Grizzly 20" Planer motor hotrod?

[Jesse Busenitz]

I have the G1033X and I keep frying start caps, as apparently taking off 1/16 at 20" is more than the 5hp can handle. It slows the motor down and than the cent switch kicks in and poof...... Anyways I'm thinking about dropping in a 7.5 motor, but than I'm thinking why not just upgrade to a 24"? I've been keeping my eye out locally for a older used planer but havent snagged anything yet, as I haven't been that serious until now, as I'm just fed up of babying the planer. Anyways what's your opinion? Drop a 3phs 7.5 in or just wait until i can find a bigger used one?

[John TenEyck]

I just went through a similar situation with the motor on my planer. It would just bog down at anything more than 1/32". The brain trust here suggested the problem was the run capacitor and, sure enough, that's what it was. It runs great now. I would pull out your motor and take it to a motor shop and have them take a look at it before looking for a new motor. 5 HP should be sufficient for a 20" machine.

John

[Cary Falk]

I have a G0453Z that kept popping caps. I replaced the 3hp motor with a better 3hp motor and haven't had any issues since. A better 5 hp morot would probably fix the issue. That being said, If you really want a 24" planer, go for it. I find that if I have an idea in the back of my mind I eventually end up doing it. A motorless planer might be a harder sell. Some people don't want to bother if it is not plug in play.

[Jesse Busenitz]

I just went through a similar situation with the motor on my planer. It would just bog down at anything more than 1/32". The brain trust here suggested the problem was the run capacitor and, sure enough, that's what it was. It runs great now. I would pull out your motor and take it to a motor shop and have them take a look at it before looking for a new motor. 5 HP should be sufficient for a 20" machine.

John

I guess I didn't test the run cap this time but I'm pretty sure I did last time which was like 5 months ago. 5hp is probably enough for most, but I'm running a lot of wood through mine and don't care to mess around with it. I noticed that anything bigger grizzly sales and they go to two motors for cutter head and feed. I was just looking at an older powermatic 24" and it had a 15hp motor which is only 4" wider but 3 times the power.....

[Eric Rimel]

A 1/16" pass at full 20" width in hardwood? In my world we call that logging. We have a 27" with a spiral cutterheard and 10 HP (3ph) that we don't take that big of a bite with. Maybe your motor does need to be looked at, but I'd start with taking smaller bites.

[Dan Friedrichs]

That's a lot of wood to be taking off...

An induction motor is not designed to run at slower speed, so if you're bogging it down enough to actually slow it down, you're WAY WAY WAY overloading it. I'm surprised there isn't an overcurrent protection on the motor that trips.

Is it possible that the wiring supplying the motor is undersized? That might be a more reasonable explanation for your symptoms.

The frying of start caps is not exactly your problem, here - that's the symptom of the motor slowing down WAY too much. That's the problem you need to fix. Either something is wrong with the motor, something is wrong with the supply, or you are loading the motor too heavily.

I'd suggest putting a current meter on the motor supply and seeing how close you're getting to the rated current.


EDIT to add:
1) It seems like you're trying to decide if 5HP is sufficient. There is no need to "guess" or compare to other machines. Measure the current into the motor and find out. You might find that the motor is only drawing 2HP of power under heavy load, which would entirely answer your question and re-direct you to other potential sources of problems.

2) Saying "put a better motor on it" is a bit like saying, "If your car keeps getting flat tires, buy a better car". If you have a driveway full of nails, a new car won't fix your tire problem, and if you have insufficient supply wiring, a bigger motor won't fix your cap problem. A bigger/"better" motor is pointless until you identify the root cause of the problem, here.

[Don Jarvie]

Not all 5hp motors are equal. The one from Grizzly isn't the best you can get. If you have 3ph then a good 5hp motor will do the job, 7.5 even better. If you can get a old 5hp R/I motor it will cut anything.

I have an old Wagner 3hp R/I motor that will cut anything. The older motors are true 5hp motors.

[Martin Wasner]

A 1/16" cut is too much? No. If my planer wasn't capable of removing that much stock at once, I too would be looking for better options.

Something else is up.

[John C Bush]

I have that planer and haven't had issues with bogging down. Lots of maple thru it at close to max width and one full turn on the bed elev ator. Hobby slab milling so not all day every day but steady performance so far. good luck

[Dave Cav]

Any used 24" planer you find will more than likely be Old Arn, very heavy and three phase, probably 10 HP, maybe more.

I have an 18" Powermatic 180 with a 3 phase Baldor motor run via a 7.5 HP VFD...plenty of power available. If I would try to take 1/16 off a full width hardwood board, it would (and has) trip the VFD on over current.

[Jim Andrew]

To get a commercial grade planer from Grizzly, you have to go up a grade. The G01033 is still a hobby grade machine. When I try to run my G0453px all day, the overload pops off, but it works fine to run a few boards.

[Ken Grant]

Any used 24" planer you find will more than likely be Old Arn, very heavy and three phase, probably 10 HP, maybe more.

I have an 18" Powermatic 180 with a 3 phase Baldor motor run via a 7.5 HP VFD...plenty of power available. If I would try to take 1/16 off a full width hardwood board, it would (and has) trip the VFD on over current.

Is this with standard knives or a byrd type cutterhead? I do think the spiral heads need more power. I have an 18 inch Oliver 399 with a 3 hp direct drive motor and a 3 knife cutterhead. It has no problems taking a full width pass of 1/16" on maple.

[Dave Cav]

Is this with standard knives or a byrd type cutterhead? I do think the spiral heads need more power. I have an 18 inch Oliver 399 with a 3 hp direct drive motor and a 3 knife cutterhead. It has no problems taking a full width pass of 1/16" on maple.

It is a Byrd head, belt drive. As for helical heads taking more power, I don't know; I think it would be interesting to see a comparison between two identical planers, one with a helical planer and one with a straight knife head planning the same board.

[Jesse Busenitz]

It seems like I've read of a lot of people with arn planer who are taking off quite a bit over 1/16, but then we get into the finish vs. roughing planers. So all that being said i'm going to put a reading on my amps and see what I'm drawing under a load, and see if there is an issue there at all. Would a bad connection somewhere be limiting the amps? Either way I think I'm still leaning toward getting something a little more industrial.... it's been a good planer but I think I'm just asking for more than what it was built for.

[Dan Friedrichs]

If the wire feeding the planer is undersized, you could have excessive voltage drop, which could be causing the symptoms you describe. What size of wire feeds the machine, and how long is the run?