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Tech 1 gears; Lucas Polish Shredders

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Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

I think I got it. I loosened those 4 bolts - 2 on each side - as I was going to follow the instructions above and clean this thing. The minute that these bolts were ever so slightly loosened, the moving of the rollers unseized dramatically. Being a good girl, I figured I would go the whole way, take the combs off, etc. and soak and clean this. It wasn't so terribly dirty, but I will say I guarantee this thing was put together with an air compressor and an impact wrench. I needed an effin breaker bar to move these bolts!!! I have it soaking now. I see that those side bolts hold those crossbars in place, that the combs are bolted to. I can't see which bolts I can actually do without, as once those 4 side bolts were removed, one of those cross bars slipped out of place. I took them both out to soak them, and fingers crossed, I'll be able to get them back into position again. I'll use all the bolts when reassembling this, but I won't make those 4 side bolts so ridiculously tight. Thanks again (as usual) for all your advice!! :)

By the way, with the rollers moving better, I think I should have no trouble with the drill, either......
 

Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Wrong. I'm such a moron, and should have taken a photo of this, set up, before all was taken apart. I'm ready to re-assemble. I assume that the teeth of the combs fit into the grooves of the roller. Of course, once I removed the screws on the side of the shredder, the angle of the rectangular piece that runs across the length of the shredder, and holds the combs, changed. I figured this would be simple. Not. When I put the combs in and secure them, the way that I think this should work, the roller won't turn. Geesh.
Does anyone have a photo of how these combs are assembled? What an idiot.....

Edit.....never mind. I got it. Lesson learned here...the combs are NOT interchangeable from one side to another. Tricky. The are left and right sides, apparently......
 

Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

AND....I got it working with the drill, too. Pretty cool....I'm mechanized now. Thanks again!!
 

Brown Thumb

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Cool, I knew you could do it.
i just checked a pic out of the little head and it does not have the bolts I mentioned taking out permently.
Also the handle looks shorter on the one I looked at He sells.
 

Brown Thumb

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Also if you soaked the whole head in water. Stand it on its side and put some oil on the bearing shields and crank it.
The bearing shields are not water proof and the oil will go into the little holes in the shield. 3 in 1 oil or something thin. Better safe than sorry.
 

Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

I am learning a whole new vocabulary....bearing shields? I see that on both side of the shredder, there are little nut like things - 2 on one side, and 2 on the other, although one of those two has the handle attached. Is that what you're talking about?? By the way, I also noticed that when I now look down into the rollers,some of them have a kind of brown/orange coating of some sort, while others do not. When I soaked the heads (and I only did this for a minute or so) the water was pretty black. I wonder what I was washing away......????
 

Brown Thumb

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

On each side you have 2 round holes approx 1 in. in Dia.
The cutter bearings sit in them. There is a shield covering the ball bearings between the inner and outer race in there.
Quickie pic.
image.jpg
 

Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Got it, thanks for the diagram. That's what I figured it was. On one side, those two holes are easily seen - on the other side, the handle sits in one of them. I took the handle off last night - I didn't have any 3 in 1 in the house, so I squirted some WD40 in all 4 holes temporarily. I'll get my 3 in 1 out of the shed today, and use that. Is that where you normally oil this? I noticed that the first time I used this, the tobacco was a bit 'black' and there was the taste (and smell) of machine oil off this. It wore off after my first use, but I also read that Lucas and others are advising using glycerin or a food oil of some type - I assume that its so you don't get machine oil on to your tobacco and smoke it. Do you do anything with your rollers at all? It would seem that the frame of this thing is aluminum, but I imagine that the cutters and perhaps combs, are steel. I see that you say that your set up got a bit rusty from beer, etc. ;) Is there any way to prevent this? Do you ever treat the rollers with anything??
 

Jitterbugdude

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

My small manual shredder has rubber seals. The big one has metal shields. If you look at the side of your shredder you'll see the bearings. Get your reading glasses on and you'll see the bearing number. If it starts with an "RS" it is a rubber shield which does a pretty good job of protecting your bearings. I've even pulled the rubber shields off of other bearings and re greased them with synthetic grease. For my manual shredder I do not add any oil to the rollers and have never had a single jam but like I said mine is a 1.6 mm cut. Once you get down to .8mm you are really pushing the limits as to what can squeeze through the rollers/cutters so periodic cleaning and some type of oil (glycerin) would probably be wise. Shredding dry-ish leaf would also cut down on gummy debris accumulating in your combs. It is a learning curve for sure.
 

Brown Thumb

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

If it has the rubber shields like JB has water should not have got into the bearings.
The black is from the tobacco.
I do not use anything on the rollers.
My head assy. was bare steel so I cleaned and painted everything but the rollers and combs.
I think the leaf actually oils the cutter heads.
 

Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Pah, only old men like you guys wear reading glasses. The number is 608Z, which means that it has a protective cap on one side, 22 mm outer diameter. 8mm wide, 8mm inner diameter, no ABEC marking, and comes in a pack of 10 or 50. I have no protective rubber shield. I have learned all that I need to know about the bearing, hopefully!! But I wonder, as there is this protective cap on the outside of the bearing, how does greasing them from the outside help them? Do you not have to actually get to the 'ball area' in order for that to be effective?

The LV that I get seems to have more of a moisture content than the RV or burley - but this thing is handling it well, so far. I can't imagine that this black stuff came from the tobacco, although of course, this is right, as my hands are often black from handling it.

