Most of us would have been pissed and just left it till we got a new part. But thenyou looked and said hey why not rebuild it. Great job doing it too. Hope you wrote the bearing numbers and plan on those too. That lathes really worth some love . Shes built like a tank and made to work for every . Thanks buddy
I absolutely agree with the kick-back comments. BUT, You just to the best of your immediate abilities rebuilt that one pole of the centrifugal switch on my TV. I Thank you for your effort and I appreciate that you shared it with us. Great Video Mr. Summers.
10/10 Steve, there is nothing more satisfying than getting a repair done under your own steam, keep your new coming component until you need it........I love videos like this, thanks for taking the time to edit and post..........From Rich across the pond.
G'day Steve. I like your style - Fix it today! Your repair is probably better than original so I reckon you'll never change that switch. Thanks for demonstrating "never give up, never surrender"!
Steve, the reason the motor brakes so hard when you shut it off, is that starter contactor engages the start capacitors as the motor slows down post the centripetal clutch speed . The energy in the motor shorts out against the capacitors heating the start winding. To have the motor freewheel you would have to use another pole on your run switch, and wire the start capacitor through that pole. You could control the braking force with a resistor parallel to that pole. When you engage the run switch, the start pole enables a direct connection from between the start winding and the capacitor bank. When you disengage run, the start pole opens and the parallel resistor controls the amperage between the start capacitor bank and the start winding. This would allow you to adjust the violence of the braking action.
Chuck, I don't doubt that you know what you are talking about but you need to provide a diagram so that we who less informed might understand what you are saying.
@Sheila Walker As a bonus, replacing the single phase motor with a three phase will actually improve surface finishes, because it'll provide smoother power.
Steve, I've come back in my DeLorean to tell you that the repairs you made today will last about three years... It's OK though BC by that time you'll have the replacement part, so it's an easy fix! Also, shortly you'll have lots of time on your hands, so it would be a great time to fix-up your old barn, it will look awesome! 🤣🤣🤣
Love your channel! You and I have a very similar level of patience (or lack there of). I have done similar things just so that I could get back up and running. The smile on your face when it works is priceless. Fixing something that is broken is very rewarding to me and you too obviously. Thanks for all the content!
I have to hand it to you Steve. You are a real "Handy Man" I too love to try and fix things as you did, just to keep running. Good luck with the Do-All rebuild. Love watching you repair / run things etc.
5 лет назад+1
Whenever my family will make a trip with a space ship - I hope that you are on board. You dont give up, you dont know catastrophes - you fix it. I like it.
It's a blessing you had sheet stock and copper rod on hand or available to make the repair. When I was a kid, I had put together a fantastic electronics shop and had a lot of spare parts - bought, collected, bartered, dumpster-dived and salvaged - that I used for repair or construction. Sadly, I left all that behind and now that I'm on the senior side of life I find myself wishing I'd been able to hold on to some of those items and equipment. Everything is a struggle now, requires money I don't have, or just isn't available (especially here in the US) anymore.
This is a great video. Hand turned copper rivets and switch contacts/leaves. These cover two parts of my working life as an electronics tech. Earlier in a factory where part of my work was the mechanical fitting of terminals and rivets. Later I was fixing pinball machines - loose contacts and switch leaves were available to make what was required for repairs, the kits are a commodity item in that industry.
I know you view this as a temporary repair but that contact remake was top notch. I don't doubt that motor would run for quite a long time with that repair job. I respect a guy who can actually "fix" stuff rather than just be a parts changer. Nicely done!
Yeah, I hate having to fix my tools before finishing up the original project, but it happens. Your fix was awesome. Good for you. And yes, it does take a lathe to fix a lathe. Having my little Taig let me make new bronze bushings for my Sheldon a few years ago.
Steve, since you mostly work with three phase at work, pick up a nice 5 hp and set it up with a nice TECO VFD, or whatever brand you want. i have vfd on all four of my machines. but i gotta give you credit for plulling the motor, fixing what you found wrong and getting on with business. to many guys will just give up the ghost and buy a new motor, call someone to install it for them and be out 4 hundred bucks. like you i can't do without my lathe. keep at it my friend.
I would have moved the starting current to an outboard relay but your fabrication skills are really a treat. Beautiful! Outboard relay is an option you can still consider if you have doubts that your final configuration will handle starting current in dirty environment. For hobby use, I am with Fred Miller. Order a replacement plate if you can find it and wait to see how long your repair last.
