Smitty Two wrote:

Status report: I've traced this to a malfunctioning centrifugal switch,
as suggested, but still cannot account for why a small manual turn of
the motor would "fix" that, particularly 100% of the time.

The mechanical portion of the switch seems fine, so I have to suspect
corroded contacts. Unfortunately, they're buried inside a metal shell
and all but completely inaccessible. But, one half of one of the two
contact pairs definitely shows erosion, in profile view.

I put a call into the manufacturer today to see whether parts are still
available, even though the motor is obsolete. They have to do some
research and get back to me. Failing that it looks like we'll be out
$500 or so for a new motor. That'd be a shame, given the otherwise
perfect condition of it.


Some of the problems I've had were that the switch was worn. They
used a piece of fiberboard to activate the switch, and it would wear,
after years of use. Some can be rebuild. if you want to remove the
rivets and machine a new insulator out of the same material. Also, a lot
of manufacturers use the same switches, so sometimes you can find one at
a decent motor rewinding shop.


--
http://improve-usenet.org/index.html


Use any search engine other than Google till they stop polluting USENET
with porn and junk commercial SPAM

If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in
your account: http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm