How much horsepower needed to run edger?

[yellowrosefarm]

A no name brand 2 saw edger came with the Circle mill I bought last year. It was belted to the main shaft but I didn't really like where and how it was done. I would like to be able to run it independently of the mill so would like to add an engine to it or maybe run it off the tractor PTO. How much power am I likely to need?

[backwoods sawyer]

What size of saws are in the edger? How wide of a cut do they take (thin kerf or wide kerf)? Larger and wider saws will require more hp. Is it set up as a 2" edger or a 4" or 6" edger? Seem to me that the minor edger's run a 25 or 26 hp gas motor. There should be a brand tag somewhere on the edger, that would be a big help in determining hp and gear ratio. Sherman edger's have a different ratio then Minor edger's, and Coe edger's.

[bandmiller2]

Edgers require more power than you would think due to their feed speed.don't think I'd try it with much less than 16 hp.For intermitant use tractor PTO would work fine you could even set it up with 3 point hitch pins to make moving it easier.A transmission driven backwards is a handy way to get your RPM's up from the sedate 540 to whatever you need.Frank C.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

most edger saw shafts runn at around the 1800 to 2200 rpm range if its 2" depth of cut i recon around the 30/35hp min and if its a 4' D,O,C Id say a min of around the 40 to 60 hp mark it all depends on how heavly you want to use it  ;)

Chris

[woodhick]

I recently bought a Meadows Miner edger that has  two 12" blades.   I put a 16hp motor on it that I had laying around it is not enough.  It will edge 1" material now but will stall about 4' into a 2" board.  I would say a minimum of 25hp.   The Meadows runs at 90' per minute, not sure what yours runs at as slower would help.

[yellowrosefarm]

Thanks for all the information. I was eyeing an 18HP Onan I have in the garage, but I guess that isn't a good idea. I've got a 55 HP tractor, so that's probably the way to go. When the humidity breaks and I can get my camera outside without it fogging up, I'll post a pic of the edger. It has no ID plate on it or name, which is strange as it looks virtually new other than the weathering of sitting outside.

[easymoney]

if you could somehow slow down the feed rate that might help you cheat on the horespower if you cant get big enough motor for thick boards.

[ADAMINMO]

We use a 20 hp Honda engine on our edgers, they have 2 - 10" blades on them. If we build one with 12" blades it gets a 24 hp honda. Standard cut thickness for a Baker is about 2.5" I do believe.We do have a a hydraulic variable feed speeed on ours though so you can adjust it for different thicknesses. Hope this helps ya.

[yellowrosefarm]

I measured today and it has 2 14" blades on it so I guess I need to hook it up for tractor PTO.

[Ron Wenrich]

Rule of thumb is 5 hp/inch per blade.  So, if you intend to cut 2" stock, you would need 20 hp.  If you can get more, then so much the better.  We're using a 50 hp electric on a 2 saw edger, and 60 hp on a 2 saw vertical edger.  I can cut up to 7" on the vertical edger, but rarely do it with 2 saws or the full length of the log.

[bandmiller2]

Yellow rose,with 14" blades and more than 1" boards you need some serious HP I would go with the tractor PTO.Frank C.