I have a woodmizer eg200 diesel. I will be moving the edger into a building. I found an electric edger for sale. It looks to have more hours than mine. I would like to keep my edger and switch it over to electric. Does anyone here have experience with swapping from diesel to electric? Would I just be better off to buy one already set up with electric?
I can't imagine anything that would be different. Maybe the pulley size? Ususally they are the same on the machine and change on the power side of things. I think it would be an easy swap. @customsawyer (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=1861) had an electric EG200, maybe he has some advice.
I never had a WM edger that was anything but electric so can't speak on if it is set up different or not. I wouldn't think so. I know there is a lot of folks looking for a diesel edger and electric ones are a little harder to move. If you do the swap check with WM to see if the pulley size is different.
In general a board edger runs just above std, electric motor speed [1750 - 1800 rpm.] or even that speed, 1 to 1. The electric motor will have about 5 more hp than the diesel if they are both tagged the same. Hope you have 3 phase.
Yeah, 3 phase is a great improve.
I swaped my sawmill from gasoline to electric and boy would i never go back to a stinky, loud combustion engine. just watch for the rpms and pulley sizes, the rest is easy
Look in the owner's manual to see how the electric edger is equipped, the parts diagrams should have both diesel and electric diagrams. My ED26, same as the 200, has the CAT 26hp. I think it runs at 3100 rpms. I'll have to see what the ratio of the sheaves is.
What hp do you have on the edger now?
26hp cat diesel
To replace that engine with electric, you will need at least a 15 hp and maybe a 20 hp
I have a 15hp motor to sell if interested, with 5% to the FF.
20 hp electric will run 2 14" saws 9/32" kerf, 15 teeth per saw. If it has thin kerf saws I bet 15 hp will be fine.
I think my WM had 15 hp electric on it. I never tripped the breaker but you could sure hear it load up on 2" oak. It is the only edger I have had that you couldn't adjust the feed speed. One of the features I didn't like on it. Loved its accuracy though.
Quote from: customsawyer on October 24, 2021, 07:08:10 AM
I think my WM had 15 hp electric on it. I never tripped the breaker but you could sure hear it load up on 2" oak. It is the only edger I have had that you couldn't adjust the feed speed. One of the features I didn't like on it. Loved its accuracy though.
A feed speed adjustment is the best thing you can have unless you have a heavy duty over powered machine. On the edgers talked about here the mandrels are always too small and vibrate if over loaded causing the board being sawn to curve. Slowing the feed can fix this common problem.
I have a Woodmizer 15 hp edger that I bought used a few years back. It was part of a production line where the entire line ran at the same time as the sawmill - even if it wasn't used.
The hour meter read something like 12,000 hours on it when I bought it, but the machine looked brand new. Basically 99% of those hours were spent spinning w/o any load on it.
I've had zero problems with it.
My advice would be to buy the electric edger and sell your diesel one, as you may net out $ ahead due to the higher demand for non-electric edgers. I would not be afraid of the hours on an electric edger as long as it does not show excessive wear on any of the components.