Band saw question

Chuck Ellis

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Messages
6,997
Location
Tellico Plains, Tennessee
I have a Delta 14" bandsaw with a Grizzly riser adapted to fit....

Last month I kept losing power on the motor and pulled it off to discover the fan was loose and the motor was overheating...
I took it to the local electric motor repair shop and had a new fan put on... worked great until yesterday... was cutting a chunk of Cherry and it blew the circuit breaker... I figured I had too much running on the circuit, a fan, the compressor and the saw... but the saw smelled hot and like an electrical smell... I shut it down for the day. Today I started the saw without the other machines on the circuit and immediately smelled the hot electrical smell, so figure the motor is probably burned out or is burning out and too dangerous to work with....

I'm thinking now that I'll need to replace the motor. Currently the saw has a 3/4 hp motor, single phase, 1725 rpm....
I'm thinking about putting a full 1 hp motor ... Grizzly has both a 3/4 & 1 hp motor on sale right now, both look to be the same
as the existing motor...

My question is: will the saw handle the 1 hp or should I stick to the 3/4 hp as it was stock on this saw?
 
I am the worst person possble to advise about things elektrikal. :eek: But, you asked if the saw can handle it. I bellieve it can since both companies sell higher priced models with larger motors that are virtually identical to yer 3/4 hp. saw. Do check out Harbor Freight for motors, they have some incredible prices on theirs, especially when on sale.
 
I am the worst person possble to advise about things elektrikal. :eek: But, you asked if the saw can handle it. I bellieve it can since both companies sell higher priced models with larger motors that are virtually identical to yer 3/4 hp. saw. Do check out Harbor Freight for motors, they have some incredible prices on theirs, especially when on sale.

Thanks Frank,
I know about as much about electrical as you say you do.. most I know is it can and will curl your hair if you're not careful. I looked at HF, even on sale their prices are than what I found on Grizzly. They have a motor that looks just like mine in both 3/4 and 1 hp for under $120... think I'm going that route.
 
I have never wished for less power in a bandsaw :D. I see no problem with that frame holding up to the 1HP motors power. If the speed is the same, the drive train's awareness of the power comes from resistance at the cutting edge. I'd go to 2hp if I could.
 
I would guess that the saw can handle the added 1/4 hp. There is a tiny bit more amperage draw, but 1 hp should not overload your circuit even at 15 amps. I hope you have 20 amp circuits.

The Grizzly and the HF motors may be made by the same Chinese company. I am not faulting either, just pointing out that there is not likely a lot of difference between the two.

The one thing that WILL make a difference is RPM. Whatever you install should be the same RPM - within 25 or 40 RPM and the old motor. That is what drives the cutting speed of the blade.
 
I have a Delta 14" bandsaw, and mine came with a 1/2 HP motor...that didn't work very well, and was even worse when I put the riser kit on it. I bought a Grizzly 1 HP motor and put on it 9 years ago and it's worked well all that time. Still, If I was doing it over I think I would have went 1 1/2 HP.
 
Well, I order the Grizzly 1 hp motor and received it Friday... had a craft show on Saturday, so couldn't put it on until Monday when a friend came over to help.. needed some one to hold the motor while I bolted it in place.. too heavy for this old man to hold up with one hand and put the bolts in with another... with friend's help the installation went smoothly... until we plugged it in and punched the on button to see how it ran... it ran backwards.:huh:.. duh!!,:doh: the motor hangs upside down under the saw... just had to reverse two wires and we're off to the races... runs smooth and cuts great.:D:D:thumb:
 
Chuck just something you may want to check. Make sure that the voltage you got at the motor terminals is what it should be.
You mentioning the prior motor getting hot and burning makes me think you not getting the correct voltage and its causing issues with the motor.
If the cord or wire gauge you got in your circuit is not up to it you could be getting a volt drop of some significance and that the motor will not like and putting a bigger motor in their is only going go exacerbate the problem and you may end up frying this one too.
It only needs you to have a meter handy and measure at the terminals preferably while motor is running.
Just a thought its cheaper to do that and remedy. Circuit than another new motor. If u do find voltage is way off then check the joints all the way back on that circuit to the breaker panel, sometimes just a loose connection can cause a volt drop especially when u drawing the kind of current a motor uses.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Chuck just something you may want to check. Make sure that the voltage you got at the motor terminals is what it should be.
You mentioning the prior motor getting hot and burning makes me think you not getting the correct voltage and its causing issues with the motor.
If the cord or wire gauge you got in your circuit is not up to it you could be getting a volt drop of some significance and that the motor will not like and putting a bigger motor in their is only going go exacerbate the problem and you may end up frying this one too.
It only needs you to have a meter handy and measure at the terminals preferably while motor is running.
Just a thought its cheaper to do that and remedy. Circuit than another new motor. If u do find voltage is way off then check the joints all the way back on that circuit to the breaker panel, sometimes just a loose connection can cause a volt drop especially when u drawing the kind of current a motor uses.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

Rob,
Thanks with the heads up... this saw is about 10 years old and has been running off the same plug and circuit all that time. First problem I had with it was just earlier this summer.... I wired the circuit myself when I built the shop, but stopped short of connecting to the main power source... I had an electrician check my work and do the final hook up. I'm on a 20 amp circuit and the saw ran perfectly until the cooling fan on the motor came loose.... that was repair by a qualified electrical motor repair shop, but evidently the over-heating caused some other problems inside the motor... I think it was more cost effective to replace the motor than to do any repairs on it.
 
Glad it worked out. If you haven't yet, I would hold off on tossing the old motor. It might be that the centrifugal start up switch is stuck, which could heat things up and cause some burnt smell if the motor can't disengage the start up circuit once it's up to speed. It could also cause the breaker to trip because it would be pulling a lot of amps. I think it's worth a look.

Mark where the end bells are oriented to the stator housing (center portion of the motor housing), remove the 4 bolts/screws that hold the end bells on, and tap the end bells off (one at a time) from the stator housing. One end will simply have a bearing in it. The other end will have the centrifugal switch that's supposed to disengage the start up circuit when the motor gets up to speed. Band saws get dusty and the centrifugal switches can get gunked up and sticky over time, especially if the motor is an open frame or drip proof type (not TEFC). The solution may be as simple as cleaning off some dirty parts with an old soft tooth brush and compressed air.

Since you've had the issues you've had, you should also check the windings for shorts and continuity with a multi-tester. That should only take a couple of minute. When the motor is apart, it's easy to see which wires go where.

paulh, who runs most all of his shop machinery with used motors.
 
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