Member postings for john fletcher 1

After reading the above regarding interference, I wonder if one of those input filters as fitted to washing machine would be of help. After all they are readily available and appear to be well made. I have fixed several front loaders for the family and have never seen a faulty one. Just a though.John

Regarding soldered connection, and over heating, if we had any reservations we used to silver solder them. I have used crimp connectors as there usually space some where to fit them in. Not so neat as a soldered one. I'm out of tough, but know doubt sister flex is still available, from the local re winders, but heat shrink is good and air drying varnish is also available via the net. Ian says he did an article on converting from Star to Delta using a Brook motor, has the article been published and if so where. Perhaps he could send a PM or publish here for more to see. John

I made the clutch for my ML7 and it worked well in the end. I did use bit of soft leather belting, initially the clutch slipped badly, then some one suggested I get a block of rosin as used by violinists. I crushed the rosin into chips then into a powder. I ran the lathe and opened up the clutch and sprinkled in the powder, did it a couple of times and the problem was solved. I still have the magazine and drawing somewhere. John

For a motor, contact members of your local Model engineering group/society, usually some one has motor for sale or knows of some one who has. Modern washing machine motor run far to fast and are very noisy and have no protection against bit entering the windings. Shaded pole are no good either. Get your self from some where or other a split phase or capacitor start 1425 rpm motor. Lathe motors start off load so starting torque doesn't really matter. Motor do get warm and modern ones get HOT to touch,its when you get that burnt varnish smell you start to worry, even all's not lost. When capacitor start and run motors are up to speed and the centrifugal switch opens they then behaves or run in a similar manner to a the straight capacitor start motor.Ted

If your motor is a capacitor start type you will find a cylindrical object fastened externally to the motor and I don't think it is. These saws don't start on load,so the motor is more likely to be split phase, just two windings and a centrifugal switch in series with the start winding. As the motor buzzes it proves that the run winding is continuous and is in working order, so its a start winding fault.I suggest you carefully take the motor apart and check the internal centrifugal switch, maybe the contacts have jammed open. Whilst you have it apart you can check the start winding for continuity with a battery and bell or a car battery and 12 volt bulb. As wood dust is present DON'T lubricate the switch mechanism it will only clog up things and don't go blasting away with compressed air either, as most compressed air contains water droplets, Suck out the dust with a vacuum cleaner, aided by a clean paint brush.Ted

If he is getting an electric shock, never mind about the rights and wrongs, get the motor earth fault located and "FIXED". Don't ague about whether Myford supplied the motor or who wired it up, life it to precious, certainly fit an adequate socket and plug. Some of those continental grazing earth plugs are just as adequate as those in our 13amp.How do I know, I have been present when both type are being tested. The old round pin10 /15amp is/was a much better arrangement.John

On a slightly different vane can any one recommend a make of screw driver bits for cordless drills, Phillips Blade etc a range or set. I'm going to Screw Fix today and they have a bewildering range in their catalogue. I've got some at the moment but they must be soft steel and are pretty useless.John

Irrespective of the size of the motor you owe it to yourself to use a motor starter which gives NO VOLT protection together with overload protection as well. To reverse direction of rotation of a single phase motor you need at least 4 leads/terminals. You have to alter the relationship of the start winding to the run winding, no good just altering the supply leads live/neutral. If your motor is a capacitor start it will have a cylindrical tubular shape capacitor attached to its outer, it will be connected in series with the internal centrifugal switch and the start winding. This forms one circuit, the switch should/will be closed when the motor is stationary. That circuit is connect in parallel with the run winding, the run winding will have the lowest resistance under normal circumstance. Both are connected in parallel across the 240 volt mains supply and when the motor is up to about 75% full speed the switch opens and the motor continues to run on the run winding only. Use the rotary switch to select direction of rotation of the motor/lathe THEN press the green button on the motor starter. The Dewhirst switch is just not man enough to be used as ON/OFF the contacts burn/arc away. A motor takes a lot of current for a short moment in time when switched on and it causes the arcing. You might have to take the motor to a rewind shop and they will take it apart to see if the 4th terminal is available internally, as some one has said some bench top drilling machine are not reversible.John

Morning Bob, if you go onto Homeworkshop.org site there has been much discussion about what you are after. Apparently 415 in and out inverters are not so expensive, some have carried out a mod to convert that type to 240 in and 415 out. Its a very interesting site lots of good information, also you can advertise any thing you might have for sale free of charge.John

Before using the motor to power a grinder, ensure that the motor speed and recommended speed of the grinder wheel are compatible. I don't think they are suitable for a wind turbine either, you need to alter the field system for that.Ted