Outstanding troubleshooting and repair, Steve. Tip: next time you find yourself having to use an arbor press to swage a hollow rivet, place a small ball bearing on the rivet. It will roll the wall over for a perfect fit.
I disagree on the longevity, since the contact is the "resistor" that is dumping the kinetic energy of the rotor and Lathe when motor is shutoff, that copper contact is seeing kilowatts of power dissipated. Copper is a good conductor but, it has a low melting point. I would be interested to see how much pitting and melting that contact exhibits in the next couple of weeks of use.
Murphy is no respecter of time nor money, but Steve's ingenuity saved the day! Great job on the repair, and very useful ideas for those of us who repair old motors.
The happy clap at 25:29 told the entire story. The first time you really did turn that on was right then, on camera; not before and then you turned the camera on. You can't recreate that excitement and happiness. My favorite channel, by far. You don't get bombarded by all the glitz and glam and all the stuff that your patreon money has brought you (meaning not you but others), you don't sit and shill Dewalt or 1000 gallon Evaporust tanks and all that BS. You're legit and thats what we love. Its what we loved about other channels before they got big. The fix you showed you likely aren't to find anywhere else; to the level you took it. Thank you Steve and hope you and the family had a wonderful holiday!
Steve, congratulations on the good humour you showed with the lathe problems. I'm quite sure the air would have been blue if I was anywhere close, but you just seemed to take it all in your stride. Good on 'ya
The repair you did looks as good as and is probably better than what you can buy mortgaging the farm, I personally wouldn't bother to look for one as it will probably be almost as costly as a motor. Of course, I wouldn't find it here anyway, that is why the shop exists. I have always kind of wanted a second lathe exactly for the reason you mentioned, I just picked up a Hardinge Chucker, but have not had time to get it on line, this motor problem was my first lathe outage ever, in over 40 years
I purchased a brand new Baldor 5hp 3 phase motor from a used machinery discounter for 60 bucks on sale. Actually had 2 to choose from one Baldor the other a Marathon motor. Nice you got it going but before I bought parts for the single phase I'd look at replacing it.
That was my favorite video from you bar none. Such an elegant and beautifully executed repair. From the hand-turned copper rivets to the silver-solder facing on the contactors, I am very impressed. My guess is your repair will outlast the rest of the motor. Thank you for sharing it.
Hang the new replacement on the inside of the access door so you will be reminded you still have it when you look to see what that noise is the motor is making fifteen years from now
As usual another great video. Excellent content with great camera work. If more people today had your can do attitude, this country would be in a lot better shape. The younger generation needs to watch more videos like this, learn a few things and get off of all the computer games and actually do some real work. Always a joy watch your videos and to learn something new. Thanks for sharing with us. Dan
Very nice repair job Steve. One good thing, those loud noises are usually not hard to find, just look for the broken stuff like you did. Its the quiet little intermittent faults that will turn you hair gray and make you use inappropriate language. 😂 I'm sure you have had your share of those. Either way, fixing it yourself is satisfying and can save a lot of money.
Post facto FYI: The contact pads should not be flat but slightly convex. This causes the pads to slightly slide across each other breaking any micro welds and scouring off any surface oxidation. However, since you aren't using this motor in a high start stop rate industrial application, your repair should give you excellent service. I enjoy all of your videos, Rollie
Amazing how something you need and use on a regular basis always seems to break down when you need it most. Conversely, things that you never use can sit there on the shelf for 10 years and never give you a bit of trouble. Excellent video and great repair that should last longer than a cheap replacement part.
Every video Steve makes teaches me something, or reinforces something I forgot I had seen before. Sometimes you gotta get things fixed right away, or replacement parts are unavailable, or ...
Bravo Mister it pays to have all those little bits and pieces hanging around the shop and the intelligence to diagnose the problem and develop a solution.
Impressive repair Steve. While none of it was overly complicated, it takes some major patience and thinking off the cuff. Most people would not even attempt it, myself included. Well, until now. Hopefully I never need too. 😂
Great repair on the lathe Steve. Just a tip, when I have to make small parts that require holes, I drill the holes before I cut it out of the larger piece of stock. Safer and easier. I would get buy the spare switch then wait for your repaired one to fail. I am betting that new switch will be on the shelf for a LONG time. Great work all around...
