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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

I have a craftsman 15" lathe (See link below) that was working fine until
the other day. I turned the lathe off to check on the progress of the bowl
I was turning & when I turned it back on the motor ran quite slow for about
10 seconds & then the breaker tripped. Now it won't come up to speed and the
motor will only run for about 10 seconds before the breaker trips. My guess
would be the capacitor, but I thought I would check with the experts in here
to see what you think.

P.S. I thought the lathe was a steal when I bought it from Sears outlet
store for a mere $380.00cdn. But now I'm beginning to rethink things a bit.

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B001J...earsBrand=core

Thanx in advance
Doug


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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

well, that certainly is an odd looking lathe. The link says it has a
"vairable speed induction motor" - that could mean a two speed motor or it
could mean a 3 phase motor with a variable frequency drive - can you tell us
which one it is?

Presuming it is the former and not the latter, what you are describing
sounds like the centrifugal switch that disconnects the start winding is not
opening - could be caused by dust, or contact could be welded, - it doesn't
sound like a capacitor, though a failed start cap might do something
similar. I would start by figuring out what kind of motor


"BiffNightly" heffddathotmaildotcom wrote in message
el...
I have a craftsman 15" lathe (See link below) that was working fine until
the other day. I turned the lathe off to check on the progress of the bowl
I was turning & when I turned it back on the motor ran quite slow for about
10 seconds & then the breaker tripped. Now it won't come up to speed and
the motor will only run for about 10 seconds before the breaker trips. My
guess would be the capacitor, but I thought I would check with the experts
in here to see what you think.

P.S. I thought the lathe was a steal when I bought it from Sears outlet
store for a mere $380.00cdn. But now I'm beginning to rethink things a
bit.

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B001J...earsBrand=core

Thanx in advance
Doug




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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

Thanx for the response Bill. I don't know a heck of a lot about electric
motors, but I can tell you that it is not a two speed motor. I actually took
the headstock into the local repair shop & they took a look at it & changed
the start capacitor for me($12.00) & it seems to be working just fine
again.

If you are the curious type of person & want to learn more about this "odd
looking lathe" a have attached a link to a page on Darrell Feltmate's site
that covers maintenance etc. on this type of lathe.

http://www.aroundthewoods.com/lathemaintenance.html

Thanx again for your help. It's guys like you that keep me reading this
newsgroup almost every morning.


"Bill Noble" wrote in message
...
well, that certainly is an odd looking lathe. The link says it has a
"vairable speed induction motor" - that could mean a two speed motor or it
could mean a 3 phase motor with a variable frequency drive - can you tell
us which one it is?

Presuming it is the former and not the latter, what you are describing
sounds like the centrifugal switch that disconnects the start winding is
not opening - could be caused by dust, or contact could be welded, - it
doesn't sound like a capacitor, though a failed start cap might do
something similar. I would start by figuring out what kind of motor


"BiffNightly" heffddathotmaildotcom wrote in message
el...
I have a craftsman 15" lathe (See link below) that was working fine until
the other day. I turned the lathe off to check on the progress of the
bowl I was turning & when I turned it back on the motor ran quite slow for
about 10 seconds & then the breaker tripped. Now it won't come up to speed
and the motor will only run for about 10 seconds before the breaker trips.
My guess would be the capacitor, but I thought I would check with the
experts in here to see what you think.

P.S. I thought the lathe was a steal when I bought it from Sears outlet
store for a mere $380.00cdn. But now I'm beginning to rethink things a
bit.

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B001J...earsBrand=core

Thanx in advance
Doug





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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

well, it looks like I was mislead by cluess copy writers again - Reeves
drive is the key - of course it is a single speed motor, the fact that the
copy in the link says "vairable speed induction motor" is just proof that
those who write these things are even more clueless

it's rare for a capacitor to go out in the first few years of opeation - but
if they charged you only $12, I'd say you live in an area where there are
honest shops who have not yet adopted the "rip off the customer" mantra
since a capacitor alone would cost around that much.

a motor with a bad capacitor has a particular sound and acts a particular
way - now that you have heard/experienced it on your machine you will
recognize it the next time it happens, should there be a next time.


"BiffNightly" heffddathotmaildotcom wrote in message
el...
Thanx for the response Bill. I don't know a heck of a lot about electric
motors, but I can tell you that it is not a two speed motor. I actually
took the headstock into the local repair shop & they took a look at it &
changed the start capacitor for me($12.00) & it seems to be working just
fine again.

If you are the curious type of person & want to learn more about this "odd
looking lathe" a have attached a link to a page on Darrell Feltmate's site
that covers maintenance etc. on this type of lathe.

http://www.aroundthewoods.com/lathemaintenance.html

Thanx again for your help. It's guys like you that keep me reading this
newsgroup almost every morning.


