it fully. YMMV

My Techpro skiver doesn't have a boot on the universal joints.  I purchased some FAV parts (steel feed roller, roller feet) from Campbell Randall in order to skive heavier veg tan leather.  They were quite helpful and the parts fit nicely.  I posted about it several months ago.