Excellent job Steve. In 40 yrs of doing machine maintenance, never once have I seen a 145T burn up those contacts. As mentioned, most motors I worked on were 3 phase so theses contacts were not needed. HAVE seen many motors fail from failure to remove grease relief and operators " just give it a shot" not knowing its gotta go somewhere. Had a dip tank just for degreasing inside motors like that. I have repaired motor starter contacts with solder and a file and they worked for yrs that way. I think your switch repair is better than new. I put sealed bearings in or, Just plugged the grease fitting preventing damage. On our larger motors, there are grease relief drains.
Your repair work was brilliant !!! I've done the same thing many times, including having to make a new phenolic base for the switch from an old copper clad printed circuit board ( copper had to be etched off first ) I used brass for the contacts, as I couldn't find any copper to turn one up from. This repair was done on my shop air compressor, 5 HP Baldor motor, about 7 years ago, and it's still working just fine. I acquired an almost new 5 HP replacement motor, but have never fitted it, because I wanted to see how long the repair would last. My repairs were done for the exact same reason as yours, broken down on a long holiday weekend, and bored, and angry about having my shop time disrupted. So good on you, you meet the challenge, and whipped it good !!! Tim
You are correct that the silver cap is the run and both black caps are start. 19.5ųf out of a 20ųf cap is a good output. +/- 5% is usually what is considered good on capacitors.
Great fix for the contact plate. Shows an awesome "can do" attitude. Glad to see that I am in good company that take the time to make repairs like this. The silver solder was something I hadn't thought of, but made the repair that much better. Keep the great videos coming.
Neat repair Steve. That part from SteveCo Electrical Mfg Inc - the only company that is open during this holiday season - could last. It would be a good idea to get spare motors, for the lathe and the mill, two machines you don't want downtime on. I found here in New Zealand keeping an eye on local clearance, estate auctions are good places for bargains.
I had the same problem in a baldor motor. I did the same as you. I cut a new copper strip and used the contacts out of a set of breaker points for an international scout and soldered them on. 10 years later it still works. Used everyday.
"Then I decide to fix it... today" ... "Fixed," Good on you, persevering and not just lashing it up but making a really neat repair! Thanks for sharing!
When marking your wires, those stickers are nice, but I've had problems finding new packets of them and moved onto the small colored zip ties. Chemicals typically don't hurt them either. I used to use pieces of telephone cable, it had about 30 different colors and you could just wrap them around wires or hyd lines, etc. But, you definitely can't find telephone cable anymore LOL, showing my age I guess. Those Klein screwdrivers are awesome, they almost go everywhere with me.
Certainly nothing wrong with a spade terminal connector on equipment this small as long as they are somewhat good quality. But I have certainly never seen them peel off quite as easy as you just did.
Always something my friend. You beat it into submission though. It never hurts to try. Even not knowing fix what you can and give it a try. I do like your style fella !
Well done Steve. Good repair. I've done similar repairs to my lathe motor. I'm not an electrician either but It needed doing to keep me working. Plenty of excellent content in your videos, good lighting and sound. Many RUclipsrs let themselves down from poor lighting and sound. Keith. From England.
Wow, I have to say that was out of the box thinking there! I’m in the electronics industry and deal with a wide range of circuits, Mister, that was well thought out and proves when the the shit hits the fan you will not be one sitting around wondering what or how to fix anything. Seriously I’ve been at it for more than than 40 years and while you claim to not know much about electrical things you’ve done well! Cheers!
From machinist to millwright, your repair will outlast a factory part indeed. Looked like endplay when you started it at the beginning of the video. Would certainly swap out at least the end bearing for sealed as you mentioned. Nice repair Steve, thanks for sharing. Cheers
Ya then you can get right back to work. Good keeping the snowball on course. That switch you made is pretty damn good. yup repairing things to repair things. cool show steve lots of twists and turns
That looks like a tin of plumbers soldering flux, which is corrosive. You can safely use it to clean 'one piece' things like the capacitor terminals, so they can be tinned. However, clean them *thoroughly* before soldering the tinned wire to the tinned part using resin flux. The problem is, the corrosive flux melts and wicks up into stranded wire. Then humidity does its thing and after a while the wire corrodes back inside the plastic insulation. I've run into that a number of times working on old machinery. It can be really aggravating because the soldered connection looks fine (it actually is), but the wire itself is corroded to pieces inside the insulation right next to it. (edit) I should point out this failure isn't an all or nothing deal. While the process of corroding to pieces is going on, there's less and less good copper, which increases resistance, and decreases how much power it can pass. I dunno if you'd consider it a best or worst case, but it does happen that enough heat can be generated by the high resistance that it can melt the insulation off or straight up cause a fire. Given the weather where you live, you'll get away with it for years, but it WILL eventually cause trouble. Can't escape the chemistry, that's just what happens.