"Bill Noble" wrote in message
...
well, that certainly is an odd looking lathe. The link says it has a
"vairable speed induction motor" - that could mean a two speed motor or
it could mean a 3 phase motor with a variable frequency drive - can you
tell us which one it is?



** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

On Nov 1, 8:40*am, "Bill Noble" wrote:

it's rare for a capacitor to go out in the first few years of opeation - but
if they charged you only $12, I'd say you live in an area where there are
honest shops who have not yet adopted the "rip off the customer" mantra
since a capacitor alone would cost around that much.


How true is that? I had a capacitor go out on a motor, and I didn't
diagnose it correctly. The large electric motor specialists
(actually, the only one in town) was $65 "bench fee" which could
include the installation of the new capacitor, and $35 for the
capacitor.

This was for a $99 compressor I bought as a promo. The motor shop
advised it would be easier just to buy a new one rather than to repair
it.

Honestly, I just don't know that much about electric motors outside of
changing brushes, replacing bearings, etc. When it gets to armatures,
commutators, etc., send me home. I can fix most of my tools that have
wear items, but the heart of a motor is a mystery. I am at their
mercy, and it ****es me off, since GOOD information on motor repair is
pretty scarce.

Robert






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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

In message
,
" writes
On Nov 1, 8:40*am, "Bill Noble" wrote:

it's rare for a capacitor to go out in the first few years of opeation - but
if they charged you only $12, I'd say you live in an area where there are
honest shops who have not yet adopted the "rip off the customer" mantra
since a capacitor alone would cost around that much.


How true is that? I had a capacitor go out on a motor, and I didn't
diagnose it correctly. The large electric motor specialists
(actually, the only one in town) was $65 "bench fee" which could
include the installation of the new capacitor, and $35 for the
capacitor.

This was for a $99 compressor I bought as a promo. The motor shop
advised it would be easier just to buy a new one rather than to repair
it.

Honestly, I just don't know that much about electric motors outside of
changing brushes, replacing bearings, etc. When it gets to armatures,
commutators, etc., send me home. I can fix most of my tools that have
wear items, but the heart of a motor is a mystery. I am at their
mercy, and it ****es me off, since GOOD information on motor repair is
pretty scarce.

Robert


For me I would have gone with Bill's initial assessment, as that was
exactly the cause for my first lathe. I did the initial light tapping of
the motor body to see if it would free itself but I ended up opening up
the motor to release the mechanism. I did notice before I lost speed
that the motor body had run hotter than normally expected

One other possibility that had been suggested by the service engineers
that should be considered is that I had a variable speed drive, and what
sometimes happens is the grub screw holding the fixed side of the pulley
to the shaft can sometimes work loose and allow the pulley to slide
against the motor body with obvious consequences.

The inside of a motor can be daunting, but it just takes time, and
confidence. My second lathe needed to be rewired internally from Star to
Delta, took an hour for just a couple of wires to be relocated, but the
result was worth it, I can now run the lathe from almost nothing to
ludicrous speeds ( one day I will get around to measuring it - but the
guess is 6000+RPM, obviously I don't use it at those speeds). The one
thing I wont do is re-wind the armature

--
John
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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????


Doug
Sorry to take so long to chime in here. For $380 I would have gotten one
just for a spare. I use this lathe a lot and have beaten it up more than
once. Capacitors are just weird. I had a table saw that ate 2 of them
and then the last one lasted 10 years and is still going. When I talk to
the electric motor people this seems par for the course. One guy near me
says "6 months or 60 years and not much in between." He also asks how
much more of a guarantee do you want for ten bucks? Point well taken.
The problem arises when the ten buck cap may cost $75 in repair costs if
you do not know how or whether to switch it out yourself.

I keep saying that one of these days I am going to learn how to repair
every tool in the shop including the electrical and gas powered motors.
Hah! :-)

Keep turning.
God Bless

Darrell
http://aroundthewoods.com
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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

Well Bill, the $12 capacitor was actually due to incredibly lucky
coincidence. the first shop I went to said they would Charge me $100
initial bench charge plus parts, I thought that was a bit steep so I drove
around the corner to another shop. When I went into the shop the person a
the counter was an old school buddy that I hadn't seen in over 30 years. He
invited me into the back of his shop & we reminisced about the old days
while he worked on the motor. We had lots of laughs. Needless to say this
guy has my business from this day forward.


"Bill Noble" wrote in message
...
well, it looks like I was mislead by cluess copy writers again - Reeves
drive is the key - of course it is a single speed motor, the fact that the
copy in the link says "vairable speed induction motor" is just proof that
those who write these things are even more clueless

it's rare for a capacitor to go out in the first few years of opeation -
but if they charged you only $12, I'd say you live in an area where there
are honest shops who have not yet adopted the "rip off the customer"
mantra since a capacitor alone would cost around that much.

a motor with a bad capacitor has a particular sound and acts a particular
way - now that you have heard/experienced it on your machine you will
recognize it the next time it happens, should there be a next time.


