HELP - Lathe stopped running

[Stuart Reid]

I have a Jet 1642 lathe and was turning a Mesquite bowl yesterday. I quit for the day and closed up the shop and when I went back to the shop today the lathe wouldn't run. I checked the breakers, no problem, and reset the lathe on the back and still it doesn't run. I pulled the plug and let it set a bit, plugged it back in and it still doesn't run. There is power to the RPM indicator, it even goes up when you spin the spindle.

Any ideas on what could have happened in such a short period of time? Are there other fuses inside anywhere? Help, help, help

Stu

[Steve Schlumpf]

Without knowing more about the situation - my first guess would be dust in the on/off switch.

[Stuart Reid]

I used my air hose to blow out the switch and the auxiliary switch but it still doesn't turn.

[Josh Bowman]

Do you have a remote switch wired in? That would be the 1st thing to bypass. I got dust in my remote and my lathe just wouldn't start. Of course I didn't know at the time, but after doing all you did, I thought to bypass the remote and the lathe started right up. So the next switch went on with a better box and gaskets....we'll see how it works out.

[Thom Sturgill]

I had the same problem Josh did. Eliminated the remote switch and everything works fine.

[Stuart Reid]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and be assured I have tried them all. I finally called Jet and the nice folks there think the push/pull switch is bad and they are sending me a new one. Sure nice when a company stands by their products!

[Tim Rinehart]

Stu,
As mentioned, IF you have an aux switch, that could be part of problem. If you only have one switch (the big red one), you could try to see if it's faulty first. Assuming you are not an electrical type, but can check continuity....an easy test is as follows.
- Turn off power and unplug the lathe
- Remove the screws holding the big red switch panel
- At back of switch, you will see two terminals (if I recall only two that wires terminated on them). Remove the wire(s) from one of the terminals
- With switch off (IN) you should not have continuity between the terminals
- With switch on (OUT) you should have continuity between the terminals.
- If you get no change with switch OUT, switch is dirty or bad.
- Return wires to switch when done and replace cover before powering lathe again.

Edit...I see you have a new switch coming...may still be a good idea to try above to verify that the switch indeed was bad.

[Kevin Bierman]

mine did the same thing and i had to replace the switch. got it from a local 3-M supplier,