Beautiful repair, Steve! I can see you were pleased to get the lathe up and running - definitely the heart of the shop. Unless you're talking about a wood shop, then it's the table saw ;)
Steve the copper you used doesn't appear to have the same spring quality as the original. It will fatigue over time. The rest of the replaced components are awesome and will last years. As you said it will work for awhile. Great quick fix. Now let's get the bandsaw fixed. It will be a great addition to the shop once your planned mods are applied. Great content as always. Happy Holidays to you and your family.
Very impressed this week Steve, your repair is far better than temporary. I find it hard to get my head around your mains frequency and speeds in the USA as in the UK we are used to 50 Hz and 1500 or 3000 rpm. All my machinery here uses 3 phase motors, the usual maximum for single phase here is 3HP. My mill and shaper have 5Hp and the lathe (a DeMoor) has a 7.5Hp. I use generators to run everything as I don't have mains 3 phase. A cheap Chinese diesel runs the smaller motors but I have to use a larger one for the lathe, despite them all having a soft start fitted. Testing capacitors with a "modern" digital multimeter is not very easy, I am old school and prefer something analogue like an Avo8 which has a reversing switch to watch the "kick" from a charged up capacitor.
You are lucky to have three phase. In the USA the standard residential service is 120/240 single phase. Commercial areas almost always have three phase available even if individual companies have single-phase service.
Awesome repair Steve. Based on typical quality these days, you might consider making a new contact,for the other side rather than order a part. I found the differences in sound between live and camera interesting. In the two videos I could barely detect the sound in the big lathe that flagged the problem, but the mini lathe sounded much better ( the whine is gone) and you said you couldn’t tell much improvement.
6:30 spade connectors - While I don't object to soldering connections (I've done it on my computer motherboard from the PSU),all you need do with the female spade connectors is nip them up with pliers before inserting the male - makes them a really tight fit !
so glad everything worked out! also its funny to know what days videos were made based on the weather we have around here. that wind was something else.
There is nothing more permanent than a successful temporary repair. This one lasted over 3 years. Good payback on time invested Steve!
Most of us would have been pissed and just left it till we got a new part. But thenyou looked and said hey why not rebuild it. Great job doing it too. Hope you wrote the bearing numbers and plan on those too. That lathes really worth some love . Shes built like a tank and made to work for every . Thanks buddy
Neccesity may well be the mother of invention but Impatience is the cool uncle of fixing it right the hell now! :-)
I absolutely agree with the kick-back comments. BUT, You just to the best of your immediate abilities rebuilt that one pole of the centrifugal switch on my TV. I Thank you for your effort and I appreciate that you shared it with us. Great Video Mr. Summers.
10/10 Steve, there is nothing more satisfying than getting a repair done under your own steam, keep your new coming component until you need it........I love videos like this, thanks for taking the time to edit and post..........From Rich across the pond.
G'day Steve. I like your style - Fix it today! Your repair is probably better than original so I reckon you'll never change that switch. Thanks for demonstrating "never give up, never surrender"!
Steve, the reason the motor brakes so hard when you shut it off, is that starter contactor engages the start capacitors as the motor slows down post the centripetal clutch speed . The energy in the motor shorts out against the capacitors heating the start winding. To have the motor freewheel you would have to use another pole on your run switch, and wire the start capacitor through that pole. You could control the braking force with a resistor parallel to that pole. When you engage the run switch, the start pole enables a direct connection from between the start winding and the capacitor bank. When you disengage run, the start pole opens and the parallel resistor controls the amperage between the start capacitor bank and the start winding. This would allow you to adjust the violence of the braking action.
Exactly right and that's what's burning the contacts.
Chuck, I don't doubt that you know what you are talking about but you need to provide a diagram so that we who less informed might understand what you are saying.
Hey, thanks for that info Chuck. I didn't know that, but after you explained it, it makes perfect sense to me.
