Edger HP?

[woodhick]

I have an old Belsaw 802 two blade edger that I plan to set up.  Has on fixed blade and on movable.  Blades are 12"  10 or 12 tooth. Just wandering what horsepower I should be looking to put on it.  I will probably go electric with a 10hp, because I have one.  But not sure what hp I should go with if I go gas.  Any suggestions?

[Ron Wenrich]

Rule-of-thumb is 5 hp/inch of wood cut/blade.  You'll be able to cut thicker pieces. it just won't be as pretty.   ;)  It will also vary by species and blade sharpness.

[Kevin_H.]

Does your 802 look something like this?

We are running 3 blades with a 10 hp motor, most of the time we are pushing 1/2" stuff though it, but can run 1 1/2" if we have 3 sharp blades.

[LOGDOG]

Woodhick,

The guy that does my saw work and builds saws of all kinds has a schedule of horsepower, number of blades, thickness of material , etc that he uses when someone asks him the question you asked here. I had him figure it up for a machine for me a while back and it came out to the same as Ron mentioned here. The only thing different was that he said if I were to run the power feed off of the same motor as my saws add a minimum of 5 h.p. for it - more depending on the size of material. That said, I've owned several edgers that have had 25 - 30 h.p. that performed very well provided the teeth were sharp and the machines were aligned properly. Given my choice I'd go electric. I'm converting everything over to electric here. Best of luck with your edger.

LOGDOG