Planer won't run - is motor "bad"?

[Tom Deutsch]

Hi All - I bought a 60s-70s era Parks 12" planer ... yes, without hearing it run (no plug available ... long story ... etc.) Caveat emptor, I know. :( Anyway ... it looks like it was well taken care of, fairly clean, no gouges on the table or apparent knife accidents. Bearings are tight. Was told it ran the last time it was plugged in - which was years ago.
Makes a sound like it's trying to run when power is applied, but no go. I tried bypassing the magnetic switch - direct 230 volts to the motor - but still no go. Tried spinning the pulley while applying power - still no go.
This is a big 184 frame 2 hp 230v Baldor industrial motor, mounted in the cast iron base. I guess I'll have to heave this thing out of there and check things out. Any suggestions or ideas what might be wrong? I'll clean it, of course. Check the wire connections. I'm bummed because I figured it was a bad capacitor, but shouldn't it have run when I spun the pulley, if it was a bad capacitor? What else can go wrong on these? :confused:

[David Kumm]

You are sure it isn't three phase? Dave

[Bill Adamsen]

Parks configuration is such that the motor could easily be replaced with a single-phase. Or, should it turn out to be a 3-phase, planers have a relatively low startup inertia and so are reasonable candidates for a dedicated VFD ... which for 2 hp are reasonably inexpensive.

[glenn bradley]

Another vote for a possible 3PH motor. Easy enough to check on the motor plate. If it is single phase we will dive deeper ;-)

[Bradley Gray]

If it is a three phase motor it will run on single phase. Remove the v-belt, spin the pulley (either with your foot or wrap a rope like an old lawnmower) and turn on the power. If you spun it in the proper direction it should run.

[Tom Deutsch]

311277It's a single phase motor - wired for 230 v.

[David Kumm]

I'd take it to a motor shop and have it checked out. See what the repair costs and if the motor is fried. Then you can negotiate with seller. That is a nice motor. 184 is generally a 5 hp. Hopefully it won't cost an arm or leg. Large frame motors seldom fail if the bearings don't go bad. Dave

[Tom Deutsch]

I'll try cleaning it before I put my arm and leg in play at a service center. Anything I should look for?

[David Kumm]

I'll try cleaning it before I put my arm and leg in play at a service center. Anything I should look for?

I'm mainly a three phase guy so no help with capacitors. Whatever happens you will want to stay with the large frame 184 motor. Don't get talked into a smaller frame with different pulleys. Dave

[John C Bush]

Hi Tom,
Congrats -- I think-- on the Parks (and recreation!!). I had one for 10 + years and had great performance with it. Look up Robert Vaughan(sp) for his video for a Parks tune up. Shows all you need to know about maintaining and adjusting the machine. I think he is a contributor on SMC as well. I may still have a copy of the info sheet/mini-manual. Let me know if you need it and I'll see if I saved a copy. John.

[Jesse Busenitz]

+1 on checking both your capacitors, and also you might take a gander at the centrifugal switch. Jess who has worked on too many ww motors here as of late....

[Tom Deutsch]

OK, I took the motor out and apart. All the wiring looked fine. The capacitor hadn't leaked or bulged. (Any way to check the capacitor?)
I cleaned up the "points" on the little brass contact switch arms (they were maybe just a little oxidized). The mechanism I suppose is the centrifugal switch looks ok and seems to move correctly. The only things that seemed odd were the strange contorted little fangs on the fan end of the motor. See pics. Are these aluminum or ? Something soft fer sher - I bent them back as straight as possible. Dunno if that's going to help or not.
Looking at the pics - anything else I ought to check or replace before I reassemble and cross my fingers?
311550311551

[Frank Pratt]

If it is a three phase motor it will run on single phase. Remove the v-belt, spin the pulley (either with your foot or wrap a rope like an old lawnmower) and turn on the power. If you spun it in the proper direction it should run.

It will run, but it's really bad for the motor & it will not make near it's rated power.

[Larry Komroff]

Those motors can come with a thermal overload switch. You can reset it if your motor has one.

Larry

[Mikail Khan]

Yesterday I replaced a defective capacitor on my water pump. Pump just hummed and did not turn. Capacitor looked perfect from the outside. Cost about $15US and took 5 minutes to change.


MK

[Robert Engel]

Once you've determined its not 3 phase, you could take the capacitor off and look at it or just replace it you can get one pretty cheap at Global Industries.

Me, I would bypass all that and take it to a motor shop find out what you've got.

[Mike Henderson]

Once you've determined its not 3 phase, you could take the capacitor off and look at it or just replace it you can get one pretty cheap at Global Industries.

Me, I would bypass all that and take it to a motor shop find out what you've got.
I'd try a new capacitor, also. There are not many things that can go wrong on an induction motor and you've already cleaned up the centrifugal switch. A capacitor is not that expensive - a lot less expensive than what a motor shop will charge you.

Mike

[Curt Harms]

I'd try a new capacitor, also. There are not many things that can go wrong on an induction motor and you've already cleaned up the centrifugal switch. A capacitor is not that expensive - a lot less expensive than what a motor shop will charge you.

Mike

I too agree with trying new caps. I have a small metal cutting bandsaw. That motor would start but not under any sort of load. The cap looked perfect, no leaking no bulging. New one was $5.90 from McMaster-Carr.

[Tom Deutsch]

Just ordered a new cap. $9 shipped. My fingers are crossed though, because I thought I would be able to spin start the motor if the cap was the problem. There's no thermal overload reset button or anything like that on this motor (in response to an earlier reply). Thanks to everyone so far!

[Mike Henderson]

Let us know if it fixes the problem.

Mike

[Curt Harms]

Just ordered a new cap. $9 shipped. My fingers are crossed though, because I thought I would be able to spin start the motor if the cap was the problem. There's no thermal overload reset button or anything like that on this motor (in response to an earlier reply). Thanks to everyone so far!

I've had 2 caps go bad. One on the mentioned Shop Fox metal bandsaw, one on a Jet jointer-planer. The symptom was different on each. The bandsaw motor would start itself but wouldn't start under any sort of load. The jointer-planer cutterhead would move forward and back about 1/16" but wouldn't turn. I imagine it would have tripped the breaker if I hadn't shut it off promptly. I didn't try to start it by hand, couldn't figure out a safe way to do it. Point being there is more than one failure mode for capacitors.

[Tom Deutsch]

That's good to hear, Curt. I'm hopeful this will fix it.
Going to be longer than I thought, though. When I ordered the part from GI, I checked "contact us" and only saw Georgia and New York addresses, which would mean a 1 or 2 day UPS ground shipping time (I'm in southern Ohio). Unfortunately, my capacitor is coming from Ontario, California. Anticipation .... Oh well - gives me time to work on setting up my bandsaw!

[Jesse Busenitz]

You can buy cheap capacitor testers, which really come in handy when your trouble shooting....

[Tom Deutsch]

Capacitor was the issue. New one installed and the motor spins like a top. Yahoo! Thanks for the advice. Now to wrestle this beast back into the machine and see how it planes!