Setting Up And Tuning A 6" Crank Splitter

[amuckart]

So I've got myself a 6" crank splitter. It's marked "H. Sørensen" but it looks to be mechanically identical to early model Landis splitters predating the model 30, based on what Bruce said in my original thread asking about it. Like the early Landis, but unlike the later ones, the Sørensen adjusts with a single lever on top of the machine that moves internal cams to apply pressure to the top roller bearings rather than having screws to adjust the top roller height.

I've got the blade plenty sharp and run some scraps through it to test it. I can get it to split down to paper thin Ok or just shave the tiniest amount off the bottom of the piece, but not much in between.

I've stripped it and put it back together again so I have a good idea of how it works mechanically, I've just never seen or used one before so I'm not sure what the best way to set up and tune it is. I'm the kind of guy who wants to fully understand his machines so I can make sure they're set up right and fix them when they go wrong. I'm pretty new to mechanised leather working so please don't assume I know anything about anything when it comes to machinery, but if I can get my head around this well enough I'll write up a "crank splitters from first principles" manual for other people who find themselves in my situation.

I'm trying to work out:

• what the proper relationship of the blade to the centreline of the lower roller is;
• how high blade should be set above the lower roller normally (do I need a set of feeler gauges for this?);
• what the various lower roller adjustments do, and when/why they should be adjusted;
• what the blade height adjustments do, and why you adjust them;
• whether it is normal for the gear cover to interfere with the top roller adjustment on this type of splitter or if there's something weird with my one;
• what range of thicknesses this type of splitter can produce; and
• whether it works better with chrome or veg-tan.

Here is my understanding of the theory of operation. I've just derived this from looking at the machine as it goes back together, I have no experience with using these at all, so please correct me if this is wrong (or confirm it's correct )

There are two rollers, a smooth upper and a grooved lower roller that feed the material through onto a blade positioned between them.

The blade is fixed relative to the chassis and the upper, smooth, roller adjusts up and down in the chassis relative to the blade edge to control the thickness of leather you get out of the machine. This also affects the amount of pressure on the work as it is fed through.

The blade is adjustable for height via set screws in the blade carrier that bear on the bolts holding the blade carrier to the chassis. These are there to level the blade and fine-tune the height relative to the lower roller and aren't intended as regular points of adjustment

The lower, grooved, roller does most of the feeding of the work. It has a fixed maximum height but rides on springs so thicker leather will push it down allowing the machine to take a thicker cut.

The maximum height of the lower roller is fixed by nuts on threaded posts extending from the bottom of the lower roller bearing blocks that control how high the springs can push it in the chassis.

The spring tension on the lower roller is controlled by screws that bear on the bottom spring plate. These don't move the lower roller at all, they just control the amount of force it takes to displace it, and therefore how hard the leather being fed is squashed between the two rollers for a given feed height.

Does the lower roller height normally get set once then left alone, with the screw adjustments being to level it rather than adjust its height for different bits of work? It seems to be height-adjustable via nuts on the threaded pins that come from the bottom of the lower roller bearings, through the casing, and bear on the plates on top of the lower springs.

When I got it it had some obviously non-original nylock nuts on there that were so tight it unscrewed the pin from the lower roller bearing rather than adjusting up and down. I've since cleaned the thread and put loctite on where the pin screws into the lower roller bearing block and replaced the nuts with non-locking ones. There wasn't enough space to get two nuts in to permanently lock the height of the lower roller as I think is depicted in the landis manual.

There's a square-headed screw right at the bottom with a pointed end that bears on the lower spring plate.

I am assuming the blade goes in bevel-up? it was in bevel-up when I got the machine but I can see how it could also work bevel down and having it bevel up means the angle of attack is dependent on the angle the blade is sharpened at. That's an issue for wood planes, which is the closest analogue to this I can think of, but probably isn't with leather. Here's a couple of pictures of where I've got it set relative to the lower roller at the moment. The blade stops are quite badly chipped and the blade shows signs of having been screwed up tight against them before but the main edge is Ok. In the second one I've just stuck a bit of leather under the blade to make the edge more obvious since it's shiny and hard to photograph.

The biggest issue I'm having is that the large drive gear is attached to the upper roller so it moves up and down with the upper roller as you adjust the machine. This is fine, except that the gear cover that bolts to the side of the machine doesn't have enough space to allow for the full travel of the gear. If I set it so it's just about touching the bottom of the cover at the lowest extent of its travel it only adjusts about 5/8ths of the way up before the top of the gear hits the top of the inside of the gear cover. If I take the cover off I can get a full range of adjustment out of it. Given the damage evident on the inside of the gear cover I don't think this is a result of my having put the machine back together wrong.