@Sheila Walker Thank you so much Sheila for the info. It is amazing the people who hang out here! :
@Sheila Walker As a bonus, replacing the single phase motor with a three phase will actually improve surface finishes, because it'll provide smoother power.
There is nothing more permanent than a temporary fix. :-)
I hate it when that happens.
100% spot on :D Always like that in my family. Working
To break that trend Though.
Steve, I've come back in my DeLorean to tell you that the repairs you made today will last about three years...
It's OK though BC by that time you'll have the replacement part, so it's an easy fix!
Also, shortly you'll have lots of time on your hands, so it would be a great time to fix-up your old barn, it will look awesome!
🤣🤣🤣
Wouldn't it be nice to get a glimpse into the future 😄. Thanks for watching
Love your channel! You and I have a very similar level of patience (or lack there of). I have done similar things just so that I could get back up and running. The smile on your face when it works is priceless. Fixing something that is broken is very rewarding to me and you too obviously. Thanks for all the content!
I have to hand it to you Steve. You are a real "Handy Man" I too love to try and fix things as you did, just to keep running. Good luck with the Do-All rebuild. Love watching you repair / run things etc.
Whenever my family will make a trip with a space ship - I hope that you are on board. You dont give up, you dont know catastrophes - you fix it. I like it.
It's a blessing you had sheet stock and copper rod on hand or available to make the repair. When I was a kid, I had put together a fantastic electronics shop and had a lot of spare parts - bought, collected, bartered, dumpster-dived and salvaged - that I used for repair or construction. Sadly, I left all that behind and now that I'm on the senior side of life I find myself wishing I'd been able to hold on to some of those items and equipment. Everything is a struggle now, requires money I don't have, or just isn't available (especially here in the US) anymore.
This is a great video. Hand turned copper rivets and switch contacts/leaves. These cover two parts of my working life as an electronics tech. Earlier in a factory where part of my work was the mechanical fitting of terminals and rivets. Later I was fixing pinball machines - loose contacts and switch leaves were available to make what was required for repairs, the kits are a commodity item in that industry.
I know you view this as a temporary repair but that contact remake was top notch. I don't doubt that motor would run for quite a long time with that repair job. I respect a guy who can actually "fix" stuff rather than just be a parts changer. Nicely done!
Yeah, I hate having to fix my tools before finishing up the original project, but it happens. Your fix was awesome. Good for you. And yes, it does take a lathe to fix a lathe. Having my little Taig let me make new bronze bushings for my Sheldon a few years ago.
Steve, since you mostly work with three phase at work, pick up a nice 5 hp and set it up with a nice TECO VFD, or whatever brand you want. i have vfd on all four of my machines. but i gotta give you credit for plulling the motor, fixing what you found wrong and getting on with business. to many guys will just give up the ghost and buy a new motor, call someone to install it for them and be out 4 hundred bucks. like you i can't do without my lathe. keep at it my friend.
Great repair steve on the switch. Liked the brass rivets you made. 👍👍👍
Steve, this is what makes your channel a "must see" for us.
Lots of good old American ingenuity, and machining, unlike the "Travel Channel".
I would have moved the starting current to an outboard relay but your fabrication skills are really a treat. Beautiful! Outboard relay is an option you can still consider if you have doubts that your final configuration will handle starting current in dirty environment. For hobby use, I am with Fred Miller. Order a replacement plate if you can find it and wait to see how long your repair last.
Steve, Great video nice motor switch repair glad to see she runs again thanks for sharing.!.!.!.
Outstanding troubleshooting and repair, Steve. Tip: next time you find yourself having to use an arbor press to swage a hollow rivet, place a small ball bearing on the rivet. It will roll the wall over for a perfect fit.
My favorite fix yet. I love watching people fix things that were never designed to be fixed. Your repair seems to be at least as good as the original!
I'll bet that will last as long or longer than the original, I'd keep the new one in stock and rum the repair until it fails.
I disagree on the longevity, since the contact is the "resistor" that is dumping the kinetic energy of the rotor and Lathe when motor is shutoff, that copper contact is seeing kilowatts of power dissipated. Copper is a good conductor but, it has a low melting point. I would be interested to see how much pitting and melting that contact exhibits in the next couple of weeks of use.
