Sunday, January 31, 2010

New overload protection circuit breaker for Performax/Jet 16-32 Drum Sander

Last weekend I was sanding a fairly light load of Spruce at 1/128-1/64" per pass when my overload breaker started tripping randomly. At first I thought I was taking off too much, but when it started tripping without passing a board through it I began to suspect the circuit breaker. The motor wasn't particularly hot, so I let it cool down for about 2 hours and tried again. Same result, so I removed the circuit breaker. It was rated at 16A.

I began Googling for a replacement breaker when I came across several forums that indicated Performax would only sell you a new motor, not the switch alone. I went to Home Depot and found a large, bulky15A motor overload fused box and wired it up just to get me going again. It worked fine, but I still want to find an OEM replacement. I plan to use this circuit breaker on my Grizzly planer, which doesn't have overload protection.

So, back to Google. I found the 4va64 at Grainger for $2 and is very similar to the original, at least by specs. I ordered it and wired it up--back in business (so far).

1 comment:

  1. I went to Amazon, Granger wanted to much for shipping. I bought Blue Sea Systems Push Button Reset switch for $6.11 tax/shipping included.Looks like it will work on my Jet sander. Thanks for the heads up on the reset switch.

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