My Rikon broke

[Don Baer]

But I fixed it. Turns out Jet Mini's arn't the only mini's with Capaciter problems. Saturday morning I was merrily turning my big ole bowl and about 2/3rds finished hollowing it out when suddenly it lost powers and the speed got eradic. Removed the belt and tried it again and the problem was the same. I pulled the motor figuring it might be the centrifical switch. I opened up the motor and there was no switch. Ok so it is a capitor run moto maybe the cap was bad. OK it's saturday so no place to get a replacement so I decided that it was time to do some flat work. This morning I called around and found a motor repair shop in Mesa had a replacement for $28+tax. I drove over and they tested the cap for me and sure enough it was bad. Now the bad news. The replacement cap was much much larger then the OEM supplied cap. Thats OK sez I, I can MaGiver I.

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Original Cap is on the right.

So I got some connectors and and a piece of SO cable. and try it out. Works good but what to do with the big ole Cap.

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Well a Tie wrap later it's tucked away out of harms way and I'm back in business.

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:D

[Keith Christopher]

ouchie. I am suprised my cap is ok with some of the stuff I turned recently. The only problem I have had to date is my tail stock will not stay locked.

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Evening, Kieth. Is it sliding, or won't the handle stay locked down?

Bruce

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great job and looks pretty good Don. McGiver would be proud. :p

[Bart Leetch]

Good job Don!!!

I looks like it Baerly fit where you put it..:eek: :D

[Bill Boehme]

If you ever decide to do it up fancy, there are strap type clamps available to hold it in place. That type of capacitor is usually used with blower motors on HVAC systems and any place that sells parts for that type of stuff would have it. Too bad that I tossed one in the trash recently.

I hate to tell you that they hosed you on the capacitor price.

Bill

[Richard Jones]

You might also contact Rikon. They've been really good to me about supplying parts and have never asked about warranty periods.

Good fix, by the way.

Rich in VA

[Keith Christopher]

Evening, Kieth. Is it sliding, or won't the handle stay locked down?

Bruce


Bruce,

It is sliding. least amount of vibration and the thing wiggles loose. :(

[John Hart]

Capacitors are a pain. For something that only works for 250 milliseconds, it can sure botch things up. Looks like you got a much higher caliber component this time. Probably outlast the lathe. Good fix Don. :)

[George Conklin]

You might also contact Rikon. They've been really good to me about supplying parts and have never asked about warranty periods.

Good fix, by the way.

Rich in VA

Hi Don,

If I remember correctly, that piece of machinery is only a few months old. Why don't you take it back to the store and get a new one?

[Scott Donley]

Do you fix it or upgrade ? You showed great will power Don ;) Nice save :D

[Jeff Myers]

Good save Don, isn't it nice to replace a small part as compared to a whole motor? Most everyone i spoke of thought my motor was shot a couple weeks ago(including the tech at Jet/WMH), i just took a chance and ordered only the cap w/out having it tested and got lucky too,,if i'd ordered the motor, doubt it came with a capicitor too so i'd still be down. Cap was only $17 to the door but it'd been worth that extra $11 to get one in a couple days, took WMH over a week to process my order then slow boat shipping took another 6 days!!!

[Don Baer]

Hi Don,

If I remember correctly, that piece of machinery is only a few months old. Why don't you take it back to the store and get a new one?

I thought about that George. I bought the Late in March, but I may have abused the thing a little, I had been turning for several hours and the entire motor was buried in shaving. There was absoultly no airflow over the motor so I figured I'd just fix it and be done with it. Thats one disadvantage to the little min's and the motor placement. I have it sitting on a flat cabinate so it's easy to allow chips to build up and completely cover the motor. I've been planning on getting a prper lathe stand but putting it off until the new shop/house is done. I guess I'll be a little more diligent about chip removal.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Don I have often wondered like on the mini's and midi's if a guy couldn't make a shield to put over the motor to keep the chips off. Like make one that could be bolted to the bed. It would be between the bed and the motor. This would keep the chips off the motor and probably reduce a lot of heat. I have the same thing on my Delta that the motor just gets buried in chips and with no air flow gets warmer than usual.

[George Conklin]

Don,

You have my respect and admiration for being able to turn in AZ heat and knowing how to fix your own electrical stuff.:D

[Don Baer]

On the Rikon there is a metal plate between the motor and the bed, but when you have it sitting on a cabinate like mine and you have a foot of shaving it will still bury the motor. :D .I think I'll try setting a line from my DC next to the motor to try to keep it cleaner.

[Bernie Weishapl]

See mine doesn't have a plate was why I had thought about that. I had a idea about the DC and putting it close by the motor also to suck up most of the stuff. I didn't realize Rikon already had a plate.

[Stephen Hibbs]

Bruce,

It is sliding. least amount of vibration and the thing wiggles loose. :(

you probably have to tighten the bolt on the bottom of the tailstock (that holds it to the lathe bed), mine gets loose all the time, just hand tighten it a little, or use a wrench if need be.

[Don Baer]

Well, It's better then letting the curls pile up on the motor. I'll comemup with something a little better but for now just having a DC hose plose by the motor works.

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:D