I am going to replace the motor on my older delta 14 inch bandsaw, with either a 1 1/2 or 2 HP. I am looking at the Grizzly tefc motors . Grizzly claims that it is a good motor, and that they have had good results with it in their equipment.
It is made in Taiwan. I am not excited about buying a lot of stuff from Taiwan, but a motor from the U.S. is twice the price. I don’t want to spend more than I have to, but I don’t want to do it twice either.
I don’t use the band saw a whole lot, so it’s not like I would be wearing it out anytime soon.
If anyone has experience with Grizzly motors, with reliability or anything else, I would appreciate any opinions, advice , or options that you might have to offer.
Thanks in advance for your help Jack
Replies
I have a Grizzly 0500 jointer. The motor is decent, but not up to the level of the old US made motors I have around. The castings are of poorer quality and it does not look as impressive. I have run the jointer for several hours straight and the motor does get a bit warm, but not excessively. I don't know the cost comparison, so you will have to be the judge of that.
None, I would first contact my local electric motor shop. Sometimes they rewind motors that are just spares and may be able to help you. Also...they would be local if anything bad happend to the motor.
Jim
Dear none,
Replaced the motor of the 14" Delta clone yesterday. It was the source of jerking due to probalby a bad bearing inside.
Make sure that the motor you buy rotates the same as the old one, or that the rotation can be changed at the motor terminals. Some motors can not be changed in rotation, and the sapacing in those bandsaws does not allow mounting flipping the motor.
The new motor is 1 HP Daytona, the original was 1/3 HP. That means the bandsaw now has 3 times as much power.
You might want to reconsider going to 1.5 or 2 HP since those bandsaws may not benefit that much from such large horsepowers as you mention. Also check the spacing to make sure the belts can be aligned with such large motors.
If you check your power needs you'll find a big difference in cost on the motors. It'd be better to get a good quality smaller motor than a larger one of less quality, provided you are within the needed h.p. rating.
-mbl-
I replace the motor on my TS a couple of years ago and learned some valuable things. Don't get a motor that has a self-resetting thermal protection. If you do, it will come back on by itself when the motor cools down. If your BS is like my clone, it has an open style motor. Get one that is TEFC (totally enclosed fan cooled) to keep the sawdust out. Compare the mount with what you have. Check out Louis Iturra's catalog for a LOT OF INFORMATION. (1-888-722-7078. The catalog tells how to hotrod your saw for max results. He sells lots of parts you may need. I got my motor from Woodworker's Supply and have been happy with it. You can also check out http://WWW.surpluscentr.com for motors. They have pretty good prices on new motors.
I follow Grizzly comments on various forums pretty carefully, and I've yet to see anything about a Grizzly motor failing prematurely (or at all for that matter). They may not be as great as a Baldor or whatever, but as you say, alot cheaper. A 1.5HP oughta be fine with a 14" saw. Is there a specific reason you're thinking about going to 2HP, which is twice the HP that even the better 14" saws have? If you're having trouble plowing through wood, it might be your blades.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
The G series is made in Taiwan and the H series is made in China. I asked Grizzly tech support which motor is better and they recommended the Taiwan motor. I have no experience with Grizzly motors but I will when my G0543 jointer arrives.
Life is what happens to you when you're making other plans .
Try Amazon.
A 1.5 HP Grizzley motor is about $150 and a Baldor at Amazon is $179.
The biggest difference in price is for smaller motors.
Friend,
At a local Grainger, a 1.5 HP, TEFC, high-torque Dayton motor with manual thermal protection is about $195.00, probably stock item.
No shipping costs and local guarantee back-up ought to be considered.
-mbl-
Years ago, Grizzly used to boast that they had the largest motor rebuilding facility in the U.S., guess why.
I think things have much gotten better since then, all of the Taiwanese motors I've used in the past five years, including Grizzly brand, have performed well without any meltdowns. I would be wary of Chinese made motors, the current quality of Chinese made tools is highly variable, sort of where the Taiwanese were twenty years ago when Grizzly was rebuilding motors big time.
Another point worth considering, in some informal tests I did comparing the available power of 1 hp U.S. made motors and Taiwanese 1 hp motors, the American made motors were clearly more powerful. To get the equivalent of a Baldor 1 1/2 hp motor you should probably buy a Taiwanese 2 hp unit, which will probably wipe out the price difference.
John W.
Edited 5/20/2004 10:58 am ET by JohnW
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