Could some one help me figure out what is going on with my planer?

[keith ouellette]

I re adjusted the knives and feed rollers and it was working great.

I am planing a few pieces. I turn it off and check the thickness and then I turn it back on and it struggles, the lights dim and it dies. It was like something was stuck and it created an electrical oder. I re set the breaker and tried again and the same thing happened. I give it a few minutes, re set the breaker and this time it starts up but a little slower than it used to. I planed a few more narrow boards and it worked fine.

It now runs but here are the differences.

It now starts more slowly. It used to stop very quickly when I turned it off but now it just takes its time stopping. And the bolt that holds the upper pulley on keeps loosening itself.

Any ideas what is going on? Its a 5hp - 20". the wiring and breaker are not the problem.

[david brum]

Does the motor and pulley get hot? I have an older 15" planer which did something similar right after I bought it (used). The upper pulley was a sloppy fit on it's spindle and wouldn't stay tightened down. The sloppy pulley created so much heat that it started to melt the belts. I was advised to coat the spindle with blue loctite, which has worked for several years. Before you do that though, did you check to make sure that the grub screw in the pulley is intact and tight? If the grub screw is loose or missing, that would account for why the pulley is causing the bolt to unscrew.

You might also want to remove the belts and spin the motor spindle to make sure the bearings feel smooth.

[Chip Lindley]

Sorry you're having troubles Keith. First, remove the triple belts and spin the motor by hand. It should turn freely with that slight rubbing sound of the start contacts. Power up the motor and see if it starts normally. We are trying to rule out motor trouble with a bad bearing, stuck start winding contacts, or a faulty capacitor. The motor should fire immediately to life, and shut down with that "click & rubbing" of the start winding switch re-engaging, just before rotation stops.

If upper pulley keeps loosening, that sounds like it may wobble on the shaft. Looks like your 20" planer had a retainer bolt in the shaft and edit: most probably a set screw somewhere, that tightens against the shaft key. Remove the pulley and inspect the cutterhead shaft for uneven wear. Check for play or noise in the bearing on the drive-side of the cutterhead. Above all, I suspect a bad bearing. With belts off, see how smoothly the cutterhead turns by hand. There will be resistance from the gear train on the opposite side, but all should turn smoothly with no metallic grinding noises.

Other troubles could be in the power train, and that could be lots of places. Remove the cover over the chain drive to see if anything has clogged the roller chain. Crank the table down fully, and check that nothing is lodged up in the planer body next to infeed or outfeed rollers.

Let us know what you find. Good Luck!

[keith ouellette]

Does the motor and pulley get hot? I have an older 15" planer which did something similar right after I bought it (used). The upper pulley was a sloppy fit on it's spindle and wouldn't stay tightened down. The sloppy pulley created so much heat that it started to melt the belts. I was advised to coat the spindle with blue loctite, which has worked for several years. Before you do that though, did you check to make sure that the grub screw in the pulley is intact and tight? If the grub screw is loose or missing, that would account for why the pulley is causing the bolt to unscrew.

You might also want to remove the belts and spin the motor spindle to make sure the bearings feel smooth.

I'll remove the belts tomorrow afternoon. Thats a great idea. What is the grub screw? Thanks.

[david brum]

Oh, I'm talking about the set screw which fixes the pulley to the shaft. On mine, the screw is in the bottom of one of the pulley's valleys. This is distinct from the bolt and washer which keeps the pulley from falling off of the spindle. Mine has both.

[glenn bradley]

On your loosening pulley, double check and make sure the set screw isn't the top one of two. Some makers use; one to tighten to the shaft and one on top of that to lock the first screw in place.

[keith ouellette]

Ok. I took off the belts and the motor seem to spin very well. not even a hint of noise. The is nothing in the gears either. The belts get warm but I wouldn't say they are exceedingly hot. I could not find a set screw in the upper pulley. It is only held on by one bolt in the center. I started the motor with out the belts on and I couldn't hear anything un usual.

When it gets up to speed it seems to run fine but before the breaker popped it would jump into full speed with a slight clunk sound and now it takes about 4 or 5 seconds. I actually like it better this way but I need to know why it changed and what caused the breaker to trip 2 times.

[Myk Rian]

Motor brushes?
I can't see why a pulley would cause the problem.

[Dan Hahr]

Have you checked the capacitors? Sounds like the start cap is not working fully. Dan

[John McClanahan]

Your motor probably has more than one start capacitor. Possibly three. One of them may have failed, causing the odor. It would also explain the sluggish startup and breaker tripping. Once the motor gets up to speed, the capacitors are switched out and not used for running.

