rikon bandsaw

[Michelle Rich]

I have an 8 mo old rikon 10-325. When I hit the switch, the motor will hum but the wheels won't turn. If I open the door and manually rotate the wheels, then close the door, and flip the switch, it will work properly. I wrote Rilon an email, but it is saturday so I doubt I'll get any help until monday..any ideas here? thanks

[Brad Adams]

Sounds like you have a bad capacitor.

[Mike Cutler]

I would start with the "starting capacitor". Any motor rewind repair shop in your area should be able to get you the part. It's nothing exotic that only Rikon has.
Write down all of the letters and symbols on the capacitor, in the order they appear, and take it with you.

[Erik Loza]

+1 for the start capacitor. Grainger also sells them online, if you can't/don't want to drive and get one. As Mike stated, you want to make a note of PRECISELY what is printed on the capacitor you have on the motor, now. Also, search Youtube for "How safely to discharge a capacitor" before you try to remove it from the motor; You can shock yourself if not careful. Best of luck.

Erik

[Charles Lent]

Michelle,

Look at the motor. If it has a large bump on the case, the bump contains a large capacitor and inside the shaftless end of the motor there is a switch. The switch connects the capacitor to the start winding of the motor whenever the motor is off, and disconnects the capacitor and start winding of the motor as the speed of the motor reaches about 30% of it's rated speed. Either the switch is not working properly or the capacitor is defective.

Disconnect the tool from power and carefully remove the end cover of the motor to expose this switch. The switch itself is just a stamped brass or copper piece with a contact on the end of it. Check the contact points and clean them up with a tiny file and sand paper. Emery cloth works best for this. Make certain that the contacts touch well and bend the metal a bit to make them touch if they aren't. Now turn your attention to the plastic collar on the motor shaft. There are two weights on pivots that swing out and move this collar toward the end of the shaft as the motor comes up to speed. Springs pull the collar back as the motor slows down. Usually the shaft rusts and prevents the collar from sliding on the shaft. Using the emery cloth, clean this area for the shaft where this collar needs to slide and then wipe the shaft (don't spray) with WD-40 or very light machine oil. Now return the end cover to the motor.

Try the motor to see if it runs. If it still fails the capacitor is likely bad. Remove the screws holding the bump cover and remove the capacitor from it. There will be 2 wires connecting to the capacitor and they most likely just have push on terminals so you can pull them off with pliers. It doesn't matter which wire connects to which terminal on the capacitor, so just pull the wires free. Written on the side of this capacitor are the electrical parameters of the capacitor. You can either order a replacement online or go to a local motor shop and buy a new one. In areas where there are industrial facilities or in larger towns and cities there is usually a motor repair shop near by that takes care of the needed motor repairs. The Yellow Pages should have a listing for them. The physical size of the capacitor is important because the replacement will have to fit in the cover. The Voltage will need to be the same or higher than the original and it must be an AC rated capacitor. Then the Mfd or Ufd rating must be the same as the original. If you go to a motor shop, take the old capacitor with you and ask them to test it, but it should cost $10 or less so just buy one if you can't get it tested, but make sure the replacement meets the size and electrical parameters of the original.

Back home, just install the new capacitor, connect the wires to it, and put the cover back on the motor, being careful not to let the terminal touch the metal motor case or the capacitor cover.

Now try the motor again. It should work fine now. If it doesn't, or if you don't want to try repairing the motor yourself, remove the whole motor and take it to the motor repair shop.

Charley

[Michelle Rich]

Michelle,

Look at the motor. If it has a large bump on the case, the bump contains a large capacitor and inside the shaftless end of the motor there is a switch. The switch connects the capacitor to the start winding of the motor whenever the motor is off, and disconnects the capacitor and start winding of the motor as the speed of the motor reaches about 30% of it's rated speed. Either the switch is not working properly or the capacitor is defective.

Disconnect the tool from power and carefully remove the end cover of the motor to expose this switch. The switch itself is just a stamped brass or copper piece with a contact on the end of it. Check the contact points and clean them up with a tiny file and sand paper. Emery cloth works best for this. Make certain that the contacts touch well and bend the metal a bit to make them touch if they aren't. Now turn your attention to the plastic collar on the motor shaft. There are two weights on pivots that swing out and move this collar toward the end of the shaft as the motor comes up to speed. Springs pull the collar back as the motor slows down. Usually the shaft rusts and prevents the collar from sliding on the shaft. Using the emery cloth, clean this area for the shaft where this collar needs to slide and then wipe the shaft (don't spray) with WD-40 or very light machine oil. Now return the end cover to the motor.