Totally agree with this. Most likely this will last a very long time. Good repair Steve.
unless that flux is made for electronics it'll eat the wires
Murphy is no respecter of time nor money, but Steve's ingenuity saved the day! Great job on the repair, and very useful ideas for those of us who repair old motors.
The happy clap at 25:29 told the entire story. The first time you really did turn that on was right then, on camera; not before and then you turned the camera on. You can't recreate that excitement and happiness.
My favorite channel, by far. You don't get bombarded by all the glitz and glam and all the stuff that your patreon money has brought you (meaning not you but others), you don't sit and shill Dewalt or 1000 gallon Evaporust tanks and all that BS. You're legit and thats what we love. Its what we loved about other channels before they got big. The fix you showed you likely aren't to find anywhere else; to the level you took it. Thank you Steve and hope you and the family had a wonderful holiday!
Steve, congratulations on the good humour you showed with the lathe problems. I'm quite sure the air would have been blue if I was anywhere close, but you just seemed to take it all in your stride. Good on 'ya
The repair you did looks as good as and is probably better than what you can buy mortgaging the farm, I personally wouldn't bother to look for one as it will probably be almost as costly as a motor. Of course, I wouldn't find it here anyway, that is why the shop exists. I have always kind of wanted a second lathe exactly for the reason you mentioned, I just picked up a Hardinge Chucker, but have not had time to get it on line, this motor problem was my first lathe outage ever, in over 40 years
Looks like a permanent fix to me. Good job!
Great fix, well done Steve !
I purchased a brand new Baldor 5hp 3 phase motor from a used machinery discounter for 60 bucks on sale. Actually had 2 to choose from one Baldor the other a Marathon motor. Nice you got it going but before I bought parts for the single phase I'd look at replacing it.
Very Nice Fix Steve.
Gary 76-Year-Old Home-Shop-Machinist In North-West Arkansas
nice repair!! better than original... Thanks for sharing... You are a talented craftsman
Great job Steve. Keep the videos coming. All the best from Australia mate
Wow, using the arbour press to swage that little contact; Overkill, thats the engineer in you winning . Great job.
well done brother. jumped from working with heavy tooling capabilities, right to micro tooling and engineering, good job, very impressed.
That was my favorite video from you bar none. Such an elegant and beautifully executed repair. From the hand-turned copper rivets to the silver-solder facing on the contactors, I am very impressed. My guess is your repair will outlast the rest of the motor. Thank you for sharing it.
Hang the new replacement on the inside of the access door so you will be reminded you still have it when you look to see what that noise is the motor is making fifteen years from now
As usual another great video. Excellent content with great camera work. If more people today had your can do attitude, this country would be in a lot better shape. The younger generation needs to watch more videos like this, learn a few things and get off of all the computer games and actually do some real work. Always a joy watch your videos and to learn something new. Thanks for sharing with us. Dan
Beautiful repair Steve.
Very nice repair job Steve. One good thing, those loud noises are usually not hard to find, just look for the broken stuff like you did. Its the quiet little intermittent faults that will turn you hair gray and make you use inappropriate language. 😂 I'm sure you have had your share of those. Either way, fixing it yourself is satisfying and can save a lot of money.
The switch you made is every bit as good as a new one will be. It is a pleasure to watch you work. Wish I could do that good of work.
Good Fix Steve......way to go!!!!!!!!!!!
Post facto FYI: The contact pads should not be flat but slightly convex. This causes the pads to slightly slide across each other breaking any micro welds and scouring off any surface oxidation.
However, since you aren't using this motor in a high start stop rate industrial application, your repair should give you excellent service.
I enjoy all of your videos,
Rollie
Very very good work, a praise from a german craftsman.
Amazing how something you need and use on a regular basis always seems to break down when you need it most. Conversely, things that you never use can sit there on the shelf for 10 years and never give you a bit of trouble. Excellent video and great repair that should last longer than a cheap replacement part.
Glad to see You're "back in action" Steve . Now ,back to that saw !
Every video Steve makes teaches me something, or reinforces something I forgot I had seen before. Sometimes you gotta get things fixed right away, or replacement parts are unavailable, or ...
Well done Steve. Great stuff.
Bravo Mister it pays to have all those little bits and pieces hanging around the shop and the intelligence to diagnose the problem and develop a solution.
Impressive repair Steve. While none of it was overly complicated, it takes some major patience and thinking off the cuff. Most people would not even attempt it, myself included. Well, until now. Hopefully I never need too. 😂
Nice door lock! Just makes sure nobody disturb :)
Great fix Steve. I do not think you would ever need to replace that switch. I would definitely get a sealed bearing on it.