"BiffNightly" heffddathotmaildotcom wrote in message
el...
Thanx for the response Bill. I don't know a heck of a lot about electric
motors, but I can tell you that it is not a two speed motor. I actually
took the headstock into the local repair shop & they took a look at it &
changed the start capacitor for me($12.00) & it seems to be working just
fine again.

If you are the curious type of person & want to learn more about this
"odd looking lathe" a have attached a link to a page on Darrell
Feltmate's site that covers maintenance etc. on this type of lathe.

http://www.aroundthewoods.com/lathemaintenance.html

Thanx again for your help. It's guys like you that keep me reading this
newsgroup almost every morning.


"Bill Noble" wrote in message
...
well, that certainly is an odd looking lathe. The link says it has a
"vairable speed induction motor" - that could mean a two speed motor or
it could mean a 3 phase motor with a variable frequency drive - can you
tell us which one it is?



** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **


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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

Hi Darrell,
That's the thing about the Sears Outlet store....They only had 1 lathe, so
there
was no opportunity to buy a spare. The Outlet Store here in Regina sells
off all of the returns & inventory surplus from Sears Catalogue Shopping &
Retail Store locations in western Canada, (maybe the entire country...I'm
not sure).

This is where the dilemma started for me, I purchased the lathe a couple
months ago, it was a return from somewhere, but it came with full warranty
(1 year Labour, 2 years parts), so I thought why not. Even though it was
missing the manual, & a set of turning tools, I figured the
price was right. (after seeing that you use a similar lathe that seems to
get quite a bit of use I thought it might be a decent machine.)

When the lathe quit working I took the headstock in to get serviced under
warranty but, I was informed that they do not service this item, they only
do an over the
counter exchange.....but because it is an outlet store, and inventory
changes on a daily basis, they would not replace it with a new one from
their catalogue or retail warehouses. They were only able to replace it
for me if another lathe happened to show up in the outlet store. They did,
however, offer to refund me the full purchase price. Fair enough, I
understand this, but if I returned it for a refund, chances are I would need
to spend about $1000 or more to find a replacement. That was the deciding
factor for me....that is when I decided to take it to a repair shop, even
though it was still under warranty.....I hope I made the right decision by
fixing it & risking voiding the warranty.

By The way, thanx for all the time & effort you put into your website!! It
has
been a huge help to me. I must say, your sharpening jig was easy to make &
easier
to use. Keep up the good work.
"Darrell Feltmate" wrote in message
news:1hgPk.5762$fF3.3037@edtnps83...

Doug
Sorry to take so long to chime in here. For $380 I would have gotten one
just for a spare. I use this lathe a lot and have beaten it up more than
once. Capacitors are just weird. I had a table saw that ate 2 of them and
then the last one lasted 10 years and is still going. When I talk to the
electric motor people this seems par for the course. One guy near me says
"6 months or 60 years and not much in between." He also asks how much more
of a guarantee do you want for ten bucks? Point well taken. The problem
arises when the ten buck cap may cost $75 in repair costs if you do not
know how or whether to switch it out yourself.

I keep saying that one of these days I am going to learn how to repair
every tool in the shop including the electrical and gas powered motors.
Hah! :-)

Keep turning.
God Bless

Darrell
http://aroundthewoods.com


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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

He might be a source for a good replacement for the lathe or other
machines in the shop. They often get motors - fix this one and take these...

I had a motor repair friend at one time. I gave him my old electric oven.
It had good burners. He use it to burn out the windings of trashed out
motors. Then the wire would pull out. Once melted - it is tough...

Martin

BiffNightly wrote:
Well Bill, the $12 capacitor was actually due to incredibly lucky
coincidence. the first shop I went to said they would Charge me $100
initial bench charge plus parts, I thought that was a bit steep so I
drove around the corner to another shop. When I went into the shop the
person a the counter was an old school buddy that I hadn't seen in over
30 years. He invited me into the back of his shop & we reminisced
about the old days while he worked on the motor. We had lots of laughs.
Needless to say this guy has my business from this day forward.




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Default Craftsman Lathe...Capacitor problem????

Thanks Doug.
I have never found the Sears folks to be great at repair. One thing I would
do if I were you, is get a replacement drive belt for the lathe. Not the big
one around the Reeves drive but rather the little guy that goes between
motor and spindle. http://aroundthewoods.com/lathebelt01.html I have not
needed to replace it for quite a while since I stopped (for now) forgetting
to remove the spindle lock before starting up the lathe. I think this is
technically called an oops :-)

Darrell

http://aroundthewoods.com


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