Delta 14" Bandsaw motor upgrade Question

[Donald Wilkins]

Thanks guys for entertaining this question.

I have a 14" Delta Bandsaw (open base) that has a 3/4" motor. I have seen aftermarket motors for sale at places like Tractor Supply from 3/4 to 1-1/2hp. I am thinking about upgrading the motor to a 1-1/2hp so that sawing out 5" thick bowl blanks will not stall the saw. Has anyone upgraded their existing saws with different more powerful motors? I did not want put a motor that was too strong and cause some bearings to be stressed too much or some other mechanical issues to arrise. I have already burned up the stator on one motor and had to have it replaced under warranty...since the machine is now out of warranty everything is fair game :)

Any thoughts? The motor that I am finding is roughtly $240. I already have the riser block kit, but not having a bigger motor I think it will have to wait till a stronger motor is used or another saw is purchased.

Thanks,

Donald Wilkins

[Bruce Wrenn]

Check with Northern Tools for your motors. Also, think about adding another motor to saw in tandem with original motor, kinda like the railroads do. Feed it through a second switch, which is fed through first switch. Apply power only when needed. The match up won't be perfect, but close enough for woodworking. Put a double groove sheave on original motor and a single groove sheave on aux. motor.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I have a 2hp motor on my 14" Delta bandsaw. It works very well.

[Donald Wilkins]

Thanks for the information. After further searching does anyone have the model number of a Baldor or Leeson, or another brand motor that will mount with little or no modifications behind the stock motor. Although I do not mind customizing, I would rather be turning than tuning. I am trying to stay with a 1-1/2 so as to stay on 115 power. The model Delta I have is a 28-276.

Much Appreciated.

-Donald-

[Pete Bradley]

5" thick shouldn't stall a 3/4 HP. What are you using for a band? A good choice would be a 3/8"X4TPI. Is it possible you're twisting the blank as you cut it?

If you do decide to swap, make sure you get a motor that delivers more real HP than the one you have. Some motors (especially cheap imports and "special horsepower" motors intended for compressors) don't deliver what they advertise. To match it up, find the NEMA frame size listed on your current motor and match it up. If the frame size is not marked, you can also find NEMA dimensions online.

As I mentioned though, I think a motor swap would be a waste of money for this not terribly taxing task. I can resaw more than twice that on my 20" band saw with 1HP.

Pete

[Donald Wilkins]

Pete, I was cutting a 5" thick piece of Oak 10" bowl blank out. The wood had been sealed, so it still had a good bit of moisture. I was using a 1/2 blade with 4TPI (I believe). Before I swapped to the 1/2 Olsen blade I had the stock 1/4" and it twisted too much. The machine would bogg down on straight cuts, so I had to take it real slow to keep it from stalling and gradually cut away. It was a large blank for my lathe (Jet 1220) so the curved cuts did not seem too sharp to bind the blade

The motor does not have the NEMA frame size listed. Where would I find that?

I started turning in March and it is nice to have that bandsaw when cutting your own blanks.

Thanks for adding knowledge to the ignorant.:)

-Donald-

[Thomas Williams]

Donald:
I have the same saw and would like to upgrade the HP also.
Before you spend the money on the new motor,get a Timber wolf blade and give it a good tune up. That made a huge difference with my saw.

[Steve knight]

try cutting tropicals on that small motor. I did it for years and it was just plain slow. though I bought a bigger bandsaw after 15 years to deal with it but the saw sure needed a upgrade.

[Tom Veatch]

...The motor does not have the NEMA frame size listed. Where would I find that?...

Frame size should be listed on the motor dataplate. It it isn't, you may have an IEC (metric) frame motor. The first thing I would do is get an accurate measurement of the motor shaft diameter with a set of calipers. Then see if you can find a match in one of these tables. That will narrow the field. Then look for another dimension shown in the tables that would be convenient for you to check on your motor. Evenually you'll home in on your motor's frame.

NEMA Frame Dimensions (http://www.electricmotorwarehouse.com/PDF/NEMA.pdf)
IEC Frame Dimensions (http://www.americanelectricmotors.com/avactis-images/u/IEC%20Frame%20chart.pdf)

[Eddie Darby]

I have a Delta 14" saw, and installed a 2 hp TEFC motor, and it works like a charm.

