Single phase motor issue.

Hello all.

Here my problem is that the position in which my kapak stayrite single phase motor is running my Colchester lathe chuck in clockwise direction. I'm not to fussed about having the option of direction but would like it to turn the chuck anticlockwise. I've heard that you can take apart the motor which is a bit of a large job. Myself have came up with th idea of cutting a hole in side and Chang position of the motor to spin the direction neede.

Please is there any easy way to do this. ??

Thanks people.

Hi Leigh,

Normally it is possible to change direction by altering the wiring in the connection box on the motor. If you can make a diagram of which terminals the the live and neutral wires connect to and which terminals the start capacitor connects to I (And other forum members.) may be able to work out how to reverse it. Make a note of all wires going to all the terminals. A close up picture of the connection box would also be helpful. After this it may still be necessary to get you to take some resitance measurments to confirm that we have identified the windings correctly.

Les.

You just have to reverse the connections to the field windings. If you can find a two pole changeover switch it can be wired to act as a reversing switch.

Russell.

Thanks guys. Problem to get a photo is my lathe is quite tight to the wall and the power supply is the wrong side of the motor. I've come up with the plan of cutting a hole in side of the lathe to where the motor lies. Then I'll mount an 8 mm plate so I can then switch the position of the motor to gain the correct direction of rotation on my chuck. This will do for now but when I have better access to the motor I will post a picture and you could hopefully explain about a possible switch of wires or anything else I could do to help me gain opposite direction.

Once again thanks. And I'll keep you posted.

hi there again.

here is a photo of the control box.please can someone help ?

Hi Leigh,

The cable going to the capacitor obscures most of the wires going to the inside of the motor and it also obscures what I think is terminal 2 (Middle top.) From the photograph I can only identify the label on one wire that goes into the motor. (Z1 to terminal 5)

1 How many wires go to the inside of the motor ?

2 Which terminal do these wires go to and what labels if any are on these wires ?

Les.

I have just looked in my garage at a similar motor with a not so different terminal box.I suggest you take a piece of paper and a pencil and make a sketch of the terminal box and note the colour and position of all the wires.It would appear that all you have to is move the links. Remove the incoming flat twin and earth, then move both link from the horizontal positions to vertical. Bottom left to top left and one I think link marked C to terminal above it.Next your input, and by the way you ought to using better or more appropriate cable with Green/yellow sleeve for the earth, connect supply to bottom left and the next terminal to it, marked C, I think. Well there you have it according the label on my motor. You can only blow the fuse if its wrong. If you lived close I would fix it for you, I've done lots in the pasted and have a good ohm meter to test out which winding is which, start or run. I notice its cap start which is good.Let me know how you get on, oh and by the way you need a double pole switch with centre off for reversing a single phase motor, not a dewhirst and use a starter with NO volt release for your own protection.Ted

right guys thats all good. im just trying to get the motor out side the lathe to take more photos and details on the wiring.

is this any help for photos.

i dont really know what the other wires go to without stripping the motor electric box off. sorry.

Hi Leigh,

I expected to see either 4 or 6 wires going to the inside of the motor depending on whether the start switch was connected internally or externaly to tha start winding. As there looks to be 8 wires coming out of the motor I have not worked out exactly how it is wired. I could probably work it out with a multimeter if I had access to the motor. I suspect John Fletcher 1's idea about moving the links is correct but I would not be prepared to try it without proving how the windings are connected to the terminals.

Les.

hi les.

thanks very much for all your help and others. what i have done is cut a square out of the lathe (its not weakened the thing !!) then just extended the piviting motor mounting plate out the side and re mounted the motor to drive the opposite direction !! for a machine man like myself, sorted.

i stay in glasgow so i dont know if thats near you les ?

i have seen the forward & reverse switches online but i dont understand how this is going to work ?

once again thanks to all.

Hi Leigh,

As you can see from my profile I live in Ormskirk (About 15 m north of Liverpool.) so it is too far away from you to have a look at the motor. Now you have given your location there may be someone on the forum close enough to help. Also take note of Kinet Hall's comments on the other thread you have started on this subject. I had made the assumption that the earth was disconnected while you were taking photographs and the twin and earth was just a lash up for testing. (This type of cable would not normaly be used to connect directly to the motor.)

Les.

The wires labelled Z1 and Z2 go to the start winding. To change the rotation direction you just need to swap these over. Usually this is done by moving the links for example like this: http://www.net-eng.co.uk/pdfs/Motors/single-phase-revers.pdf. However it looks to me as if your motor has had an external capacitor added to replace a faulty internal one and the wiring has been changed somewhat. If you can just swap the Z1 and Z2 connections it should work.

Russell.