Friday, July 29, 2011

V2.15 - Now, back to our roots

Last week I let you in on the undercover work I’m doing for the Delta Power Equipment Corp. out of Anderson, SC. These were the folks who bought the Delta brand back from Stanley-Black & Decker-DeWalt, et al… I really hope they succeed at reviving the brand and I’ll do whatever I can to help them. Right now, my role is as a consultant for knowledge on old machines and helping provide folks with copies of my personal owner’s manuals and parts lists.
A few weeks ago, I got a referred email from a Pastor in Texas who had found a 6” jointer for 50$. That’s a pretty good bargain because it was one of the ‘old school’ jointers like those that used to be in the school shops all around the USA. No aluminum fence, non-adjustable outfeed table, lightweight machine here- no sir. He really did find a good deal…but-it-didn’t-run. However, this guy was savvy enough to be able to get her running…but there were other issues.
First off, it wouldn’t run with the drive belt on. If he took the belt off AND rolled the motor shaft by hand- while it was powered up- the motor would start running and get up to speed. It just couldn’t do it like it should be able to.
When a single-phase motor acts that way, there really are only a couple of things to look at. First is the centrifugal start switch. Make sure it is not stuck in the open position. If it is, this has to be corrected or the start windings inside the motor cannot do their job of ‘kick-starting’ the motor. Second, if the start capacitor has gone bad, you’d see the same results. A simple capacitor check will reveal that. I had Mr. Pastor check both of those items and the next report I got was, ’yes, the capacitor had gone bad. I replaced it and the motor runs fine now…BUT...(here it comes)…it will plane down a 1” board just fine, but anything wider causes it to just bogg right down’. ’
Ah, now we get to the second part of his problem. My reply to him was just this: “There's no way 'anything wider than 1 inch ' should bogg a 6" jointer.
How could one ever do a 6" board, if it did?... Something's still a bit hinky...You might want to verify that the motor is actually wired for the voltage you are inputting. You're describing what happens when a motor is wired for 220v and is only getting 115v put in.”
So, Mr. Pastor re-checked the wiring of the motor and guess what? Yep, it was wired to use 220v. He changed the wiring and at last report he was ‘blowing thru 5 inch boards like butter and thanking God for his 50$ deal.’

Send your questions or comments to:

Toolsmartz@bellsouth.net and we’ll see what we can do to help you.

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