After getting great responses from my contact wheel question I have made a list of all my contact wheels and small wheel attachment needed to start building my grinder.
Today was spent reading and researching motors.
I quickly realized that the motor may be my road block.
I rent. I have a garage big enough to set up shop in. My landlord has agreed to allow me to use the garage as a workshop. However there are two 110 outlets on the same breaker and it is a 15amp.
I looked at some 1.5HP motors but those max out and like 18 amp or so. The 1HP max out really close to 13amp.
I have searched here for answers but most solutions are to run heavier 12 gauge lines and larger 20amp breakers.
Rewiring an outlet is not going to be possible for me.
Everything I have read says it cannot be done well with a 1HP.
Geoffrey,
I has a similar situation in a apartment building and I talked with the owner and told him I would pay to have a Licensed electrical contractor put two new 30 amp breakers put in the panel.
The owner said fine! It's a upgrade that you can give him the receipt for. It's a write off as a building improvement here in the USA.
I have used a 1 1/4HP 56C motor Variable in the past, But just 1HP is light if you are going to do any real heavy grinding.
Don't panic. There is always more than one solution!
I run my 1.5 motors on 15 amp breakers. The amp rating is the maximum to be expected but rarely used and the higest amps are only for a brief period at start up. If you put the 1.5 hp motor on the circuit the worst that is going to happen is that the circuit would throw. I have even run 2 hp motors on a 15 amp circuit.
About the only time you would have a problem is when there are two things running at the same time. I can run my big air compressor on a 15 Amp circuit. I have it plugged into a multi-plug with a reset button! That way if I am using the drill press and the air compressor kicks on and I don't realize it and shut down the drill press it will trip the reset on the multi-plug and not the breaker. The more times a breaker is tripped the weaker it begins to get. I figure it's cheaper to replace the multi-plug than a breaker down the road!
It's not ideal but short of rewiring that is your alternative!
I'd trust Wayne's advice so it sounds like you should be good to go.
I'd only add that before I got excited about it I'd check the wire size that's in the wall. If it's 14g your stuck with the 15a breaker. It's very possible that the wire is already 12g and this is simple as swapping out the breaker for a 20a.
While upgrading the wire is a bigger job, swapping a breaker is 5 minutes or less for anyone with basic experience.
You never know you might just get lucky on this one
Of course it can be done. 80% of the grinders we sell are 1 HP. I own 2 variable speed 1HP grinders myself. If you want to be a full time production maker, you'll want more. If you believe knifemaking is about power, you'll want more. If you believe knifemaking is about finesse, you'll be just fine with 1 HP.
Get grinding.
I used a one horse on this homebuilt so I could dedicate my Bader for flat grinds. No problem, even putting some muscle into it. That belt makes contact with a lot of real estate. I haven't stopped the machine or popped one breaker. You might consider replacing the wall outlets with ground fault outlets (only 3 wires) because breakers will get weak if you keep popping them. If not, then at least use a multi-strip and keep any problems out of your main box. A majority of your grinds will be at higher grits anyway, no need to try and push the grinder into the next county. Use sharp belts.
I did some more digging. It is 14/2 wire run from panel to the garage. I tripped the breaker to see what else is run off that one 15A breaker. Turns out they run both outlets, the garage lights, and garage door opener off the one 15A breaker.
My solution I think is to get a 20A breaker installed at the panel to an outlet and run a 12 gauge extension cord up to the grinder. The distance from panel to grinder straight line is maybe 12' but the route i'd need to take is maybe 25'
I had a similar problem and the fix was removing the one large breaker in the main box and installing 2 mini-breakers in it's place. One mini would handle the present setup and the other is dedicated to a double outlet box which you can jump another outlet from in the future. It took about a half hour. The mini-breakers solved a lot of problems without getting into a sub panel, which is another alternative . I had no more room in the main box.
Your best solution is going to depend on several factors.
If you can handle wiring in an outlet direct from the breaker box then it shouldn't be too much extra trouble to hard wire the outlet to where your grinder will be set up. This would be much better than going with an extension cord (IMHO) Although the extesion cord would be a viable option as long as you stick with the correct wire size for the length of the run.
Do you have available un-used slots in the breaker box ?
Like Rudy I had to add in a double breaker to get room in the box for a dedicated 220v line for the garage.
My breaker box is in the back corner of the garage. Grinder bench is in the opposite front corner. I ran my wire above the ceiling from the box and used plastic conduit to run the wire from the ceiling down to the bench.
Probably not the kind of project someone with no experience should undertake but it is a quick and easy project for an electrician so it probably wouldn't cost a bundle to have it professionally done.
Yet another option would be to use the exsisting wire in your outlet to pull through some 12g wire and upgrade the exsisting stuff to 20a.
In your shoes with being a renter and all I think I'd go with a 1 1/2 hp motor and set-up your grinder and see if you have problems tripping the breaker before getting into the electrical side of things.
I'm still not sure you have a problem. The garage door opener will not be operating while you are grinding. The other outlet won't be running anything either. Switch the lights to CFL and they draw almost nothing. At least try it with what you've got. If it aint broke - don't fix it.
I am going with a 1.5HP motor. Best case. No issues.
Worst Case:
I have a call in to my landlord to get permission to convert the plug in my utility closet ( breaker location ) from 14/2 15 amp wire to 12 or 10 gauge wire with a 20 to 30 amp breaker. From there I can run a 20' 10 or 12 gauge extension cord to the grinder.
I will keep moving ahead as I am far to excited to stop now.
Speaking as an old school electrician.....be sure you use heavy insulated electrical cord at 12 guage for an extension cord. Do not use the orange crappy cords in either 16 or 14 gauge. Buy a couple of heavy male female connectors and you are good to go. Mini breakers are O.K., but my experience says they are not as durable as singles. I use them in the shop and have had to replace a few. I don't think they are as well made as in the old days either! All of this discussion about 15 amp vs 20 amp circuits should provide a good wiring lesson for you. When you build your house.....don't use anything but 12 gauge wire throughout! Unless of course you need 10 gauge. Many fires start with 14 gauge wire using heavy appliances. Just don't over breaker the box. Some folks try and run 20 amp breakers on 14 gauge wire! Don't! Keep it safe and happy grinding.
I spec'd out a baldor motor that I think will do the trick. Max amp load is 15 so running it should be good I think. I will be picking it up next month. Then the build is officially on.
Check out motors at www.WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith.com. A 1.5 hp motor is$247.50 with free shipping. These motors have a 3 year warranty and I have never had a call back.
