Post by lapidary1234 on Aug 13, 2024 22:32:53 GMT -5
I have 3 trim saws now...I got curious to see what the different blade speeds were and went down a little wormhole. After messing with pulleys and belts I can report the following:
First one is 10" "gem lap brand saw that i got from an old timer when he was retiring. It's speed was good at 1166 rpm, the reason I wanted a different saw was that the blade guard/hood is solid metal and not adjustable. Can only cut rocks maybe 1.5" tall.
2nd saw is a lortone ls8 and this one is at a remote location (workshop). This saw had a blade speed of 2242 rpm so I changed the pulleys and got the blade speed down to 1552. This saw has a 1/2 hp motor and cuts really really nicely. It is super nice to have a trim saw in the same slot as my 14" frantom slab saw.
I found a 10" star diamond pf10 for a reasonable price this last spring and when I tested it out it cut really good. But then in my infinite wisdom decide to calculate the blade speed. It had a 2.5" pulley on the motor and a 2" pulley on the arbor giving it a blade speed of 2187. I use the notched blades which are recommended to spin between 1150-1400ish.
So I ordered a 1.5" pulley to put on the motor. This brought the speed down to 1312 rpm.
The problem I'm having is when I cut ANYTHING the blade stalls out!!! I can see the belt slowing down and then both pulleys stop spinning. The belt does not slip or anything like that. This saw uses a 1/3 hp motor.
I thought maybe it could be the motor as it is visibly older and sparked internally last time I used the saw.
I bought a different 1/3 hp motor today on marketplace. I hooked it all up today and went to make a cut of some Indian paint rock (soft material) the blade still stalled. I tried a cut of some softer jasper/rhyolite looking stuff (also very soft material) and the blade stalled. I tried trimming an agate slab and the blade stalled.
I am not using the powerfeed and also am NOT pushing too hard. I guarantee I'm not pushing hard, something else is the issue. The 8" saw at my workshop I can push much harder than even I'd advise and it doesn't stall...
The only couple odds and ends I can put out there are that arbor itself and pulley on arbor felt quite warm borderline hot when I shut everything down. Also this is the type of saw that you plug the motor into the powerfeed box and then that plugs into the wall. I wouldn't think the powerfeed box does anything other than pass voltage through when using blade manually (no powerfeed).
Could it be that using only a 1.5" pulley on motor shaft doesn't have enough contact to push blade fast enough? That's really the only thing I can think of. I'd like to keep my blade speed in recommended range but I can't use a pulley larger than 2" on the arbor because the position of the table hangs over the arbor pulley and thats the largest size that will fit.
I guess I can just set it back up how I got it but then the blade will spin about 900 rpm faster than I'd like (recommended).
Please let me know what to look for / help troubleshoot!! Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank you kindly ~Josh
First one is 10" "gem lap brand saw that i got from an old timer when he was retiring. It's speed was good at 1166 rpm, the reason I wanted a different saw was that the blade guard/hood is solid metal and not adjustable. Can only cut rocks maybe 1.5" tall.
2nd saw is a lortone ls8 and this one is at a remote location (workshop). This saw had a blade speed of 2242 rpm so I changed the pulleys and got the blade speed down to 1552. This saw has a 1/2 hp motor and cuts really really nicely. It is super nice to have a trim saw in the same slot as my 14" frantom slab saw.
I found a 10" star diamond pf10 for a reasonable price this last spring and when I tested it out it cut really good. But then in my infinite wisdom decide to calculate the blade speed. It had a 2.5" pulley on the motor and a 2" pulley on the arbor giving it a blade speed of 2187. I use the notched blades which are recommended to spin between 1150-1400ish.
So I ordered a 1.5" pulley to put on the motor. This brought the speed down to 1312 rpm.
The problem I'm having is when I cut ANYTHING the blade stalls out!!! I can see the belt slowing down and then both pulleys stop spinning. The belt does not slip or anything like that. This saw uses a 1/3 hp motor.
I thought maybe it could be the motor as it is visibly older and sparked internally last time I used the saw.
I bought a different 1/3 hp motor today on marketplace. I hooked it all up today and went to make a cut of some Indian paint rock (soft material) the blade still stalled. I tried a cut of some softer jasper/rhyolite looking stuff (also very soft material) and the blade stalled. I tried trimming an agate slab and the blade stalled.
I am not using the powerfeed and also am NOT pushing too hard. I guarantee I'm not pushing hard, something else is the issue. The 8" saw at my workshop I can push much harder than even I'd advise and it doesn't stall...
The only couple odds and ends I can put out there are that arbor itself and pulley on arbor felt quite warm borderline hot when I shut everything down. Also this is the type of saw that you plug the motor into the powerfeed box and then that plugs into the wall. I wouldn't think the powerfeed box does anything other than pass voltage through when using blade manually (no powerfeed).
Could it be that using only a 1.5" pulley on motor shaft doesn't have enough contact to push blade fast enough? That's really the only thing I can think of. I'd like to keep my blade speed in recommended range but I can't use a pulley larger than 2" on the arbor because the position of the table hangs over the arbor pulley and thats the largest size that will fit.
I guess I can just set it back up how I got it but then the blade will spin about 900 rpm faster than I'd like (recommended).
Please let me know what to look for / help troubleshoot!! Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank you kindly ~Josh
