"Pete Keillor" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 11 Dec 2018 09:45:34 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message news
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
news
I may have a similar problem with my small lathe. It quit yesterday. Had
a
couple slow starts where I pushed it with the collet closer handle to get
it going, and now nothing. The fact that its nothing "not even a hum"
mkes
me wonder of the on/direction switch is bad. Fortunately I had radiused
just enough alignment pins for the projects that were finishing yesterday.

I made a short 12 AWG type SO extension cord with some of the outer
insulation removed to diagnose motor problems with a clamp-on ammeter.
It helps to measure how much they draw before they break.

****************

All fixed. There was a terminal block on the motor that looked like white
ceramic. When I unscrewed it from the motor case it just disintegrated.
There were two wires that were broken at that point. Its seems that the
terminal block may have been holding them in contact without a good
mechanical connection for some time. I put it back together with (yuck)
butt splices. The wire stubs coming out of the motor were so short nothing
else would work. They were so short I had to use one tool for stripping
with forward strippers and another tool for crimping with forward crimpers.
It works again.


Ouch! At least now you have some time to source a replacement. Sounds
like one will be needed at some point.

***********
Actually I was going to throw a small 3 phase motor on it with a VFD for
more speed control, but I don't have a spare 120V/240V VFD and I don't have
240V handy where that lathe is located. I'll have to put some on my keep
an eye out list.