Official Luthiers Forum!

Wondering if anyone who has this sander could please advise - what does your amp meter peak at at start up? Mine is hitting 106 Amps at start up, for a few seconds, before settling down to mid 20's under no load running. It has tripped my 40 amp breaker once. Seems to me it never used to peak that high at start up, and something is wrong. Where do other folks peak at? Many thanks. Im thinking maybe capacitor or starter switch failing?

I had to rebuild mine. The 5 hp motor centrifical switch went bad and fried it out, That was covered . Mine peaks for about 2 seconds then falls to about 15 when neutral I have replaced all motors on mine. It is 7 yeas old. I had a lot of trouble when I first got it. My control circuit board was cracked from the factory but they wouldn't replace it. Also the tracking eye was bad.
I did rebuild the unit with the help of the Muncy shop but it was on my dime. It has worked well ever since. I use mine a lot.
I also never use anything finer than 80 grit. If the paper glazes you will run a high amperage also watch your feed. I only take no more than .010 at a pass

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I believe I have a 60 amp circuit breaker and very heavy gauge wire for mine. I get about a 20 amp draw with the conveyor belt running. I usually never have more than about 1 to 2 additional amps needed during stock removal. I'm pretty sure the amp load during startup is quite a bit more but there really isn't that much force needed to turn the drum - and so, it shouldn't be a whole lot more than the motor itself would need to get up to running speed. In other words, your amp reading does seem to be way off. Perhaps it has something to do with the centrifugal switch. I'd call grizzly and see what they say - they are usually pretty helpful. Overall, I have had an incredibly positive experience with this machine.

--
Simon

I have one. Those startup amps are way too high. Mine has an initial burst in the mid-to-high 20s, then settles down in the teens. It'll go into the 20s with heavy stock removal, but that's it. Occasionally it bumps up to 30.

I had a real problem with the belts hitting the limit switches when removing stock. I spent hours on the phone with Grizzly walking me through adjustments, on at least half a dozen occasions, without success. After a year or so I finally got it working pretty well. I've been reasonably happy with it, but the limit switch problem was annoying enough that I would have to think carefully before buying it again. It has some great features, but it should not have been that difficult to get it to work properly.

People rant and rave about Grizzly customer service. I thought their service was just OK. They were nice, but not super fast to respond, and they never did help me get the problem fixed. I eventually fixed it myself, though.

In the last 5 yrs I purchased a number of Grizzly machines. A drill press ( lasted 2 yrs ) a metal working lather ( switch lasted 2 weeks) Oscillating sanders lasted less than a year.
They are making them cheap , the bearings and switches are low end. The drill press motor didn't last long and was replaced on warranty the 2nd one didn't last long either. Once out of warranty I put a baldor on it. Then the bearings went.

the stuff is pretty much the same at Shop Fox , even Power matic and steel city has gone down. I do like the Jet stuff. It depends on what and how you use it. We just can't get quality anymore. Bean counters look at price and cheap is often more costly in the long run. The best customer service is when you don't need to use it.

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

" Bean counters look at price and cheap is often more costly in the long run."

But not to the manufacturer. It is getting harder to find professional quality tools. I think Bean counters figured out that they can sell a lot more joe homeowner crap at a slightly better price point than sell a well made tool that will last a working man's lifetime. And the Pro may have to settle for replacing his tools fairly regularly.

I have found MSC to have a good line of JET these are a better quality tool and I am upgrading as the grizz and shop fox die off.
Sad thing is that I have a 3/4 in shaper I got from Grizz in the late 70's that is still running and never had a problem. Sad to see this happen but welcome to the Walmart world.

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I have the Grizzly 18" sander. I found it on craigslist for $1800 about 3 years ago. It was basically unused I think it was made around 1998.

I don't get the peak amps you are getting unless I am doing something woefully wrong. Under normal conditions I only take off a couple of thou at at a time.

As far as the quality of the machine I have been very happy with it No real problems yet.

The guy before me somehow gouged the drum slightly,so I made a sled of plywood and glued 36 grit sandpaper to it and passed it through the machine to true the drum-worked perfectly.

As far as the declining quality of machinery today, I have some old American iron, My Jointer 12" is a S.A. Woods that is 100 years old (Babbit bearing) The thing is perfect! I love it.

I also have a Canadian made 15" General cast iron bandsaw with a Baldor motor about 10 years old-I think they stopped making them. When I last saw them for sale they were $3500.! (I paid $1500.) It is an incredible tool.

If you scour Craigslsit and ebay you can still find these used machines in great condition.

I have one too. Mine was new just over 2 years ago. The only adjustment I made to it was to lower the minimum height setting so I can sand boards down to 0.060" if needed. Start-up amps seem to be in the low 20's, and idle is right on 10A. I love this machine. Even with good suction from a 2HP cyclone, I find I need to keep the internals clean with an occasional blast of compressed air, especially around the oscillation sensors.

Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Hey Jason,

I sent you a PM.

_________________
Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Thanks for the help guys. I spoke with grizzly, cleaned up the points on the centrifugal switch, re set it, and still get the high amps at start up. not kicking out the breaker now though. i can spin the drum freely, and the belts are tensioned to spec, so i guess I'll just run it till she smokes. i read that inrush current at startup can be 5-8 times run current, so hopefully it hangs on. once its running, it works fine, and the amps drop down to normal, its just that initial spike at startup that is disturbing. love the thing other than that.

Hi Jason,

I took another look at my meter and it actually does get "pinned"-about 100 amps for a split second at start up.

I am using a 50 amp breaker.

It is probably the same (or worse) with my 24" bandsaw at startup,however there is no meter so it is just a guess.

Regards,
Brad