I think that all the upgrades that I have added to this saw are very costly in the long run. I think that if they had the 14" saws that they have available today, when I bought about a decade ago, I would've skipped this whole upgrade process, and just bought a good bandsaw in the first place.

There is a good article in FWW Tool Guide on these new 14" saws.

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ToolGuide/ToolGuidePDF.aspx?id=29198


"New Breed of Bandsaws (http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ToolGuide/ToolGuidePDF.aspx?id=29198)
New 14-in. models have serious resaw capacity,with more power to handle bigger boards"

If you do decide to upgrade your present saw then these pages might help.

http://www.woodturnerruss.com/Bandsaw-Using.html

http://www.woodturnerruss.com/Bandsaw-Tuning.html

[Pete Bradley]

Pete, I was cutting a 5" thick piece of Oak 10" bowl blank out.... Before I swapped to the 1/2 Olsen blade I had the stock 1/4" and it twisted too much. The machine would bogg down on straight cuts

It sounds to me like you're undertensioning or the 1/4" band was a geometry with insufficient set for the job. More horsepower may drag the band through, but the results are likely to be less than satisfactory. It would be worth experimenting with more tension to see if you can get better performance. It's not that more HP is a bad thing, you just want your saw dialed in for optimal performance whatever the NP.

Pete

[Al Willits]

I have the same saw, and after spending half a day fine tuning and with a Wolf blade I come to the conclusion that 3/4hp isn't enough if your gonna resaw, especially white oak.
Can ya do it?
Sure but its slow and I doubt bogging the motor down is doing it any good.

Not sure about 2hp but I'd be happy with a 1.5hp motor on it, appears the rest of the saw will handle that hp.

Spend some time researching band saws and it get pretty clear that this saw is not for the somewhat serious woodworking hobbyist, much less pro and a upgrade is really desirable.

Problem here for many is cost of a new saw, either it was to much at the time of purchase versus the Delta or now wanting to upgrade we have a saw to get rid of and the cost of the newer improved model.

Of all the power tools I bought, this one was the one I regret, but spending the amount to buy a decent 16" or larger saw is not in the budget now, but installing a larger motor in this saw is.
Now just to find the size, hp and decent motor on sale.. :)

Gotta make due with what you want to spend.

Al

[Dick Strauss]

Donald,
Here are a few things to consider...

Blades
Try the 3/8"-3tpi A/S (alternate set) blades from TimberWolf. They are specially designed for bowl blanks (wet wood). I have the same saw and use the TimberWolf baldes for cutting bowl blanks.

Tension
You also need to apply more tension than stated by the gauge on the BS. You need to go to the 3/4" blade setting at a minimum for most 1/2" blades

Yes, I still stall the motor from time to time when cutting 11" thick blanks. I do think more hp would be helpful. However, the other hints above might buy you some time until you really feel the need to upgrade.

[Myk Rian]

Here's how I set the tension.
Get the blade to track in the middle of the wheels. If it isn't in the middle of BOTH wheels, stop right there and get the wheels aligned.
Raise the guide bar all the way up.
start the saw and watch the blade. It will flutter. Increase or decrease tension till the flutter is gone.
Adjust the guides and bearings.

[george wilson]

My 12" resaw capacity old model 14" Delta has had an old heavy duty 3/4 HP motor on it since 1964.It has resawn everything I've put through it,including 10" thick rosewood,ebony,Cuban mahonany. A lot of hard woods. I'm wondering if your motor is over rated for horsepower,or if the blade is dull. Cutting wet wood would also be hard on the blade. I don't think increasing the HP would harm anything.

I have collected old heavy duty motors for the last 40 years. My 3/4 must be 10" in diameter. An old G.E.. These new motors commonly sold just don't have real guts,it seems.

[Travis Porter]

I upgraded the motor on my 14" open stand bandsaw from a 1/2 hp to a 1.5 HP. It made a lot of difference, but I had a lot of pain.

The motor was "unreturnable" as it was a gift. Although the frame size was the same, the new motor had a large electrical enclosure on it that forced me to move it farther back and that kept me from using the existing belt and belt guards.

[Heather Thompson]

I doubt this thread is being followed by the OP, it started in Aug of 08.

Heather

[Myk Rian]

LOL.. Somehow, it came up as a new thread for me. Duh.