Good save, Roy. I have a lot of confidence in older motors, and they just
seem to keep running, and probably cooler internally than newer models.

As long as the mechanical parts, and the contacts of the centrifugal switch
remain in good condition, the old ones still remain almost trouble-free with
a small amount of maintenance.
When the mechanical weight/spring parts start to beome unreliable, thay can
be replaced with another mechanism with similar charcteristics.

Although I haven't needed to try it, there have numerous reports of new
contacts being installed on the switch leaves of older motors.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


"RoyJ" wrote in message
...
The 200mfd cap worked like a charm on the ancient Westinghouse motor. Just
a data point.

RoyJ wrote:
A friend came by with a non functioning olde 1 hp motor the other day. A
quick check showed no starting circuit (bad cap or bad centrifugal
switch). Pulled the old cap out, it is the old style aluminum case, NO
MARKINGS.

So what size cap to put in?? I just picked a ~200mfd and called it good
but I don't think that is the right answer. So what/how is the cap sized?
Too small a cap and it won't do anything useful. But is bigger better? Or
is the cap matched to the motor in a resonant circuit?

Motor in question is a Westinghouse 1hp 120/240 motor. Judging from the
grease caps, case style, paint color, etc, I'd guess 1940's, maybe early
50's.