Delta BOSS trouble

[Dave McGeehan]

I have a Delta BOSS I bought about 6 years ago that I doubt I've used a total of one hour. I dug it out yesterday and when I turned it on it ran very slow, made a racket and the motor started smelling like it was burning. The entire mechanism moves smoothly when hand turning the spindle, no binds. Checked the oscillating gears: good. I removed the motor from the unit and removed the oscillating assembly. When I ran the motor under power with no gear load it still made noise yet its shaft turns very smooth and no noise turning it manually. I checked the capacitor and it has a small bulging crack in its side. My best guess is this capacitor is causing the odd rattling noise and burning condition within the motor. Anyone had this problem with their Delta BOSS?

[Sean Nagle]

I've had a BOSS for probably 10 years, but it doesn't get a great deal of use. I've never experienced the problem you're having. Most of the problems I've read about with the BOSS have to do with the plastic gears. If all the gearing looks OK, you're probably correct that it's the capacitor for the motor since it is having a difficult time getting the motor turning. I've never opened mine. Does it look like the capacitor can easily be replaced?

[Carl Babel]

From wikipedia (see last line):
Run capacitors are designed for continuous duty, and they are energized the entire time the motor is running.[1] Run capacitors are rated in a range of 3–70 microfarads (µF), with voltage classifications of 370 V or 440 V.[1] Single phase electric motors need a capacitor to energize a second-phase winding. If the wrong run capacitor is installed, the motor will not have an even magnetic field, and this will cause the rotor to hesitate at those spots that are uneven. This hesitation can cause the motor to become noisy, increase energy consumption, cause performance to drop, and cause the motor to overheat.

I wouldn't run this motor until you fix/get fixed that capacitor!

[shane lyall]

Never seen the insides of a boss but sounds like a start cap is bad. They charge on start up to help the motor spool up. Not sure without looking at a print but your motor may be running/starting under voltage and may fry if you keep using it. Again, not sure without looking.

[Dave McGeehan]

Thanks everybody. Carl, great info. I guess the only way I'll know if the motor is already damaged is to replace the run capacitor and see what happens.

[Jerry Solomon]

Dave - My BOSS is doing exactly the same thing. I didn't remove the motor as it looked like more of a job than I wanted at the time. Thinking it might require a new motor, I looked up the price of a replacement and decided that the machine wasn't worth that much ($$$). If it's only a capacitor, that shouldn't be so bad. I would be most interested in how you resolve your problem.

[Wayne A Hall]

I had about the same problem with the BOSS I have. One day it just wouldn't start. Made a humming noice. You might try plugging it in and spinning it by hand to see if it will come up to speed. Delta doesn't sell just the capacitor. They wanted to sell me a new motor for just about what the whole unit cost. I bought a replacement capacitor off Ebay and it has worked fine since. I can look up the specs of the capacitor if you need it.

[Julian Tracy]

I've got a Jet buffer that won't start up on it's own, but if you simply give it a spin, it runs perfect. When I researched it a bit, it seemed that most folks suggested that's fine and as long as you gave it a spin no issues for the motor. I just haven't wanted to take the darn thing apart.

A lot easier giving a 10" buffer a spin than a spindle sander though...

JT

[Dave McGeehan]

I've located the Delta 16uF 250V capacitor on several sites and all say "discontinued by the manufacturer." None on Ebay. Grizzly has that capacitor listed in the parts section for their GO538 OSS. I called them and they say the capacitor is no longer available. I called local motor repair shops and electrical supply stores: no luck. The only place I found was a site in China that has them but you must order a minimum of 1000. So if 999 of you guys with bad Delta BOSS want to go in on it, contact me and we'll place an order. On a more serious note, Delta wants more for the motor than I paid for the whole unit. If I can't find this capacitor, I'm going to be forced to buy a new OSS.

[Doug Colombo]

I have no experence or purchased anything from this site, but I did a Google search for the capacitor and found this company (in South Carolina per the web site):
http://www.tedss.com/D22A2516M21 I have no idea if this will work, but thought I would pass it on to you.

[Curt Harms]

This thread caught my attention because I have a BOSS which has been fine so far. I bought mine before Delta's travails which may have helped. Could your local motor guys help out with a replacement cap that's close enough to 16uF? I looked at McMaster's capacitor page and they say +/- 10% of the spec'd value which for 16uF isn't much. This is a START cap, right? McMaster has run caps of 15 & 20 uF.

[Kevin L. Pauba]

Might this work?

http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.as...tname=electric

[Dave McGeehan]

Thanks all for the help:

Curt-I think this one is a start capacitor. I need a run.

Kevin-that one's uF rating is 64-77 and it also is a start.

Doug-This sounds like the one. I called TEDSS and asked them to measure its dimensions to make sure it'll fit in the motor's side cover. He said he'll have that info for me early next week. When I find out, I'll post the info here.

[Curt Harms]

Here's the link to McMaster-Carr's page. The page has dimensions & prices:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#motor-capacitors/=b01qik

[Dave McGeehan]

Thanks Curt. The specs written on the side of my capacitor are: "16uF, 125WVAC". None of the choices on the McMaster page seem to fit that combination. Doing some resaerch on the net I'm pretty sure it's a run capacitor.