If it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, if it IS broke...

[Downeaster]

you can't break it any worse by taking it apart!

3/4hp, 110vac reversible motor on my 100+ year old Seneca Falls lathe wouldn't start/run. (Motor MUCH newer than the lathe) Thought I saw magic smoke escaping, assumed it was toast.

Decided I couldn't break it any worse so I took it apart, expecting to find toasted windings. What I could see looked good and no burnt/smoky smell so I investigated further.

Problem #1 - dry bearings. Felts were bone dry in spite of occasionally squirting a shot of oil into the oil caps on the end. They were plugged with sawdust from it's days as a redneck wood lathe.

Problem #2 - Excessive end play in the armature shaft. When the shaft shifted out towards the pully end, the centrifugal start switch was never making contact. Shimmed the armature shaft.

Problem #3 - Dry, sticky centrifugal switch assembly. Cleaned and lubed.

Decided to clean up the wiring and sleeve a couple of bare spots in the insulation while I had it apart. Reassembled and it runs like new.

There's $200 I don't have to find.

 

[Boog]

 

[Kevin Werner]

It is the old "why did you charge me so much when all you did was show up tap your hammer and left" joke. Because I knew where to tp the hammer....

 

[GLJ]

you can't break it any worse by taking it apart!

3/4hp, 110vac reversible motor on my 100+ year old Seneca Falls lathe wouldn't start/run. (Motor MUCH newer than the lathe) Thought I saw magic smoke escaping, assumed it was toast.

Decided I couldn't break it any worse so I took it apart, expecting to find toasted windings. What I could see looked good and no burnt/smoky smell so I investigated further.

Problem #1 - dry bearings. Felts were bone dry in spite of occasionally squirting a shot of oil into the oil caps on the end. They were plugged with sawdust from it's days as a redneck wood lathe.

Problem #2 - Excessive end play in the armature shaft. When the shaft shifted out towards the pully end, the centrifugal start switch was never making contact. Shimmed the armature shaft.

Problem #3 - Dry, sticky centrifugal switch assembly. Cleaned and lubed.

Decided to clean up the wiring and sleeve a couple of bare spots in the insulation while I had it apart. Reassembled and it runs like new.

There's $200 I don't have to find.

It may not have worked but it wasn't really broken. It had had a hard life due to lack of maintenance. Enough things got out of wack that it just quit. Kinda of like our 650's. And like our 650's it was serviceable!
I used to work on a packaging machine that had a mechanical pick-and -place in it. Nineteen thing could wear to the limits and it would work with fine tuning the things that could be adjusted. When the 20th hit the limit it would take 2 guys 10 hours to remove, rebuild and reinstall. Then you could run it 18+ hours a day 6 days a week for 6 months.

 

[Mailman]

Yeah good save, you don’t know until you try. I had a neighbor that was going to throw away a pretty new weed eater ( string trimmer ) because it didn’t work any more. It was not cheap, it had a big motor in it and could cut large weeds. I told him he might be able to repair the old one and he asked me if I wanted it. Sure!

Opened the handle up and fixed a broken wire and I used that weed eater for another 10 years!
Nothing like free!

 

[kshansen]

Yeah good save, you don’t know until you try. I had a neighbor that was going to throw away a pretty new weed eater ( string trimmer ) because it didn’t work any more. It was not cheap, it had a big motor in it and could cut large weeds. I told him he might be able to repair the old one and he asked me if I wanted it. Sure!

Opened the handle up and fixed a broken wire and I used that weed eater for another 10 years!
Nothing like free!

Sounds like the leaf blower I used for a few years. Guy at work gave it to me because it wouldn't run. Like Downeaster I decided to see why. Found the piston ring was carboned up solid in the piston. Played around with it off and on and finally got a bit to move. Each time a bit more till it finally was free. A bit more cleaning of the piston and carb and had it running again. Forget what finally killed it but I did get a couple years use from it!