Great repair on the lathe Steve. Just a tip, when I have to make small parts that require holes, I drill the holes before I cut it out of the larger piece of stock. Safer and easier. I would get buy the spare switch then wait for your repaired one to fail. I am betting that new switch will be on the shelf for a LONG time. Great work all around...
I agree with you about drilling the holes first.
Excellent job Steve. In 40 yrs of doing machine maintenance, never once have I seen a 145T burn up those contacts. As mentioned, most motors I worked on were 3 phase so theses contacts were not needed. HAVE seen many motors fail from failure to remove grease relief and operators " just give it a shot" not knowing its gotta go somewhere. Had a dip tank just for degreasing inside motors like that. I have repaired motor starter contacts with solder and a file and they worked for yrs that way. I think your switch repair is better than new. I put sealed bearings in or, Just plugged the grease fitting preventing damage. On our larger motors, there are grease relief drains.
Your repair work was brilliant !!! I've done the same thing many times, including having to make a new phenolic base for the switch from an old copper clad printed circuit board ( copper had to be etched off first ) I used brass for the contacts, as I couldn't find any copper to turn one up from. This repair was done on my shop air compressor, 5 HP Baldor motor, about 7 years ago, and it's still working just fine. I acquired an almost new 5 HP replacement motor, but have never fitted it, because I wanted to see how long the repair would last. My repairs were done for the exact same reason as yours, broken down on a long holiday weekend, and bored, and angry about having my shop time disrupted. So good on you,
you meet the challenge, and whipped it good !!!
Tim
You are correct that the silver cap is the run and both black caps are start. 19.5ųf out of a 20ųf cap is a good output. +/- 5% is usually what is considered good on capacitors.
Love the way you keep the wife out of the workshop with your mod on the door.
Great fix for the contact plate. Shows an awesome "can do" attitude. Glad to see that I am in good company that take the time to make repairs like this. The silver solder was something I hadn't thought of, but made the repair that much better. Keep the great videos coming.
Sounds like one of you're awesome subscribers needs to send a 7.5 or 10 hp 3 phase motor your way! Love all the videos and projects! Keep them coming.
Neat repair Steve. That part from SteveCo Electrical Mfg Inc - the only company that is open during this holiday season - could last.
It would be a good idea to get spare motors, for the lathe and the mill, two machines you don't want downtime on. I found here in New Zealand keeping an eye on local clearance, estate auctions are good places for bargains.
I had the same problem in a baldor motor. I did the same as you. I cut a new copper strip and used the contacts out of a set of breaker points for an international scout and soldered them on. 10 years later it still works. Used everyday.
Brilliant video, loved watching you make the switch from scratch.
necessity is the mother of invention my friend
"Then I decide to fix it... today"
...
"Fixed,"
Good on you, persevering and not just lashing it up but making a really neat repair!
Thanks for sharing!
When marking your wires, those stickers are nice, but I've had problems finding new packets of them and moved onto the small colored zip ties. Chemicals typically don't hurt them either. I used to use pieces of telephone cable, it had about 30 different colors and you could just wrap them around wires or hyd lines, etc. But, you definitely can't find telephone cable anymore LOL, showing my age I guess.
Those Klein screwdrivers are awesome, they almost go everywhere with me.
I'm impatient, let me make a new switch and rivets. 😉
Great diagnosis and repair
Nice job on your repair there Steve
Certainly nothing wrong with a spade terminal connector on equipment this small as long as they are somewhat good quality. But I have certainly never seen them peel off quite as easy as you just did.
Steve Summers Great skills
Always something my friend. You beat it into submission though. It never hurts to try. Even not knowing fix what you can and give it a try. I do like your style fella !
Nice work Steve!
ATB, Robin
Steve , you must own the biggest Lathe in a home workshop , there must be no limits to what you can do on it !!!!
Well done Steve. Good repair. I've done similar repairs to my lathe motor. I'm not an electrician either but It needed doing to keep me working.
Plenty of excellent content in your videos, good lighting and sound.
Many RUclipsrs let themselves down from poor lighting and sound.
Keith. From England.
