Tablesaw motor dead?

[Ian Barley]

I was working on the TS this pm when it kinda went all floppy.

Blade runs but does not have any power and slows down as soon as I put a workpiece to it. At the time of the failure there was also a kind of "burning toffee" smell. My advanced knowledge of electromechanics give me a diagnosis of "broken".

The motor is induction type and appears to have two capacitors? (I'm not even sure what a capacitor does?) Is it likely that the motor has died or is it worth trying to change out stuff like the capacitors first?

Any help gratefully received

[Jim Becker]

Check the caps first, Ian...but be careful as they could have a charge. They are usually easy to change out if they are bad. If they are not bad...motor rewind time it sounds like, unless there is something stupid like a belt slipping!

[Gary Max]

Key fell out of pully and just spins on shaft.
Would not be the first time it has happened.

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Ian,

It must be the phase of the moon! I hit the button on my PM 66 tonight errrrrr. I shut it down too off the cross cut sled and tried it again, errrrrrrr. I swore a lot and went inside to cool off. When I went back out the connectors to the capacitors had given out. Of course on Friday night the parts store is probably closed till Monday but I will call around in the morning. I hope you can do some other process over the weekend so you don't fall behind. I hope yours is as easy of a fix as mine is.

[Wes Bischel]

Ian,
Bummer - and on Friday :rolleyes: The two capacitors are run and start capacitors. As Jim said, that would be one of the first areas to check - and I will also second his safety concern - caps can pack quite a punch. Thankfully they usually "tell" you when they are bad - by popping open or bulging. They are cheap when compaired to a new motor.

Last year I thought my motor was bad - after removing the belt and finding it running fine, I learned my arbor bearings had gone south. Still a cheap fix, but a real pain to replace.

Good luck, Wes

[jim barter]

You could check to see if the syntrifical switch which is located on the shaft is working properly.Quite often the shaft gets a build up of sawdust and prevents the switch from returning from the run position to the start position. Pull off the bell ends and physically move the switch.Jim

[Ian Barley]

Took my TS along to the Power Tool Hospital today and the Power Tool Doctor diagnosed that the motor was deceased. After running for about 30 seconds the casing of the motor was way too hot to touch - PTD tells me that this is the best sign he knows of that the motor is dead.

At the moment the TS is in theatre, chest cracked waiting for another TS to pass away and donate a motor. (Not really - they have ordered spares - whole job will cost about £175 - $300 ish - fitted)

One lesson I have learned in the last few years squeezing a living out of wood. There are some jobs worth doing and some worth paying for. Most things mechanical fall into the paying slot for me. The time it would take for me to fix this would cost me a lot more that the PTD is charging. Ho Hum!