Kinda Stuck

You guys on this site are pretty damn smart, so, I need some guidance. I have a Wood Planer. Yeah, but this IS Motor technology board, right ??

Anyway, I was using it and suddenly, it starts slowing down. Before I got to the knife switch, the speed was about ½, normal. I pulled the switch. No smoke, no smell.

The knife switch was very warm, but, that's because it was covered over with chips and no air to get to it.

Cleaned up everything and threw the switch in. Just sparks, no grunt, no turning, nothing.

This morning, I went through ALL the wiring connections, from the meter, to the knife switch on the outside of the house, to the connections from the outside wiring to the shop wiring, to the shop, to the knife switch. Cleaned up EVERYTHING I could get to. There seems to be a wet spot on 1 of the caps, but, I would think it should still try to do something ??

Now, no sparks, no nothing

There are 5 capacitors on this 5Hp motor. It's 240V 60 cycles, single phase.

Anyone have any suggestions ?? Can I disconnect the wiring and do ohm readings to the winding taps ?? If there is an open in the windings, there would be NO reading on the VOM, right ?? If there is no problem with the windings, I should get a reading of a number, right ??? IF there is a short, I should get a 1 or a whole number reading, not a decimal point, then a number, right ???

Anyone ??? Thanks

That wet spot on a cap is likely an electrolyte leak, if there is no oil or grease from the motor involved. If it's leaking, it may be internally shorted (or open) and unable to properly start/run the motor.

If possible, replace the cap(s) and see if it helps. If they're old, they could just be failing; if they're not that old then somehting could be wrong int eh motor pulling too much current thru them.

Regarding the windings ohm readings, they will likely be very low readings, potentially less than your meter can actually read (almost certainly less than it can *accurately* read directly). As long as each winding reads some really low resistance from one end to the other, but does *not* read anything from one winding to any other, they're likley ok.

Thanks AW. I know this post wasn't actually anything to do with Bikes-motorcycles-cars-whatever, but, there ARE articles about wooden Bikes on here, and, you need a planer to get the wood worked into some form or other. :lol: :lol: