Landis 30 splitter parts?

[Deanwalker151]

Does anyone have a line on folks that have scrapped out any Landis 30 splitters?  I'm in need of the plate that the blade attaches to.  At some point mine got broken and then got brazed back together.  I'm thinking that it's flexing and throwing off my splits.

 

Thanks!

Dean 

[mbnaegle]

Not sure about a replacement blade holder, but In the past I've found on 6" crank splitters if the blade is flexing or seeing lots of downward force, it's usually a combination of being adjusted too far forward (towards the feed rollers) and/or not being sharp enough.

[Deanwalker151]

Well the sharp part I think I've got down but the space between the roller and blade I'm just guessing at.  Right now I have it set to about the width of a credit card.  Should I open that up?

[mbnaegle]

There should be a couple of tabs that stick up about 3/16" on top of the bottom roller bearings and these serve as reference marks for your blade position, separate from how high or low the roller itself sits. If you are splitting softer leathers, you would want the blade just touching the tabs, but if you are splitting harder denser leathers (shoe soles for example), you'd want maybe 1/16" or up to 1/8" gap between the tabs and the blade edge. This is because those denser leathers don't bend up over the blade as easily as they cut. If the blade is set too far forward, the material binds up as it cuts and puts extra pressure on the blade, while if it's too far back it might split easily but not accurately as the material can float and bend too much as it's cutting. You might have to do some trial and error, but it's not something you'll mess with often unless you are doing really precise work, and typically you just have to find a general area for the type of material you are seeing (softer or denser) and put the blade back at that same position whenever you take it off to sharpen. Most of the time I'll start with the blade shaving-sharp and adjusted all the way forward, and if the material dosn't want to go through or tires to bend the blade, I know to move it back a little and try again.

Once you have the blade locked in place, then you can adjust the bottom roller using the studs and nuts under the bottom roller that go through the springs. Ideally, you want the roller as close to the blade as you can get it without the two touching. Some guys set it by looking at the visible gap between them and others will use paper or a feeler gauge to see that they are not hitting. This can be a little tricky since these rollers have the heavy saw-tooth like serrations, but it's better to error on having too much of a gap then to risk the two hitting. Too much of a gap just means it might "eat" really thin materials, which most don't use the 6" crank splitters for anyway.

It's also worth noting that the bracket that the blade bolts too (the piece on yours that was broken and brazed) often has slots where it mounts to the frame. This is for balancing the blade to the top roller so that it splits evenly right to left, and can also help fine tune it to split 10 oz. when you set the dial to 10oz. I'll typically split one wide piece, or a small piece on either side at the same time, measure the result and adjust if as necessary, but afterwards you need to re-adjust the gap between the bottom roll and the blade. For many of these adjustments you'll have to go in circles checking and adjusting things over again, but each round it's closer to splitting easily and accurately. My experience with most splitters is that whatever dial or read-out the machine has to set thickness is a general reference, and you'll want to use a drop gauge or similar measuring tool to check your work and adjust the split thickness to compensate accordingly, because different materials compress differently than others as they feed through the machine. Adjusting the spring pressure on the bottom roller can also help with this.

To be clear, I don't have any Landis literature to cite, but just experience working with different fixed blade and band knife splitters in general. I find the principals of blade position, feed roll position, and other adjustments all work the same. The parts, movements, and methods just vary between different models and manufacturers.

[Deanwalker151]

Dang!  Thank you.  I'll play with it a bit and see what happens.

Dean

[bruce johnson]

Back from Sheridan and catching up. First off, It'd be hard to find that part commonly. I don't have any, sounds like Campbell-Randall doesn't, so that leaves Eli Schlabach or Jim Brainerd.  On the American crank splitters that blade holder is cracked on them more than other makers. Not real common but an observation some of us have seen. Usually just to one side of the center hold down bolt. Some have said the machining and casting were probably slightly off and the tightening the bolts that hold it to the frame stresses it. Most Americans work just fine since the blade is held by the side hold downs and that center bolt. These blades are rigid and don't flex so they act like a splint across that crack. A good repair and the right adjustment should be OK on yours. 

As mentioned above, there are the tabs on the bottom roller bearing blocks. There is a set of directions for Landis 30 floating around the internet that say to set the blade edge against those tabs to just kiss, run the backup stop bolts to the back of the blade, then back those bolts off to let the blade slide back slightly - 1/4 or half turn I think. Tighten the center bolt and side hold downs. That keeps the blade from grabbing those tabs as the bottom roller floats up and down with thickness changes in the split.  That is a good starting place for me. Every splitter has a sweet spot as mentioned for the leather you are splitting. If the blade is too far back then it doesn't completely split all the way and hangs up at the end. Some splitters have some variations in roller position and tabs and the blades need to be even further forward than the stops let it. With those, might have to grind those blades ends back a little to get that blade pushed up there further. Rare but have had a couple like that, at least one was a Champion and both might have been. An old chipped blade worked great, but a new even blade did not until it was tipped a fraction. 

I set mine usually with a scant 1/16" gap between bottom roller and blade for heavier leather. My thickness gauge is a motel key card.  Flashlight and eyeball. I get some people that buy these to split thinner leather or taking off a very small split, On those I go less gap to the bottom roller and drop the top roller down to get some feed pressure between the rollers.  They were designed for shoe soles but can be tweaked for thinner leather.