Powermatic 3520B lathe died?

[jason lambert]

I was just turning a pen and turned off the lathe to look at my CA and went to turn it back on and nothing! WIll not start. Looks like the power thingee on the back has power, the rpm guage still works, everything else looks normal. Unplugge for about 5 min and plugged back in and nothing. I was turning a Pen so I doubt I over heated it, I was stopping and starting alot?

Does this thing have a fuse somewhere I can check before I start ripping stuff off and getting into it with my meter?

What else could be wrong?

I have one hour to turn a night between baby going to bed and dinner, This just sucks! I need more reliable stuff.

[Gary Max]

Do those have a remote off switch also?????????
Not that I have ever turned the remote off and not been able to figure out why the lathe would turn on.

[Richard Madison]

Jason,
Some people say that dust gets into the on/off switch and causes this. Easy to unplug, pull out switch and treat with compressed air. Hope you figure it out. Always try the easiest and simplest thing first.

Edit: Oh yeah, simplest thing is - is speed set on zero?

[jason lambert]

Yes it has a remote switch but it is in the on position and I was not using it. double, triple and quadrappled checked all the switches and speed.
Spindle turns easy.

[curtis rosche]

theres no reset switch is there? the one lathe at school the switch would stick to the point you had to get a hammer some times

[Jason Clark2]

The back of the phase converter has a small pad with stop/reset and start buttons. Try hitting the stop/reset button followed by the start button.

Jason

[Steve Schlumpf]

My Jet 1642 has done this same thing on occasion and hitting the reset switch on the converter always worked for me. There have been a couple of times that dust in the on/off switch also caused problems - with the very same symptoms.

Good luck with it - let us know what you find out.

[Larry Marley]

The only thing I can add is after you plug it back in, listen for the click from the inverter before turning it on the first time.

[Dick Strauss]

Jason,
Richard is right...Both the primary and secondary switches on the 3520As are weak links in what is otherwise a fantastic machine IMHO (I don't know if they were changed for the 3520Bs). They can become clogged with dust and will not work after a while. Blowing them out with compressed air might solve your problem.

[Barry Stratton]

I was just turning a pen .....

The problem looks obvious to me, the lathe is on strike!:D

Hit your reset button, that should do the trick.

As for reliable, it is a very reliable lathe, don't give up on it yet.

[jason lambert]

Turned out to be the remote switch. Odd it just went compleatly dead. Contacting powermatic they are warnteing it.

[David Hostetler]

Wow....

If some people are to be believed, only Harbor Freight and Craftsman power tools experience failures... In a weird way, it is good to see the top of the line has its own troubles too...

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jason - glad you found the problem! Hope they ship you a new remote real fast so you can get back to turning!

[Cyril Griesbach]

A friend had the same problem with his remote switch and PM sent another one....same thing happened with the replacement. Heard of this elsewhere as well. I guess it's just not a good remote but the lathe is fantastic.

[curtis rosche]

well since your lathe is dead, just send it to me to dispose of:D:D:p

[Harvey Mushman]

Turned out to be the remote switch. Odd it just went compleatly dead. Contacting powermatic they are warnteing it.

Jason.....I wish that I would have seen your post sooner.....I might have saved you some "head-scratchin'"!

I've had 2 remote switches go bad on my big Oneway. After the second one went bad, I replaced it with a much heavier industrial grade switch with the same ratings (Allen & Bradley). There was a huge difference in quality between the original swithches from Oneway and the heavy duty replacement that I bought locally.

I hope that the replacement holds up for you. At least now you know that the problem was a $9 switch and not a $900 controller. Good Luck!

Curtis......Could you throttle back a little?......Too many posts and very little substance.