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I Forge Iron

What motor do I want?


Dodge

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I thought, when I put this together, I might need a bigger motor. I am sure of it now ;) I'm getting ready to buy a motor and I see terms like "compressor duty", "farm duty", "industrial/commercial duty", "general purpose". What kind of motor do I want for a tool such as a belt grinder? I was looking at these:
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
Pros? Cons? (other than "it's from HF" lol)

p.s. sorry for the poor quality pic attachments, cell phone cam with cracked lens

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3303.attach

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You sure don't want the one in that thumbnail---all those openings to feed grit and metal into the innerds of the motor---ugh!

In general for a good sized belt grinder you want a 1.5 to 2 hp continuous duty sealed motor. I'd suggest talking to the local motor repair shop and see if they have a good one to sell you rather than an HF one.

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Hi dodge,
How big is that belt? What voltage is in your shop? 2hp will pull 24-25 amps on 110 v half that for 220. industrial duty motors are better at continuous duty, farm duty are water proof(or at least rain proof). You might be better of looking at your local scrap place for a used motor- or especially at yard/garage sales. I picked up 2 baldor motors for $5 at a garage sale- a 1hp industrial and a 1/3 farm duty- if you can find a baldor it will usually run no matter how rusty or gunked up it is. depending on your belt size i think 2 hp( read that as 2hp and not 2hp developed) might be overkill- 1- 1.5 should be fine. i actually have a 1/2 hp on my foley belsaw belt grinder and it doesnt bog down easily.


Sean

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Thanks one and all for the greatly appreciated input. I'm on my way to go motor shopping, armed with this info ;) I will probably shoot for 2 hp 220 volt for the amp savings. May be a little over kill, but as Tim "the Tool Man" Taylor says, "Errr Errr Arrrrrrrh!"

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I would recomend a good name brand Baldor, Leeson or Dayton single phase 1.5 horse TEFC motor. It's worth the extra money to get a good name brand motor which will last a long time.

I'm driving my 2x72 belt grinder on a 1HP Baldor, and while I can bog it down if I try, mostly it's pefectly fine for everything I'm doing. I dont tend to do a lot of reall hard push hogging on a belt, I'd rather use a stone bench grinder or an angle grinder for that.

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