Problem with Lathe

dclifford

Anyone with an Axminster AH1218VS?
I have a problem with my Lathe. The problem is on the power side. I have had it for a couple of years without problem, but recently it starting giving trouble.
When switching the lathe on it will not do anything and I need to turn the lathe by hand briefly to get it going. It will run for a small amount of time then it will trip the power. Sometimes it will trip when increasing the speed switch or sometimes it will trip when putting a load on the lathe when putting the chisel to the wood.

Anyone got any ideas on what might be happening. I am getting quotes from Axminster on parts, but without any real idea on what might be faulty. The won't have any brushes for the motor for 16 weeks, which would be the cheapest and obvious thing to check first.

laugh

The starting behaviour made me think the capacitor might be gone.

A capacitor delivers extra current to a motor when it's starting to get it from stopped to running at a speed that the normal current can sustain.

It's usually a cylindrical thing attached to the outside of the motor and being fecked can often manifest itself physically as a bulge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GnzB0r4GkM

I'm pretty sure that lathe model has a capacitor but if you have a VSD ignore what I said.

The tripping while running business seems fairly ominous though.

dclifford

Thanks for that. The Capacitor for this lathe is soldered to the circuit board of the control box. I will take it off today and try test it. It would be easy to replace as test.

laugh

If you have a clamp meter, good idea would be monitor the current while it's starting and when you put it under load.

Alun

Starting capacitors are only used on AC motors though aren't they? The spec. for this lathe says it has a variable speed controller with a DC motor.

Also, starting (and running) capacitors are large metal cylindrical things with tags, usually attached to the motor housing, not the kind of capacitor found on speed controller PCB's which could be for anything, and not necessarily the cause of the problem.

dclifford

I don't have a clamp meter, so can't measure the current. Would be nice to measure though.
Good observation on the DC motor. Yes it is a DC motor, so it would rule out the starting capacitor theory. I will have the PCB out later, so I can get a better look at it.

Alun

dclifford wrote: »

I will have the PCB out later, so I can get a better look at it.

You may well find something there, a burnt-out component or something like that, but replacing that won't necessarily remove the root cause of why it burnt out in the first place.

I'd wait and replace the brushes if you can get hold of some and see if that works before messing with the speed controller. Is there any identification on the motor itself that might allow you to get some brushes from another source?