Upgrading a 1973 PM 141 motor from 1/2 hp to 1hp - Good Idea?

[Brent Ring]

All,

Been cutting some of my apricot and walnut to get it dryed. Seems that the 1/2 hp Baldor Motor on the 141 seems to be bind up pretty easily resawing 5.5" logs. The 1/2" 3 tpi blade is reasonbly new - 2 months. I spoke with a woodworker while in NC yesterday and he suggested that I put a 1 hp motor on the machine. The fact that it is a PM 141 - all cast iron, should be able to handle the load. What are your thoughts?

[Joe Jensen]

All,

Been cutting some of my apricot and walnut to get it dryed. Seems that the 1/2 hp Baldor Motor on the 141 seems to be bind up pretty easily resawing 5.5" logs. The 1/2" 3 tpi blade is reasonbly new - 2 months. I spoke with a woodworker while in NC yesterday and he suggested that I put a 1 hp motor on the machine. The fact that it is a PM 141 - all cast iron, should be able to handle the load. What are your thoughts?

I have a 141 and I see no issues with putting in a larger motor. I only use mine for random BS cutting tasks as I use a larger machine for resawing. That said, in my experience, and based on what I've read, pushing hard is the surest way to get blade deflection. I resawed a fair bit with the 141 before I got the larger machine and I only used a 1/2" 3 TPI regular blade with no power issues...joe

[Joe Jensen]

One more thing. Mine is 1989 machine, and I think it came with a 3/4 HP motor but I'm not sure...joe

[Alan Schaffter]

Another NC woodworker weighing in here. I upgraded my 14" Delta from 1 hp open-drip proof to a 2 hp Dayton TFEC motor. Here is the thread: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6027

The link has pics of the two motors sitting side by side- the old one looked like a toy!!!

One update- I did not need to modify the cabinet or build a new door- after sliding the pulley close to the motor, there was just enough space for everything to fit in the original cabinet. The new motor made a big improvement in resaw performance.

[Tom Veatch]

Brent,
If you can find a more powerful motor in the same frame size as the current one, it should be "plug compatible". That may be a chore or it may be trivial. Otherwise you may need to replace the drive sheave for a larger shaft size and make an adapter plate to go from the existing mounting holes to the one in the new motor (assumming it's a "C" face mount frame).

A quick look on the Baldor site (http://www.baldor.com/products/product.asp?1=1&page=16&orderBy=CONVERT%28FLOAT%2CISNULL%28HpDecimal%2C0%2 9%29%2C+RPMRange&product=AC+Motors&family=All+Families%7Cvw%5FACMotors&phase=1&hp=%2E5%2D1)shows that a NEMA 56C frame is pretty common in both 1/2 and 1 HP single phase motors so you might be in luck there. Just depends on what's on your machine now.

As far as the additional stress on the saw's structure, I doubt that you have anything to worry about. All the additional load will be fed in through the table mount and taken out through the lower wheel bearings. Flexibility/strength of the vertical riser to the upper wheel is a non-issue, since that part of the structure will see little or no increase in load due to the larger motor. All the effect will be in the lower half of the saw between the table and the lower drive wheel mounting.

Good luck and happy resawing.