How much HP is too much?

[Pocket]

I recently got a 10inch lapidary saw but after cutting 20 or so rocks the motor died. I've been looking for a new motor but there's not a whole lot around my area under 1HP. Most sources I've found recommend 1/4-1/2 HP for 10inches so is 1HP too much? What are the negatives of using a higher HP? are there any?
Thanks 

[Bucket]

Hi Pocket, welcome to the forum. Is the saw a self feeding one or do you have to hold the rock to cut it? If it's self feeding I can't see how a stronger motor would be a problem as the self feed mechanism would still feed the rock through at a given speed. If it's one that you feed through yourself by holding the rock while cutting, you may be forcing it through to fast. Again, a stronger motor won't hurt, but you will risk damage to the blade and/or the stone itself. Let the blade do the work and make sure you have enough water/oil to cool and lubricate the blade as well. Was the motor that you had die a new one, or had it seen work prior to you getting it? Twenty stones doesn't sound like a lot of work for a motor. Our club uses 1/2 horsepower on our ten inch blade saw and it's still going after many years of cutting.

[tinker]

Pocket, I got my latest 1/4hp motor of a local electrician that repairs white goods.  This one was out of a fridge and only cost me about $80 reconditioned.  Maybe if you have a local scrap metal dealer or white goods electrician, you may find one there.  Scrap metal dealers might be the go.  Good Luck

[Rusted]

Saws are a disk brake, go for the biggest HP you can afford. Brand new motors are reasonably cheap, Chinese of course but they are quite good.
No negatives using a more powerful motor apart from slightly higher electricity use, a small motor if it starts to struggle will try to use more electricity until it overheats and burns out.

[Pocket]

Hi Pocket, welcome to the forum. Is the saw a self feeding one or do you have to hold the rock to cut it? If it's self feeding I can't see how a stronger motor would be a problem as the self feed mechanism would still feed the rock through at a given speed. If it's one that you feed through yourself by holding the rock while cutting, you may be forcing it through to fast. Again, a stronger motor won't hurt, but you will risk damage to the blade and/or the stone itself. Let the blade do the work and make sure you have enough water/oil to cool and lubricate the blade as well. Was the motor that you had die a new one, or had it seen work prior to you getting it? Twenty stones doesn't sound like a lot of work for a motor. Our club uses 1/2 horsepower on our ten inch blade saw and it's still going after many years of cutting.

Thanks for the welcome and help
It's got a weight that pulls a vise to self-feed but since most rocks don't fit in the vise, mostly hand-feeding for now. I managed to bend the blade a bit on my first couple of rocks while using the self-feed and then got it really bent on a later cut with some petrified wood  . Motor started smoking a fair bit and now leaks but since it looked old, figured it would be safer getting a new one rather than having a fire hazard/ spending time repairing it. Motor seemed to be working alright before that, just have to learn from my mistakes and tighten the vise more I guess. Thanks for the help and tips, was just worried that a higher horsepower would damage the blade, I'll try keep looking for one closer to 1/2 HP though.

[Pocket]

Pocket, I got my latest 1/4hp motor of a local electrician that repairs white goods.  This one was out of a fridge and only cost me about $80 reconditioned.  Maybe if you have a local scrap metal dealer or white goods electrician, you may find one there.  Scrap metal dealers might be the go.  Good Luck

Hey Tinker, thanks for the tip
I'll definitely look into going to a scrap metal dealer or something of that sort. I saw a couple of bench grinders and other tools on Facebook marketplace that had alright looking motors, might buy one of those if it's not too far a drive.
Thanks

[Rusted]

Bench grinder motors will be too fast and not enough HP.
Try this site on Ebay, I bought two 1/2 HP motors from him to run my sanders and grinder.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202849265171?hash=item2f3ac22613:g:lEYAAOSwerZd7cYw&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA8HQSxBMW4%2BQQmAJC%2FqhSIkOLRO4c4lHOyaBKjwShTeVF%2BBID%2BakS0AFOhz0YCYMP0vrBXNB3Qk%2BID%2FEwhp%2BPTLfWC3vsP8Md7MC9V387KSKuYchcknmSd29ddqlh4ZTgTDSgToBUcBOu%2BUTUJIOsZwX2%2Fhw4g0w5IIT9dOAWfOf0S1%2BsR9p0Kq%2BbxXpEZYdm1XB1c52ynWtBICdX%2BtA%2BOtUoViya85xMI2gfESDnHPm0TyZZMW0LtVIn%2BRzaI1Cmh1XsMmS4N%2BCBC0oq43dSI4xCj5ok09jZy3akSqinN%2FWySxBu9il2JPBNW3dquqMp%2Fw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7qSzo3mYQ

[MakkyBrown]

I got one from him as well, it's been running my cabbing machine for years. Good motors.MB