Why do people so often use the H&S to frighten people, high voltage caps have been around for years. Since 1972 I've involved with amateur built high voltage linear amplifiers and have never heard of any one receiving a fatal shock from the high voltage power supplier usually working in the 2 KV area similar to the voltage of a micro wave cooker. Not to say some haven't had a shock and are still with us. How did the TV repair men go on when working in the area of the CRO tube ? , as they said we got a "belt" and used good sense also many of these high voltage caps have built in discharge resistors. Good sense should prevail at all times,. If in doubt as some one has said leave the caps for a week or so, then short out the terminals.One can easily dismantle a micro wave without toughing the caps at all snip one wire at a time and leave on the bench, then remove the transformer.Ted

For my spot welder I used a piece of large size pyro cable, used just the outer. I annealed the cable until it was quite soft, silver soldered two lugs, one either end, then insulated it with some glass fire sleeve, wound it through the transformer core two turns. I had a damaged and disused earth rod which when cut I used as the electrodes. It took a bit of fiddling about to get everything working but it now OK. Usually the micro wave capacitor is reusable, so is the diode, the table motor complete with gear box and the fan. It amazes me how they can make a micro wave cooker shipped to UK for just £32. Incidentally if the your micro wave arcs and bangs, before discarding it, try and see if you can clean out the wave guide, often its very fine particles of food that is causing the short.Ted

Before doing any thing lift the lid on the motor terminal box and you may find 6 terminals, that being so, its easy to reconnect into to delta. Alternatively its not all that difficult to take the motor apart and locate the internal Star point. A rewind shop will do it for you. If you choose to do it yourself, then once apart look out for a lump in the windings (either end of the stator) carefully examine the windings and you should see 3 windings coming together. With a sharp knife cut away the insulation, solder or mechanically crimp three wires to original ends re insulate and bring them out to the terminal box. If you get as far as that and unsure of how to reconnect into delta give us another call,again very easy.Ted

If you join Vintage Radio. Org there are some experts on Gents and other electric clocks, who will give you a lot of advice.John

I feel out of place amongst you expert welders. But have a query, I bought some things at an auction as I was picking thing up the porter said that is included, I have123 1.6 mm Silicon Bronze welding rods. What are they useful for ?. I also have a Mig welder and one of those electronic welding helmets, which also came with the rods and a hand held type which I have used for stick welding. I find that I have difficulties seeing when using the electronic helmet when using the Mig, but Ok with the hand held, but that is not so convenient. I have played around with the controls on the electronic, but to me its still too dark when used on Mig I wander all over the place, OK on stick. Is it me, any kind suggestions please.

I have one of those hand wheels made to Graham Meeks design by Steve Tracy tooling, and have found it very useful. I wish my workman ship was in the same class, however since buying the imperial hand wheel I've changed my lathe for a metric Myford, I have thought about fitting to the lathe but would prefer a metric hand wheel. So if you know of any one with a metric version for sale or any one interesting in buying a pre owned imperial one then please contact me via a PM.John

Some of those cheap grinders have a cheap motor fitted. The run winding is centre tapped and the start winding together with a capacitor is connected to the centre tap( Tee shape), so the capacitor need only be rated for maybe 110 volts. These motors permanent capacitor motors do not have a centrifugal switch so you won't hear a click as the motor looses speed when slowing down on switched off. As Johnboy25 has said the nose is a very good indicator when trying to decide if a motor has been cooked or not, once smelt never forgotten. I hope yours is OK. john

Hopefully the starter operating coil is a 240 volt one. It is a good idea to have a proper motor starter which gives overload and No-volt protection.Ted

About 10 years ago I bought an incomplete belt sander from Warco at Harrogate show, the body is cast iron and robust. I made the missing part and its been a "GOOD UN" as they say. I fixed up a dust extraction idea using the workshop vacuum cleaner. Be cautious don't mix aluminium dust with steel dust it can highly inflammable, ask the explosive experts.Ted

I'm not familiar with your particular motor (Crompton Greaves), but I will explain about ALL cap start and cap run motors and that might help a bit. There are two windings inside the motor stator, one with a low resistance which is the run winding. Then there is the second winding with a much higher resistance the start winding maybe 30 or 40 ohms, this winding is the start. In series with the start winding are the TWO capacitors ( a large value and a much smaller value capacitance wise) and the centrifugal switch which is usually inside the motor, this winding, at the point of switch on is connected in parallel with the run winding. Both windings connected to the 240 volt mains. As the motor gains speed the centrifugal switch opens, disconnecting the large value capacitor, so now the motor has its run winding energised across the 240 volt mains and the start winding with the smaller value capacitor also across the mains. In normal circumstance you just leave the capacitors where they are already connected in the motor terminal block. Are you also wanting to reverse the motor? If you are then you will need to locate the run winding as that will be the easiest to change over. To reverse a single phase motor you need to reverse the connection to one of the two windings NOT both.Ted