Great save. Love your positive can do attitude
Wow, I have to say that was out of the box thinking there! I’m in the electronics industry and deal with a wide range of circuits, Mister, that was well thought out and proves when the the shit hits the fan you will not be one sitting around wondering what or how to fix anything. Seriously I’ve been at it for more than than 40 years and while you claim to not know much about electrical things you’ve done well! Cheers!
Nice troubleshooting and repair.
From machinist to millwright, your repair will outlast a factory part indeed.
Looked like endplay when you started it at the beginning of the video. Would certainly swap out at least the end bearing for sealed as you mentioned.
Nice repair Steve, thanks for sharing.
Cheers
Good Morning Steve! Actually, I think your repair is better than factory.
Ya then you can get right back to work. Good keeping the snowball on course. That switch you made is pretty damn good. yup repairing things to repair things. cool show steve lots of twists and turns
That looks like a tin of plumbers soldering flux, which is corrosive. You can safely use it to clean 'one piece' things like the capacitor terminals, so they can be tinned. However, clean them *thoroughly* before soldering the tinned wire to the tinned part using resin flux. The problem is, the corrosive flux melts and wicks up into stranded wire. Then humidity does its thing and after a while the wire corrodes back inside the plastic insulation.
I've run into that a number of times working on old machinery. It can be really aggravating because the soldered connection looks fine (it actually is), but the wire itself is corroded to pieces inside the insulation right next to it. (edit) I should point out this failure isn't an all or nothing deal. While the process of corroding to pieces is going on, there's less and less good copper, which increases resistance, and decreases how much power it can pass. I dunno if you'd consider it a best or worst case, but it does happen that enough heat can be generated by the high resistance that it can melt the insulation off or straight up cause a fire.
Given the weather where you live, you'll get away with it for years, but it WILL eventually cause trouble. Can't escape the chemistry, that's just what happens.
You are a very clever practical man in a throw away world,keep the good work up from the uk
10 thumbs up for that one. Great job
Beautiful repair, Steve! I can see you were pleased to get the lathe up and running - definitely the heart of the shop. Unless you're talking about a wood shop, then it's the table saw ;)
Awesome fix! Totally genius repair. From the looks of it you'd get years out of your repair.
Good field fix.good show steve hope you and your family have a good Thanksgiving.
Necessity is the MOTHER. OF ALL INVENTION.GOOD ONE STEVE.
Steve the copper you used doesn't appear to have the same spring quality as the original. It will fatigue over time. The rest of the replaced components are awesome and will last years. As you said it will work for awhile. Great quick fix. Now let's get the bandsaw fixed. It will be a great addition to the shop once your planned mods are applied. Great content as always. Happy Holidays to you and your family.
Very impressed this week Steve, your repair is far better than temporary. I find it hard to get my head around your mains frequency and speeds in the USA as in the UK we are used to 50 Hz and 1500 or 3000 rpm. All my machinery here uses 3 phase motors, the usual maximum for single phase here is 3HP. My mill and shaper have 5Hp and the lathe (a DeMoor) has a 7.5Hp. I use generators to run everything as I don't have mains 3 phase. A cheap Chinese diesel runs the smaller motors but I have to use a larger one for the lathe, despite them all having a soft start fitted. Testing capacitors with a "modern" digital multimeter is not very easy, I am old school and prefer something analogue like an Avo8 which has a reversing switch to watch the "kick" from a charged up capacitor.
You are lucky to have three phase. In the USA the standard residential service is 120/240 single phase. Commercial areas almost always have three phase available even if individual companies have single-phase service.
Thanks for sharing your time Steve, all the best.
Where there is a will there is a way, well done. Your switch is probably as good as if not better than the original.
Well done Steve👍🏻
Awesome repair Steve. Based on typical quality these days, you might consider making a new contact,for the other side rather than order a part. I found the differences in sound between live and camera interesting. In the two videos I could barely detect the sound in the big lathe that flagged the problem, but the mini lathe sounded much better ( the whine is gone) and you said you couldn’t tell much improvement.
Great repair and recovery, I admire your determination!!!!
6:30 spade connectors - While I don't object to soldering connections (I've done it on my computer motherboard from the PSU),all you need do with the female spade connectors is nip them up with pliers before inserting the male - makes them a really tight fit !
Well done Steve!
Superb fix.... love it....
so glad everything worked out! also its funny to know what days videos were made based on the weather we have around here. that wind was something else.
I'd file that under "it's only temporary unless it works"! Nice work!