Motor heat

[Mugs]

Hello members

I just purchased the T7. The engine runs hot after short use. No smell. No dripping oil. But it runs hot.

Is this normal? I've seen comments online suggesting the engine runs cool, and I've seen comments suggesting it runs hot, and that running hot is normal.

Can a Tormek employee clarify this issue please?

Thanks

[Ken S]

Welcome, Mugs.

I have not noticed my Tormek running hot, although I have never tested for it.  I will make a note to check this during my next sharpening session.  Forum, maybe we could get several members to do this.

Mugs, are you using the fifty cycle or sixty cycle version of the T7? 

Jeff or Sweden, is there a spec for normal operating motor range?

Ken

[Rob]

I've noticed mine gets warm after prolonged use but by no means hot.  That sounds (intuitively) like a fault to me

[Mugs]

Thank you Ken and Rob. I have contacted the seller who in turn is going to speak to someone at Tormek. I appreciate your response.

[Mugs]

PS Ken

I have no idea whether it is the 50 or 60 cycle engine. I wasn't aware the T7 had two different engines. I purchased my kit for www.thetoolstore.ca in Ontario Canada.

[Ken S]

Mugs,

I doubt that's the problem.  The 230volt, 50 cycle model is made for European current.  The 115volt, 60 cycle model is made for North America.  I don't know for certain, but I doubt the plugs would interchange.

Please post how things are resolved for you, and good luck.

Ken

[Mugs]

Well Tormek seems to be on a long holiday. The Europeans are so much more civilized about work ethic than North Americans. A month to six weeks to relax every year? Absolutely!!!!

I worked with the T7 machine a fair amount today and although it gets hot, the temperature did not escalate beyond being hot to the touch after a fair amount of work. Again, no smoke, no oil, no strange smells or sounds, so perhaps it will be fine. I've left the issue with thetoolstore.ca who seem competent and responsible. They were going to contact Tormek about the issue.

I will let you all know how it all resolves.

Thanks again for the help.

[Rob]

Most of Northern Europe tends to take July as their annual holiday because of their latitude.  In July Finland and the Scandinavian counties get nearly 24 hours light (land of the midnight sun) so they go a bit bonkers in July because of course in the winter it's dark nearly 24 hours.

In France they tend to have August off.  In the UK we tend to have a bit in July and a bit in August.

Average corporate holiday entitlement in the UK is 4 to 5 weeks per year.  (Its normally 2 in the US private sector right?)

[RobinW]

I did the following test today where I measured motor temperature against running time.

The ambient temp was 27⁰ C (80⁰ F for the imperialists).

I have a thermometer with a metal sheath which can be pushed into stuff for taking measurements, so strapped it to the motor body.

I let the T7 run for 5 minutes on no load ('nl' in the table); followed by 5 minutes grinding of a plane blade ('l' in table); repeated the exercise; and then let it run under no load for a while but continued to take temperatures.

Results shown in table and two graphs plotted.



This is too short a test to measure the differences in the rate of rise of the temperature whether the machine was loaded or not, but not greatly different for this case. After an hour of continuous running the temperature levelled out at 48⁰C  - and you would not want to keep your hand on it for more than a second or two. This is how my machine runs all the time (no doubt minor difference with lower ambient temp).


*Today's frustration - apart from the table top which I am restoring (again) - I write it up in Open Office word processing; tried to get graph to display both ⁰C and ⁰F results with different axis scales; can't find any help files; tried and tried and decided life was too short; tried to insert table into to ths forum package - couldn't get it to work; had to export page as pdf then do a screen grab which would only save as tiff; reopened in another package and re-saved as jpeg; then loaded into Photobucket so I could display it here. One day the computing/software world will get all packages to talk in single function steps and reduce blood pressure accordingly!!!

[Mugs]

Wow. Impressive detailed stuff!!! But the comment "you wouldn't want to keep your hand on it for more than a couple of seconds" makes it clear to me that it likely will not be a problem. Thanks very much for taking the time to do that Robin.
And thanks Rob for the interesting post. I am Canadian but spend a good deal of time in the USA. Being an actor/writer I've never really been aquainted with the holidays of the corporate world- I spent years working in restaurants of course, so have rarely known even the glee that most have with weekends approaching! I was usually working in a bar! Now I am enjoying splitting my time between Prince Edward Island Canada, and New Hampshire and New York. I worked in Switzerland years ago and loved that people went home for a long lunch and quiet time before returning to work-- much more civilized attitude, although I guess that may also be changing now...sadly.

[Herman Trivilino]

I recall someone posting about that same over-heating issue.  As I recall it was a defect in a new machine.

Did you buy yours new or used?  If new or still under warranty, Tormek will stand behind their machines.

[Mugs]

New. Thanks Herman.

[Mugs]

Just wanted to share the reply I received from Tormek:

Hi Colm,
Yes, it is not unusual that the motor gets hot. Warmest will the motor get when idling and sharpening knives does not need much pressure.
You can use your T-7 without risk.

Best regards
Tormek AB
Olle Ringefelt

I have been using the machine extensively without any problem. Thanks again to forum members for the help.

[Ken S]

Mugs,

Whatever we North Americans may lack in vacation time, you Canadians more than make up in good manners .

Maybe your Tormek is telling you to take some time to smell the roses.

Better that the Tormek case act as a heat shield.

Keep us posted.

Ken

[Jeff Farris]

Sorry I haven't checked in for a couple days.

Like Olle said, it is not an issue at all. The motor does run relatively hot, but it's designed for it. You're good to go.