I am happy with this now, especially as I've taken it apart once, so know what to do in the future. I'll probably get a second set of combs from Lucas so that I have a spare. Thanks again for all your help. You old men, with your reading glasses, are kind of like wise old uncles to me (or maybe much older brothers from my father's first marriage....) You guys are great!! Thanks! ;)
 

Jitterbugdude

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Reading glasses hell! A lot of times I have to use a jewelers loupe!
Your bearing with the "Z" is a metal shield. It does not cover the bearings real well like a rubber seal does. There is enough of a gap that would allow you to drip or spray a lubricant into the ball bearings. What you really need to do though is to take your bearings out and replace them or take them out, pry off the shield and put some grease into them. In all reality though just shooting some oil in them will probably be fine for now. You'll know when your bearing dries up. I don't think you have to worry about what the ABEC number is. You are only spinning a little ol' tobacco shredder with a drill.



As far as the black stuff it might be coming from the machine oil that Lucas uses to coat his shredders with before sending out. Pours some Vodka in and rotate. It'll dissolve any oil still on your machine.
 

Brown Thumb

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

I say the black is from the tobacco oils.
My powermatic shredders also had black come out of them.
I jambed them constantly and unjambed with beer and it was always black.
The First few leaves I would put thru her would come out black drying it out.
I would trash the stuff that came out black until it ran clean again.
 

Brown Thumb

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Another thing I noticed with the stealth shredder.
The first few minutes I have to go slower feeding her.
By The bog down noise.
After she warms up I can feed her a lot faster.
I think the tobacco oils warm up and act like a lubricant.
But that oil sitting on the blades for a long time will harden up also.
That is why powermatics self destruct or wont turn when you go to fire them up after the sat a while.
The blades are glued together, I had a discussion with cris at powermatic about this problem.
It is a known problem.
 

Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

So, here it is...Monday night and I am ready to shred for the week. Pretty cool, eh? I weigh out my tobacco, get the shredder mounted...and take out my drill. Everything runs fine for about...what, 30 seconds or so? And then I notice that no more tobacco is being shredded - its all sticking in the grooves of the rollers. WTF. The combs are obviously not in the right place. I take it all apart again, as I have to clean the rollers and try to figure out how to assemble this thing. I don't have a clue. Those side pieces that the combs sit on are apparently at a certain angle so the combs can it the way they're supposed to. Are the combs actually in the grooves? If I put them into the grooves and tighten all down, I can barely move the handle, and it sticks at one place in the rotation. If they're not in the grooves, then the thing isn't shredding. I've been working on this now for hours, and sadly will have to probably do my 'shred' as a flake this week, in the coffee grinder. I miss my Teck 1! It was so utterly simple.
I imagine that this shredder was bolted up so incredibly tight, because it had to be, no? Otherwise everything slips out of place? I can't figure out how these combs go in. I'm pathetic. :(
 

Brown Thumb

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Yes the combs go down into the rollers. Clean the rollers out good before putting the combs back in.
Or gently push the combs down into the rollers while cranking it over to clear the Baccy out of the rollers. Just loosen them up a little bit to free them up.
 

Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Thanks, BT. I cleaned it again thoroughly last night -I found that the combs do not easily go into those grooves - is that correct? They need to be pushed in. I also think that the nuts/bolts for them must be extremely tight, otherwise the combs move slightly. This appears to be what was happening with me - the combs moved as I was cranking - for about 10 seconds all was working well, but then they must have moved. The tobacco was filling up the grooves, and also getting stuck underneath the combs, and turning into dust. Frankly, with the shredder loosened slightly, so that I am able to turn the rollers with my drill, there is no way that the combs stay in place. I'm not sure if my shredder was a bit of a 'lemon', frankly - i only think that because the handle was really not properly done for this - again, with the shredder mounted, but level on a surface, the handle does not clear that surface - it is too long.
Anyway, I have allowed the shredder to dry thoroughly, and will try to reassemble it again tonight. I think that my current problem is that the square 'rods' that the combs sit on, can be moved about, so that the angle of the comb, as it enters the groove on the rollers, can be changed somewhat, although it appears that at certain angles, the bolt holes no longer line up with the combs. Again, it seems fairly difficult for the teeth of the combs to sit in the grooves of the roller, but I'll try again tonight. In the meantime, I used my trusty little coffee grinder to flake my week's tobacco.....so all is not really lost. I'm still smoking.....;)
But I think that my initial intention of trying to do this with a drill is impossible.....
 

Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Help.
I'm really stumped here. I cleaned the rollers and put all back the way I thought it should go. The rollers are turning and it feels the same way that it did when I first got it....but the tobacco isn't shredding. It's pretty much coming out as dust. I don't get it. It's pretty much of a bugger to get the combs pushed into those grooves..one of the combs is actually a bit warped in the center. This CAN'T be this hard to do, after all, he sells replacement combs that should just bolt in and out, no?? I hate smoking flaked tobacco, and would really like to get this thing working. I've looked through the other threads here with similar machines, but I don't see any photos of exactly what the combs look like when they're 'inserted' into the rollers. If anyone has one, I'd appreciate looking at it. In the meantime, I'm going to search for a bandaid....my efforts have resulted in a bloody cut on my finger......:(
 

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

Reading glasses hell! A lot of times I have to use a jewelers loupe!
. You are only spinning a little ol' tobacco shredder with a drill.



As far as the black stuff it might be coming from the machine oil that Lucas uses to coat his shredders with before sending out. Pours some Vodka in and rotate. It'll dissolve any oil still on your machine.


Listen to JB, my best advice
 

Bex

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Re: Teck 1 gear measurements

I'm pouring vodka into me, and it's not helping much. The rollers are clean - I just can't get the combs in either deep enough, or at the proper angle. That's where I'm stumped.....
 
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