Grizzly 20" Planer motor

[Jesse Busenitz]

I yanked the motor out to work on the contact plate, and I'm also looking for a 5hp motor for my "new" 1911 Greenlee 16" jointer. So I had this random thought... Why not put the 5hp on my jointer and upgrade my planer to 7hp??? It's the G1033X any step up and they go to two separate motors for a combined of 7 1/2hp. If I run a full width board or several boards at once to take off 1/16" it bogs down. Anybody foresee problems?

[Andy Pratt]

First, make sure the larger motor will fit in the cabinet and/or with your current mounting system hole size. Motor sizes follow established conventions and in the size class you are asking about I think you are likely to see a physical size change that matters going from 5 to 7.5hp. Also make sure you can get the correct belts/sheaves size/sheave diameter for the new arbor size for a reasonable price before you decide to go with it. Do yourself a favor and plan your decision off/buy a good name-brand motor of a standard size/mounting type, then if you ever need to replace it things will be easy.

I needed to do a quick motor swap on my jointer and it ended up taking over a month of involved work/research/ordering. So I wouldn't jump into this lightly at the wrong time in your work schedule. There is potentially a lot more to it than there looks like on the surface.

[Rod Sheridan]

Jesse, 5 HP and it bogs down with a 1/16" depth of cut?

What feed rate are you using and are the blades sharp?

Regards, Rod.

[Jesse Busenitz]

Jesse, 5 HP and it bogs down with a 1/16" depth of cut?

What feed rate are you using and are the blades sharp?

Regards, Rod.

I was running a couple 16" boards through and going from 13/16" to 3/4" at 16 fpm with pretty fresh blades, and it was stalling out. Andy, yeah definitely potential for a lot of rework. I do have the planner motor yanked out already so that's why I'm trying to decided now.

[Matt Day]

Something seems wrong. I've taken pretty big full width cuts on my 15" 3hp planer without it bigging down. I'd make sure your knives are sharp.

If you've got the cash, maybe upgrade to a shelix cutter head which i think don't require as much power to cut.

[David Kumm]

If you swap out, be sure the frame sizes are the same or you will have to change pulleys and belts. Your existing 5 hp motor may be on its last legs. Byrd head needs more power, not less. Dave

[cody michael]

I have a 20 inch planer with a 3hp motor (grizzly) I have taken 1/16 off 11-12 inch boards no problems, I took about an 1/8th off in one pass on accident the other day and it sounded like it struggled a little but never slowed down.

[Rod Sheridan]

I was running a couple 16" boards through and going from 13/16" to 3/4" at 16 fpm with pretty fresh blades, and it was stalling out. Andy, yeah definitely potential for a lot of rework. I do have the planner motor yanked out already so that's why I'm trying to decided now.

What does stalling out mean?

The motor stopped turning or the planer head stopped turning or the wood stopped feeding?

You may need to wax the bed, adjust the belt tension, check feed roller pressure, chip breaker and pressure bar adjustment.

5HP is plenty of power for that size planer...........Rod.

[Jesse Busenitz]

It's already a spiral head, and I just rotated the knifes not that long ago (bf wise). It's only when I'm 16"+ of my 20" width capacity. I'm going to check and make sure the chip breaker etc, are all up to specs. I keep my table waxed pretty good so I don't think that's it. I found a Leeson that has the same frame size so that should be simple.

Rod, as I stated in my op the next upgrade goes to a 5hp head motor and 2hp feed motor, so I'm thinking it can't hurt.

Dave/Matt you got me thinking does head type really take different HP???? I mean as long as you're taking the same amount off and have sharp knifes..... I guess a spiral is smoother which might help????

[Rod Sheridan]

Jesse, the carbide heads do require more power than steel knife heads............Rod.

[Jesse Busenitz]

Ok, but the little kid in me asks "WHY???" I went through everything and it was out of adjustment a bit so now i've got to get my motor back together( I also looked and the key is a different size so I can't put it on my jointer without getting a new pulley...) and we'll see how it runs.