John

[Chip Lindley]

Ok. I took off the belts and the motor seem to spin very well. not even a hint of noise. The is nothing in the gears either. The belts get warm but I wouldn't say they are exceedingly hot. I could not find a set screw in the upper pulley. It is only held on by one bolt in the center. I started the motor with out the belts on and I couldn't hear anything un usual.

When it gets up to speed it seems to run fine but before the breaker popped it would jump into full speed with a slight clunk sound and now it takes about 4 or 5 seconds. I actually like it better this way but I need to know why it changed and what caused the breaker to trip 2 times.

Keith, the "slight clunk" you used to hear was probably the drive belts slapping their cover. A slower start does not jerk them to life so suddenly. This is a big 20" planer with 5hp single-phase motor. Being so large, the motor may indeed start with a faulty start capacitor. Swapping out a cap. is no big deal after it is discharged with a screwdriver across the terminals. IF that solves your slow-start, we are done. But, if the problem persists, we look for a bad bearing or something binding in the oil-filled gearbox.

[keith ouellette]

The capacitor stores power to help with the start up; Right? Would it burn up the motor if I left it this way? Its on its own breaker and I believe there is 10 gage from the breaker to the plug. That one may be 8 gage but I am certain it is at least 10.

[Rod Sheridan]

Actually Keith, the capacitor increases the starting winding current by cancelling some of the inductive reactance of the winding, and reduces the phase angle between the voltage and current in the winding, improving torque.

Since the capacitor is in series with the winding, an open or partially open capacitor will reduce the starting winding current, which can result in a burned out motor.

That's why the breaker tripped, your motor couldn't come up to speed resulting in a drastic increase in motor winding current. Same issue for a sticking centrifugal switch.

Both will result in motor damage if not corrected.

Regards, Rod.

[keith ouellette]

Actually Keith, the capacitor increases the starting winding current by cancelling some of the inductive reactance of the winding, and reduces the phase angle between the voltage and current in the winding, improving torque.

Since the capacitor is in series with the winding, an open or partially open capacitor will reduce the starting winding current, which can result in a burned out motor.

That's why the breaker tripped, your motor couldn't come up to speed resulting in a drastic increase in motor winding current. Same issue for a sticking centrifugal switch.

Both will result in motor damage if not corrected.

Regards, Rod.

I know that was english but I still didn't understand most of it. I get the gist of it though. If I continue to use it this way the motor will fail. I am gonna try and find an electrician that has experience with motors and capacitors.

Thanks for the advise everyone.

[Don Jarvie]

Keith, double check the wiring from the breaker to the plug then the plug to the motor unless you wired it yourself. Sometimes the ground and one of the hots gets mixed up and the motor will start but not run that well.

The guy I bought my planer off of (3hp R/I) and the wiring was messed up. The second you turned it on you knew something wasn't right.

Just another thing to check off the list.

[Dan Hahr]

If you just look at the capacitors, you can probably tell if it is one of them. When mine failed, they looked melted, cracked, or swollen. Changing them out is easy, very simple if you can see that one is blown. If you can find the capacitor at a local store, the fix is usually pretty cheap, around 20-30 bucks. The capacitors are under the housings (big bumps) around the motor, or in the switch box.
Dan

[Ed Edwards]

If you Google "open Capacitor" you'll find reasons why and how to diagnose capacitors

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Keith,

Here's what Rod is trying to tell you.

On the motor is a centrifugal switch. When you first turn on power to the motor, the switch is closed because the motor shaft isn't turning. The starting capacitor is in the circuit. It's purpose is to cause the motor to start in a specific direction. When the motor achieves about 75-80% of it's normal speed, the switch opens removing the capacitor from the circuit.

If the capacitor goes bad, or the centrifugal switch fails to close when the motor is shutoff, then the next time power is applied to the motor, the motor won't start. This causes the motor windings to draw too much current and trip the breaker.

Capacitor can go bad in a couple different ways. 1) they short. It's been my experience when they short, they explode. 2) they open.....when this happens you can have the symptoms you are experiencing and 3) they change value of capacitance. In this case it can go either way....you may see a problem....you may not see a problem depending on the manner in which the capacitor changes.

The centrifugal switch is located on the motor shaft and works similar to the points in an older cars ignition system. So if saw dust for example gets in the motor and prevents the switch from closing when the motor is shutoff, you can have the same symptoms you are experiencing now.

I will state I have had several caps explode and measure open but it's my theory, they initially shorted....drew too much current....heated up.....exploded....resulting in them opening up......