Woodworking Shop

The Lathe is currently down. On powerup, it seems like the motor is stalling, drawing current but not strong enough to get the spindle turning. At the lowest speed setting, you can "pull start" the lathe by spinning the chuck by hand to assist the motor, and then the lathe runs perfectly fine at speed. This is not safe, please do not do this. So either there is too much friction inside the motor to overcome on startup (I removed the drive belt and the issue persists turning just the motor) or the capacitor used for startup has failed, as Nicholas pointed out. The motor also seems to run quite hot, which would indicate friction, but that may have always been the case and I never noticed until investigating this issue. I will be in contact with BusyBee tools tomorrow about potential fixes or parts for the motor.

Additionally, the drive belt is getting a little ratty, the cording is coming loose and will only get worse if the lathe is used further. This will be replaced if I can also order parts for the motor.

If all else fails in the next few weeks, there is a newer, identical model of this lathe for sale in Barriere.

So, BusyBee suspects it may be the capacitor, if the motor can run once spun up. They don't have any available, but provided the specs below:

Hello Andrew,

 The capacitor is not in stock currently.

You can source it locally.

Specs are:

200 micro farad, 150 VAC, 2 3/4" x 1 5/8".

There isn't a whole lot available locally for that, but Grainger has a 190-227uF and 165VAC cap for sale that can arrive within a week (Here) . Its a slightly different dimension than the specs, physically and electrically, but we can probably make it fit. Otherwise, I can look further afield to overseas shipping, or if anyone knows where it town we might be able to find one.

If that fails, the entire motor can be ordered from BusyBee for around $210.

Got the 165V cap and new belt and checked inside the motor, its actually 125VAC, not 150 like BusyBee quoted me. But I think 125VAC 200uF is quite common for tool motor start capacitors, I can probably find one in town.

Will take a bit of work to wire the cap in, the old one has some janky splices as opposed to terminals like most capacitors you can buy these days. l'll admit I don't yet have the know-how to fumble my way through that, or safely discharging the existing capacitor.

Thank you to whoever donated the flag-connectors. Installed the 165V capacitor (125VAC unit is coming next week), to no effect. Still stalling on powerup, but can be spun by hand to get it going. The new V-belt runs a lot more smoothly, however.

I will admit I may have connected the capacitor incorrectly, but it seemed pretty straightforward. Maybe its not charging for some reason, or it's circuit inside of the motor housing is damaged?

Grant pointed out it could be a bad winding in the motor, as the motor will sometimes rock 1/16 or 1/8 of a revolution before stalling. I'd have to call BusyBee on Monday, I think a new motor is around $200 and I could have it in a week.

A replacement motor has been installed on the lathe.. Along with the new belt, I am confident it should run almost as good as new.