Try the motor to see if it runs. If it still fails the capacitor is likely bad. Remove the screws holding the bump cover and remove the capacitor from it. There will be 2 wires connecting to the capacitor and they most likely just have push on terminals so you can pull them off with pliers. It doesn't matter which wire connects to which terminal on the capacitor, so just pull the wires free. Written on the side of this capacitor are the electrical parameters of the capacitor. You can either order a replacement online or go to a local motor shop and buy a new one. In areas where there are industrial facilities or in larger towns and cities there is usually a motor repair shop near by that takes care of the needed motor repairs. The Yellow Pages should have a listing for them. The physical size of the capacitor is important because the replacement will have to fit in the cover. The Voltage will need to be the same or higher than the original and it must be an AC rated capacitor. Then the Mfd or Ufd rating must be the same as the original. If you go to a motor shop, take the old capacitor with you and ask them to test it, but it should cost $10 or less so just buy one if you can't get it tested, but make sure the replacement meets the size and electrical parameters of the original.

Back home, just install the new capacitor, connect the wires to it, and put the cover back on the motor, being careful not to let the terminal touch the metal motor case or the capacitor cover.

Now try the motor again. It should work fine now. If it doesn't, or if you don't want to try repairing the motor yourself, remove the whole motor and take it to the motor repair shop.

Charley

thanks so much Charley for the blow by blow ..and the great directions..as I said, it is 8 mos old so it is under warranty..rikon SHOULD send me the capacitor & with your directions I should have no trouble. There are no rewind shops anywhere near me..I live in the wilderness, so that option is out. The bandsaw is working with a little push, so I think I can get my work done this weekend and hopefully rikon will get back to me monday. Thanks again Charley

[glenn bradley]

I'll add some thoughts on "why" did an 8 month old saw blow a start cap.

Heat can be a cause and I mean heat as in "its hot in here" not electrically caused heat from an inadequate power cord or other circuit member. If it was that hot where you are working, you'd notice :)
Just plain age can cause failures as caps have a given life (a very long life) but, with the age of your saw this is probably out.
High current resulting from a winding failure; your motor works with a push so this is probably also out.
Voltage and energized duration. That is, the cap receives too much voltage or receives it for too long. This can be a centrifugal switch matter or just a plain old failed cap.

A visual inspection of the cap may show a blown out blister cap, malformed case or "blew its guts out" failed end cap. This pretty much points to a voltage problem; duration or amount. However, a cap that just fails can look the same.

I have had both problems; a failed cap that just required replacing and has never given me trouble again (I like this one), and a failed cap that was tracked to a bad cent-switch that was staying engaged too long. The bad cent switch will continue to kill caps so on blow number two (should that happen), save yourself some time and go straight to the switch :)

[Curt Harms]

thanks so much Charley for the blow by blow ..and the great directions..as I said, it is 8 mos old so it is under warranty..rikon SHOULD send me the capacitor & with your directions I should have no trouble. There are no rewind shops anywhere near me..I live in the wilderness, so that option is out. The bandsaw is working with a little push, so I think I can get my work done this weekend and hopefully rikon will get back to me monday. Thanks again Charley

Michelle, I had the same thing happen on a brand new 10-325 when the model was new. I called Rikon expecting them to send me a start capacitor, instead they sent me a whole new motor. When I asked about it, the support guy said "can't tell what else is wrong". I wonder if those motors had issues beyond start caps. If they do send you a start cap, it's located in the box next to the motor where the connections are, not in an enclosure on the motor itself. "Hand propping" works, just be careful. I put my fingers on the wheel/spokes, not in the spokes.

[Michelle Rich]

thanks Curt

[Robert Engel]

I don't know if it will do it, but my 5HP compressor capacitor went bad soon after we moved it and ran a new circuit.
Now, the circuit was 12ga/30A and I questioned my electrician about it he told me not to worry.
After checking with 2 other electricians they told me the wire was too small and run #10.

I'm wondering if low voltage/amperage can cause a capacitor to go bad prematurely?
If so, maybe this is something the OP should check.

[Randy Rizzo]

Michelle, I had the same thing happen on a brand new 10-325 when the model was new. I called Rikon expecting them to send me a start capacitor, instead they sent me a whole new motor. When I asked about it, the support guy said "can't tell what else is wrong". I wonder if those motors had issues beyond start caps. If they do send you a start cap, it's located in the box next to the motor where the connections are, not in an enclosure on the motor itself. "Hand propping" works, just be careful. I put my fingers on the wheel/spokes, not in the spokes.

Same thing here, except we went thru replacing the capicator first. Didn't cure the problem, then they replaced the motor, been fine ever since, and that was 4, maybe 5 years ago.