Hi,
I just scored a nice Northfield No. 2 18" planer. One issue is that it was wired for 480. I was able to rewire the motor leads from the high voltage to the lower voltage setting. The starter coil also has a diagram for low vs. high which was changed. Pressing the ON switch gave a hum, but manually engaging the contactor started the motor just fine. I took apart the on/off switch and cleaned all contacts and its better. It wants to start, but clicks and arcs quite a bit in the contactor. The on and off buttons do seem to work as they should. I am thinking that lowering the voltage (and increasing the amperage), is causing the arcing. One other item that is odd is that the on/off switch has a jumper between the no and nc terminals.
I have attached pics of the coil, the on/off switch, and the full contactor assembly.
I may have to get a motor guy on this, but hopefully i can at least be ready for them. Any ideas?
thanks,
Stevo