On Thursday, August 1, 2019 at 3:07:38 PM UTC-4, Jim Wilkins wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at 3:44:32 PM UTC-4, Jim Wilkins wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at 12:35:28 PM UTC-4,

wrote:
On Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at 12:29:28 PM UTC-4,

wrote:
Hi all, our old bandsaw stopped working so well. It has no
torque/ power
and when you turn on the unloaded motor it sometimes runs
backwards.

The thought here is that maybe a start or run capacitor had
gone
bad...
but we are all mostly clueless when it comes to motors. Any
ideas
before I try and get the motor out.
(Oh dear.. I think it's a three phase motor... (no cap))

Maybe check the three voltages?
Or a bad motor

George H.

Never mind. problem fixed. (Sometimes all I need is a smart
audience.)

GH

You told us the symptoms, so what was the cause?

We all started out clueless and had to learn somehow.

Oh sorry, one (or two) of the phases was missing. Someone
had been abusing the power plug into the wall outlet...
Five minutes with a screwdriver and all was good.

George H.

I've been troubleshooting electronics since 1970. It's rare for the
problem to be other than a bad connection.
Grin... Well someone else here found the problem and 'assumed' a bad cap.
after a day I was brought it to help... I sorta bought into to the 'bad cap'
idea.

At the Fort Monmouth Army school the instructors heated and removed an
end cap from glass tube fuses and inserted too-short heavy bus wire or
paper tags with "good fuse" on them, to teach us to check the power
first, and test fuses with an ohmmeter.

I've been thinking of some sort of trouble shooting guide for people.
It seems like a common mistake is assuming the problem is the first thing
you think of. And then you follow that idea down some rabbit hole.
The first thing to do when trouble shooting is to think of all the
things it could be. Make a list if you have to. Then start by checking all the
simple things on the list. (simple as in simple to test.)
Hmm, well and get lots of data on the problem, that's important. I do trouble
shooting on the phone/ email every week or two... you learn to ask a lot of
questions.

George H.