- Joined
- Apr 30, 2013
- Messages
- 14
i agree with you. The foot brake almost swayed me from the g0750g to he PM1236, but in the end I just have too much loyalty to Grizzly. Their showroom was 2 minutes from my house and I knew alot of people that worked there. I have been looking at it and i believe that the brake trips a limit switch that may be wired in with the forward/reverse/off switch on the carriage. If I can get the wiring figured out I might be able to squeeze some sort of disc brake in there, possibly on the motor pulley? But right now its just an idea. I have heard good things about Matt and having been a business man for 20+ years i am always thinking in terms of new product ideas. It's probably not a new idea but I would think there may be quite a few people with 12x36 and 13x40's that dont have foot brakes and a kit might be a good revenue stream. I am always hearing that the machines are all "basically the same", "made in the same plant", "rebadged", etc.. I know there are differences in the internals on some of the machines but there may be enough simillarity between them for a brake? Just a thought.
The foot brake was one of the big advantages of the PM1236. I don't use it as often as I first thought I would BUT when I do it is worth it's wait in gold. I would think it would be very hard and or expensive to retrofit a machine that wasn't originally offered with a brake. It is actually quite a bit more than just a switch and a foot pedal. There is a set of automotive style brake shoes under the pulley/brake drum assembly that stops the spindle instantly. There is also more electrical components involved otherwise the spindle would restart when you released the foot pedal.