In article ,
Prometheus wrote:

Hello all,

I've been turning up a storm on my new midi lathe, and it's recently
developed a bit of a quirk. When I turn it on, the spindle stays
stationary, and the lathe makes a buzzing noise. A small twist in
either direction will set the lathe spinning in the direction in which
it was twisted, allowing the lathe to run in reverse, even though it
was not designed for that. After some looking around, it seems that
the most likely cause of this is that the capacitor on the motor has
gone out- but it's kind of nice to be able to get it moving the other
direction anyhow.

What I'm wondering is whether this is something I need to get fixed
up, or if it's fine to run as it is. The lathe is still under
warranty, and I'm sure Delta would be happy to send me a new part.
I'd almost like to keep it just how it is, but I'm concerned that it
could cause some damage in the long term. Anyone here have any
experience with this?

Thanks!
Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Either the Start Cap is defective or the centrifugal Switch that
disconnects the start cap after the motor is running is defective. The
only danger is forgetting to start the motor after applying power as
eventually it would trip the breaker. Realize that if the motor is not
running no counter EMF is genreated so the motor draws starting current
which could cause the field winding to fail if it didn't trip the
breaker. I don't believe that running the motor backward would hurt
anything but the airflow through the motor would be backwards. Then
again it is probably a sealed motor so it may not make any difference at
all.

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