One of my guys ran a 3.75" square piece of white oak into our molder to S4S it to 3.5" square. Problem is, he inadvertently set the height for 2.5". When it ran into the 2nd feed wheel, the U joints on the drive shaft exploded. I was able to get the broken parts off, and the rest of the machine appears to be ok.
My question is, how do I go about sourcing replacement parts?
The machine is a 25 year old Taiwanese 5 head molder that we use to do S4S work on furniture & cabinet parts. This is the first time I've had replace anything on it, except for a drive belt 15 years ago. The company is no longer in business, so I can't go to them for support. The parts themselves don't appear to be anything exotic, but I've looked online and can't seem to find what I need. Any ideas on what my next steps should be?

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Hi Barclay,

Akhurst sells the Leadermac from Taiwan and they used to sell Cantek Moulders from Taiwan. I have been told a lot of the components of Taiwan Machinery originates out of the same foundry and factory but is sold in various brands.
I would contact Akhurst for this.

Try you're local auto parts store, they could be driveshaft joints.

The yokes all look okay. Is that the case? If so measure the U-joints and see if you can find anything compatible.

Machinery companies keep costs down by designing their equipment around off the shelf parts as much as possible. I'd think if you take measurements from the destroyed U-joints and go online to some U-joint manufacturer website you would probably find something compatible.

If not then look to the complete yoke/u-joint assembly. While the center section looks more complex with what looks like some sort of slip shaft here too you should be able to find something.

BH Davis

The 2 yokes with the splined shaft are ok. But the other 2 are bent and I doubt are fixable. I've looked online, called a few molder service and repair companies (including Ackhust) with no luck, and gone to a local auto parts store. The auto part clerk thought the U joints were Spicer 1350's, which were inexpensive and readily available so I ordered a couple.
The 2 bent yokes are a different story. No luck so far finding anything like it.
Any ideas on where to look would be very much appreciated.

Just spit balling but I did a Google search " parts for older Taiwanese moulders" ( i have one too) and came came up with several listing.
May be worth posting at.
Practicalmachinist.com also.
Good luck and hope you get back with your results, Allen

Just had another thought, it's common for hot rod shops to have to alter drives harts. If you have any custom car builders in your area it may be worth contacting them. Being a low rpm part balance may not be critical. Allen

Drive shafts!

You may have luck with a machine shop disassembling the yokes and then heating the arms and pressing them back into shape. It's a crap shoot with cast iron but worth a try after taking close measurements beforehand.

Another suggestion is to contact Stiles Machinery.
They sell Kentwood moulders which are built in Taiwan. They might be able to track down something that would work for your moulder.
%#$@*& happens..

Best of luck!

Jason

Find a good bearing distributor. If they can't help you they can suggest someone who can.

Or a tractor parts company. Looks similar to a PTO shaft.

Look up a local drive shaft repair facility. My dad did paint and bodywork. At times driveshafts need to be rebuilt or altered. They can likely attach a new u joint to your spline assembly or machine one to fit

I’d pull the broken ones and measure cap diameter and overall width, then take them to a local power transmission or bearing supplier — they can usually match them up. Sometimes ag/PTO suppliers carry the same style joints too. If the yokes are okay, it should be a pretty straightforward swap. Might be worth checking the rest of the feed drive while you’re in there just to be safe.

Finally got this sorted out. After 3 weeks of phone calls, emails & text messages to every sort of part suppliers, molder repair shops, machine shops, ect. ect. I finally got what I needed from a transmission & drive shaft shop. Using mostly stock parts and a little lathe work to match the diameters of the yokes to the shafts on the gear box and feed roller, they put together a whole new drive shaft assembly. Cost about $600, including freight. A couple hours of wrenching and we finally got it installed. Tested it out and it seems to work fine. Yay! Many thanks for all the responses.

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