Upping the power on an electric mill?

[Glenn1]

I am looking to purchase an electric mill.  Norwood limits their HD36 to 10HP.  Baker offers their 18HD with a 15HP electric. MW uses a 10HP electric on their LT15.   Do you normally get a faster cut and more torque with a higher HP motor.  What about removing a 10HP and changing it out with a 15-20HP 3 phase motor?  Would that increase productivity and would it be effective?  I would need to use a rotary phase converter,
 

[Dave Shepard]

I think the 10 HP on the Wood-Mizer is probably adequate. Should be comparable with the higher horsepower gas options. The problem with going with a larger motor is the weight. Electric motors are dense, and a 15 or 20 gets heavy, maybe too heavy for the lifting gear. Actual time in the cut is only part of the equation. You can speed up sawing, but log and lumber handling is still going to be manual. You would probably be better off going to a hydraulic mill rather than pushing the hp limits of the manual mill.

[Ocklawahaboy]

I would also think that the moving parts of the mill are engineered for the prescribed HP motor and rpms.

[bandmiller2]

A ten HP motor is the largest common single phase motor available and should be ample for your mill. Electric motors have a lot of torque and the intermittent nature of milling allows them to run cool. Frank C.

[Glenn1]

Thank you for your replies.  I have noticed that Baker offers a manual saw that incorporates a 15HP 3 phase motor.    I am trying to make comparisons and wonder why one manual saw would use a 10HP vs the 15HP from a competitor.  It seems obvious that the Baker is well made and can handle the extra weight.  Does that make it a more robust saw?

[sandsawmill14]

Thank you for your replies.  I have noticed that Baker offers a manual saw that incorporates a 15HP 3 phase motor.    I am trying to make comparisons and wonder why one manual saw would use a 10HP vs the 15HP from a competitor.  It seems obvious that the Baker is well made and can handle the extra weight.  Does that make it a more robust saw?

electric motors dont vary the rpms as much as gas engines. the smallest electric motor you can run without exceeding the fla will be  the most effecient. I installed a Hurdle mill 7 or 8 years ago and converted from diesel to electric 200 hp for head saw in 2013 he burned up the 200 hp motor and i couldnt find one anywhere close to here so i put 150 hp motor on to get him going till we could find one. a couple days later he called and said not to worry about it that he couldnt tell any difference sawing with it compared to the 200 hp. GUESS WHAT else happened ???? his electric bill went down over 800 bucks a month and still cutting same production.    sorta like putting a 454 bb chevy engine in a s-10 its real nice but you dont need it                   
   btw  his mill was down 3.5 hrs due to the motor change. 4 hrs is a long time for them to be down no matter what happens. (if get to slow they will get another electrician)

[bandmiller2]

If running an electric mill, and short on motor power, be sure to run as much of the auxiliary load with separate motors. Frank C.

[Glenn1]

If running an electric mill, and short on motor power, be sure to run as much of the auxiliary load with separate motors. Frank C.

Frank,  Can you explain what you mean?

[Joe Hillmann]

Thank you for your replies.  I have noticed that Baker offers a manual saw that incorporates a 15HP 3 phase motor.    I am trying to make comparisons and wonder why one manual saw would use a 10HP vs the 15HP from a competitor.  It seems obvious that the Baker is well made and can handle the extra weight.  Does that make it a more robust saw?

A 10 hp electric motor can be run anywhere that has at least 60 amp service (if you were careful not to bog it down and had capacitor start you could maybe even run one on 40 amp service).  Most places and all new construction has 100 amp service or more.   So just about any place that has grid electric can run a 10 hp motor.

To run a 3 phase motor you obviously need 3 phase service.  If you already have it, its no big deal.  If you don't it can be very expensive to have it installed and depending on your location you may not be able to get it installed at all.  So the average person can't run a 3 phase motor without a lot of expense.

If you go with 3 phase you could use a converter but you still can't get more watts than your service can supply.  15 hp would take 50 amps on 230volts.  More once you run it through a converter.

[Glenn1]

Thank you for the explanation.  We have 200 amp service so I think that would be enough.  Getting 3 phase from the local electric company is quite a laugh.  The closest industrial location that has 3 phase is 3 miles away.  And to think the electric company would want to charge me to bring it here.   :D :D  They could  "easily" recover their cost in the next 500 years. 

I have done some research on rotary phase converters and that seems to  be the only other option.  Even with full hydraulics, maybe the 10hp  will give me enough power for now.  I'll be starting as a one man operation but it would be nice to have the volume to get another set of hands.  (I wonder if my lovely wife wants to help... )

[bandmiller2]

Glenn, what I ment was if you are running another load like a hydraulic pump do it with a separate motor to save  load on the main band motor. Frank C.