Re: Motor help? Trying to avoid magic smoke....

470 watts sounds a bit high but in the range. 1390 is of the scale for a 1/3 hp motor.

I'd still pop the end cap off and clean it throughly.

Todd Rich wrote:
RoyJ <spamless@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sounds like a decent plan. I was zeroing in on the centrifugal switch not working correctly, easy enough to pull the housing off and have a look at it. It should clearly click both directions with a snap action. Look for a broken spring or ratty contacts.

Disassemble, clean, check the switch, check the bearings is the standard drill. If the switch is bad, it likely toasted the cap also. $6 to $8 at Grainger. Bearings are likely to be stock items available from your local bearing house or McMaster-Carr for $10 or so each. For most sub 1hp motors, you can replace the cap and both bearings for less than $25.

Well, I wasn't able to borrow a clamp on amp meter, but I was able to borrow a large UPS that displayed the wattage draw.

Blew off the motor and hooked up the UPS. First time it looked like it was pulling about 1390 Watts, and then I realized I hadn't removed the load so I could check and see if I could hear it click off. Took of the belt and turned it back on. Couldn't hear it click off, but the display said 469-475 Watts. Voltage was 125V. That seemed reasonable. I shut it off and let it stop completely and tried it the other way. About the same wattage. So I let it run for about 3 minutes. No smoke, and it seemed to run pretty smoothly. Then I let it run back the original way for about 3 minutes too. No problem. I guess the switch popped free.

Looks like I'm good to go for a while. It has lube ports on each end. Should I use oil or grease? The gears on the power feed are somewhat noisy, so I'm going to grease them. It has a zerk fitting on the assembly, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the help! I really appreicate it.

Todd
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