Hour Meter for Machine Maintenance

[Charlie Barnes]

Hello Everybody,

I recently purchased a new Grizzly planer (G0453PX) which works very well by the way. They recommend that the gearbox oil is changed every 25 hours if I recall. I'd like to try to follow the maintenance schedule closely since I hope this planer lasts for a very long time. I was thinking about hanging a log sheet on the side of it and trying to be disciplined enough to write down the usage times every time I use it. But I don't know how practical that is.

Yesterday I started thinking about trying to rig up an electric hour meter to track the hours that the motor is running. I looked on line and see some options that might work. I'm wondering how others handle the tracking of usage hours and if anyone has done something similar?

Thanks.

Charlie

[Don Wacker]

I wouldnt worry to much about it and just change it once a year or something along those lines. I think if you did the math that would be more than 20000 linear ft of lumber.

Don

[Dan Hintz]

If you must... they sell meters that attach to the power supply lines. Counts the number of hours (and tenths of an hour) the machine is on. Usually around $40-50.

But not worth it, IMO...

[Ken Deckelman]

Do a Google for "vibration hour meters" like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Hardline-Products-HR-8065-Vibration-Meter/dp/B003RB0IAQ

There are cheap ones on eBay as well.

[Jeff Duncan]

Are you sure it's every 25 hours? I'd be changing my oil like every other month? I don't think I'd bother with an electric meter, unless it was cheap and easy to attach. I'd just try to keep a log of roughly how much it gets use. The oil won't know if you go over by ann hour or so;)

good luck,
JeffD

[Anthony Whitesell]

Here's a resettable meter that runs on 240VAC. $14.50 NOS plus shipping.

http://www.electronicsurplus.com/Item/3622/GE%20-%20RESETTABLE%20240VAC%2060CY%20HOUR%20METER_%20NP _227875%20-%2050-236412ABAAA3/

[johnny means]

Every 25 hours does sound a bit excessive. The gear box in a planer isn't subject to a lot of heat, so the oil doesn't really break down. A car's gearbox, which is subject to extreme heat, doesn't go through oil anwhere near that quickly, so how would a planer. I think the once a year thing is plenty. Maybe a Black Friday tradition our something.

[J.R. Rutter]

I pulled up the G0453Z (the green version) manual from the Grizzly web site just for kicks and it says yearly for oil changes.

[Frank Drew]

Does Grizzly own stock in an oil company? :D

[Don Wacker]

Probably mis read or misprint. PM manual says 2500 hours. I personally suggest yearly just so you know its full and clean with no metal shavings. More of an inspection rather than an oil change. The biggest thing with those planers is the gear box leaking.

Don

[Scott T Smith]

I added an hour meter to my compressor for the same reason. It was relatively simple to wire in a Hobbs meter that fed from one side of the 240 to neutral. Just hook it into the switched side and you're in business.

Here is a multi voltage AC/DC meter at McMaster-Carr for $26.00

http://www.mcmaster.com/#hour-meters/=f8id7o

Scroll down until you find Part number


1878T42 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/#1878T42)

Scott

[Matt Mackinnon]

I think that you should re-read that section again. You need to replace the gear oil after the 'first' 20 hours of operation, and then once every year. I might consider replacing the oil at the 50 hour mark just to get any of the left over metal fines that were not flushed out with the first oil change, but yearly is more than enough.

[Thad McCulloch]

You mean something like this?

214909

[johnny means]

BTW, was that a stealth gloat? If so, you suck.

[Thad McCulloch]

Not really. I think I only had a 5% off Grizzly coupon, so at best we're talking a 5% gloat!

[Nick Sorenson]

Does Grizzly own stock in an oil company? :D

LOL.

At 20 hour oil change intervals maybe they should put an oil filter on there. lol.

I'd doubt the gears see much wear. I change my oil once every few years if I remember. I just took the gearbox apart for a byrd head install and the gears looked perfect.

[Rod Sheridan]

You mean something like this?

214909

I'm impressed, I had to add that to my machine...................Rod.

[Gary Curtis]

This is what all small aircraft use to schedule maintenance:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/inpages/hobbs.php

A Hobb's Meter. $25.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Factory guys will know this.....hours-based maintenance schedules are the way to do it. If you set up your PM on a calendar, the odds are you are [a] not doing it often enough, or [b] wasting $ by doing it too often, or [c] right on target by sheer dumb luck. And when you've got a jillion machines and a dozen maintenance guys earning more per hour than anyone else, you've gotta be sure both asset groups are being used efficiently.

But - a year on your planer could well be much different than a year on my planer.

Having said all that- I'd have to believe that Grizzly isn't very worried. "Yearly" covers a wide, wide range of actual run time..........they just want to be sure you do it sometime, and they aren't [and shouldn't be on this machine] very worried exactly when. I'd bet for most of us "every 5 years" is more than enough. At least, I'm hoping so..............

[Charlie Barnes]

Thanks for all of the input guys. Thad's setup with a small meter right on the switch box is what I was originally thinking of. However the meters that are self powered and use vibration input are interesting as well. From what I can see, the only down side to them is that it doesn't look like the battery is replaceable. But they do have a stated 8 year life, so maybe that's OK. Admittedly, this is probably overkill as some has mentioned. However Kent has nailed the issue regarding the way manufacturing guys view maintenance. I work at Toyota's North American Manufacturing HQ, so I'm sure that has colored my thinking on this. Anyway, thanks again for all of the good ideas.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Charlie - your thinking is not wrong at all.

It's just that in the consumer end of this stuff, the mfg companies sit back and think "how can we word this so that anyone can get it right, and nothing will ever go wrong due to insufficient maintenance?"

I've changed the gear oil on my planer twice in 13 years......the last time was last year.......stuff looked like it came out of the jug - complete waste of time, but the hourly wage is zero, so no real loss.........