A Felder technician was just at my shop last week doing a filter replacement in my RL160, and I went over the differences in RL160 models with him. ? Here is what I learned.
There are three different RL160 designs installed in the field.
On the version of the RL160 which I have (mid 2000’s vintage), the filters are replaced via access panels at the small ends of the machine. ? Once the panels are removed at both ends, there is a steel ladder frame inside that presses down against the filters to hold them in place and create a seal against the gasket material affixed to a flange running around the inside perimeter of the machine. ? The ladder frame has several jack-bolts that push against an upper flange and force the ladder frame down against the filters. ? The ladder frame must be completely removed to get the filters out, and new new filters in. ? So all that work must be done from the small ends of the machine, and reaching the jack-bolts near the center of the machine is a chore and requires long arms. ? On my machine, the gaskets were completely decomposed, and were replaced with 1/2” thick neoprene rubber (found at Home Depot) that’s much more dense and durable than the cheap foam weatherstripping it replaced. ? The entire job took about 5 hours including replacing the gaskets. ? The filters are not cheap - running close to $1,000 delivered. ? Since my machine was spewing small amounts of sawdust out the top when running, looking at the filters from below it appeared there were tears in the filters in a couple places. ? Once we got into the machine, the problem turned out to be the leaking gasket material and the filters were just fine. ? What looked like tears in the filters (or delimitation of them) turned out to be the black filter brushes. ? I now have a spare set of good filters. ?Such joy.
The current version of the RL160 is almost identical to my version except the access panels are on the roll-out debris bin side of the machine rather than at the ends. ? This design is a bit more serviceable since access to the bolts that secure the ladder frame pressing down on the filters is done from one long side of the machine rather than from both ends.
There was a version of the RL160 produced at one time (specific dates unknown) that requires replacing the filters from underneath the machine. ? The debris bin is pulled out, the a ladder frame pushes up against the filters from below and must be removed from below (nasty job I’m told) and the filters can then be removed. ? This version is the least serviceable design.
No one at Felder service in the USA could provide a definitive answer as to how much overlap is appropriate for the brush elements that sweep across the filters. ? John Ferandin and Joe Doherty were kind enough to buttonhole the Felder dust extraction expert when they were at LIGNA a few weeks back, and the right answer is 10mm overlap.
David Best
David P. Best