Here's some pictures showing the clearance, and the damage inside the gear cover caused by the big gear grinding on it.

Is this normal for this style of machine (which I struggle to believe) or have I or a previous owner, done something daft with the way its set up? I can only see one way the gears can possibly go together so I don't think that's wrong. Do the model 30 Landis splitters do this too? I'm wondering if the machine is really intended to be set up to do a fairly narrow range of work, but do it very accurately, and then left alone, with something more easily adjustable used for a wider but less precise range of work.

Thanks.

[amuckart]

So I've got my head around most of the adjustments now but I'm still really puzzled by the fact that the gear cover is interfering with the big drive gear and I'd really like to get it working with the cover in place because the gears are oily and dirty.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Pelallito]

Amuckart,

I don't know anything about that machine. But it is never normal to design a machine or machine cover that rubs that way. Normally there is some clearance. In one of your photos it looked as if the cover was damaged by a blow in the past, but the other photos gave me the impression that it was cast that way on purpose.

I presume that you have not been able to find a manual on the net. ( I just reread the post where you mentioned the manual, so apparently you have one.) The two nuts that you mentioned might be thin, half thick nuts. Hopefully some one here has one.

Does the manual mention which way to orient the blade? It probably should be in bevel up as you have it. Somehow, I think, you are going to have lower both rollers and blade to get the clearance for the cover. Another possibility occurred to me, could the covers mounting point have been damaged in the past and re welded incorrectly? So that now you have this problem.

Good luck with this, it looks like a very nice machine.

Regards,

Fred

So I've got my head around most of the adjustments now but I'm still really puzzled by the fact that the gear cover is interfering with the big drive gear and I'd really like to get it working with the cover in place because the gears are oily and dirty.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Edited March 13, 2010 by Pelallito

[amuckart]

Hi Fred,

Amuckart,

I don't know anything about that machine. But it is never normal to design a machine or machine cover that rubs that way. Normally there is some clearance. In one of your photos it looked as if the cover was damaged by a blow in the past, but the other photos gave me the impression that it was cast that way on purpose.

There's no evidence of damage on the machine. The casting on the inside of that cover is very rough though, and it's a thick chunk of metal.

I presume that you have not been able to find a manual on the net. ( I just reread the post where you mentioned the manual, so apparently you have one.) The two nuts that you mentioned might be thin, half thick nuts. Hopefully some one here has one.

The manual is for the Landis, I've not found a specific manual for this machine but its so close to the Landis in operation that that's not a major problem.

I think the nuts are half-thick ones too. They shouldn't be too hard to find, or just grind down from existing ones if the worst comes to the worst.

Does the manual mention which way to orient the blade? It probably should be in bevel up as you have it. Somehow, I think, you are going to have lower both rollers and blade to get the clearance for the cover. Another possibility occurred to me, could the covers mounting point have been damaged in the past and re welded incorrectly? So that now you have this problem.

Good luck with this, it looks like a very nice machine.

Regards,

Fred

Bevel up is right. Now that I've got it mostly all adjusted properly it's obvious that it won't go in bevel down.

If I lower the rollers and the blade the gear grinds on the bottom of the cover. The problem seems to be that the adjustment range of the upper roller (to which the large gear is attached) is greater than the clearance inside the gear cover, rather than that the gear cover is in the wrong place, if that makes sense. I might just go after the inside of the cover with a die grinder. It's got more than enough metal on it. I'm just curious about it since it seems like a very odd thing to have wrong with a machine like this.

There's no evidence of welding anywhere on the chassis, so if that's happened it's been done very tidily and painted over.

Thanks.

[MADMAX22]

Maybe there was originally a shim or washer under the cover where the bolt is located. Would have no idea though without seeing a tech manual or old pic of one.

[Pelallito]

MM,

He could try adding a small shim, of some sort, one at a time and see if it changes things. Hopefully someone with the same machine will clear things up. The grinder would work, but it would by my last choice.

Good Luck with it.

Fred

Maybe there was originally a shim or washer under the cover where the bolt is located. Would have no idea though without seeing a tech manual or old pic of one.

[Woodentop]

Hi all,

Here is the Landis manual link: https://www.bootmaker.com/Landis_Model_30_splitter.pdf

hope this helps

John