Ok as most of you may know I am not an electrician so I have what is starting to be a problem

The wiring appears to be ok yet there are times where I turn the lathe on and nothing happens. There have also been times that I have turned it on and it hesitates before fully coming on.

This is a Turncrafter Commander VS 10"

Shown just after being unpacked in 11/11

Basically I am wondering if it's possibly a motor issue or just wiring issue that I don't see and looking for ideas.

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Charles Nicholls
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One thing I have seen a lot of with scroll saws is you willl get a lot of dust inside the switch housing, which will cause the switch to not make contact, so this could be a possibility. Most of the time you can just take the switch out and blow it out. I don't anything about this lathe though but it could be one cause, or the switch could be going bad too. 

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Greg
Scroll Saw forum host

http://www.thesawdustfactoryga.com/

Thanks Greg that's a great place to start. I just happen to have some compressed air too so I May use that if I see any way for dust to get in it.

Thanks.

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Charles Nicholls
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Charles, worse case scenario, is it under warranty?

Charles Nicholls said:

Thanks Greg that's a great place to start. I just happen to have some compressed air too so I May use that if I see any way for dust to get in it.

Thanks.

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Charles Nicholls
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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Wounded Warrior Project and Homes For Our Troops

I believe it is John until mid November. So i am hoping that if it dies, that it does so before then.

I'll contact Jerry over at PSI Monday and see what he thinks, maybe I can get a under warranty checkup.

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Charles Nicholls
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I agree with Greg that its probably a dust issue.  I have a couple of motors that I have to blow out ever once in awhile because they won't start.  The next time it does it, give the spindle a quick turn and see if it will start.  If it takes off, its probably dust.

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Ron Dudelston
Site Administrator

Above and Beyond WoodWorks

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Ron Dudelston
Site Administrator

Above and Beyond WoodWorks

Thanks guys, In this case the motor itself is totally enclosed until you remove screws to take the housing off, so most likely its a control box issue if it's dust causing the problem. Let me see if I can get a flashlight at the right angle to see in there.

Well i wasn't quite  correct on that, There are openings on the motor, but they are at the rear of the motor, and not exactly subject to direct contact by dust but still will be checked as soon as i can figure out how I am going to be able to get to it.

The controller box though ha several access points for dust to just fall into.

 

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Charles Nicholls
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After blowing out the dust from the switch, motor & controller as best as you can without disassembly. Try turning on the lathe. (If you disassemble the electrical components you may void your warranty). If it still doesn't rotate on it's own then with power still on rotate the head stock and see if it starts. If it runs then it could be motor brushes that are worn down or the motor armature. If it still doesn't rotate on it's own it could be the variable speed controller. With the late turned on try rotating the rheostat (speed control knob) and see if it starts. You could have a dead spot on the rheostat. If you have openings in the motor, try blowing air into them as you rotate the lathe by hand which may help get any dust off the area that make contact with the brushes.

Those slots in the controller box are for cooling and should remain open with no obstructions. I clean my controller out with canned air after each use otherwise it gets covered in sawdust and can cause overheating which will lead to premature failure. The components on these controllers are not top of the line parts.

Good luck, I hope you get it figured out.  

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

Thanks Mike, everything turns as expected with no problems other than the not turning on or hesitating to turn on.

I did notice that at the front bottom of the control box there are a few slots just like there are at the top, this leads me to believe that I may be able to get a vacuum cleaner head up there to get the dust out of the control box. If that doesn't work, I'll get out the compressed air to try and clean it out. It may be several days before I know if this was successful or not, so I'll post again if any other problems arise.

Mike Dillen said:

After blowing out the dust from the switch, motor & controller as best as you can without disassembly. Try turning on the lathe. (If you disassemble the electrical components you may void your warranty). If it still doesn't rotate on it's own then with power still on rotate the head stock and see if it starts. If it runs then it could be motor brushes that are worn down or the motor armature. If it still doesn't rotate on it's own it could be the variable speed controller. With the late turned on try rotating the rheostat (speed control knob) and see if it starts. You could have a dead spot on the rheostat. If you have openings in the motor, try blowing air into them as you rotate the lathe by hand which may help get any dust off the area that make contact with the brushes.

Those slots in the controller box are for cooling and should remain open with no obstructions. I clean my controller out with canned air after each use otherwise it gets covered in sawdust and can cause overheating which will lead to premature failure. The components on these controllers are not top of the line parts.

Good luck, I hope you get it figured out.  

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

Charles,

Sorry about just getting to this, been away for several days.

My lathe is not the same brand as yours but the switch looks like it might be similar. I've gone through at least 3 switches and repaired the switch a couple of times, also. Mostly, my lathe does the same as yours- either fails to start or delays about a second before it starts. In every case, for me, it has been the contact mechanism inside the switch that has jumped out of its' track. I finally got fed up and got a 20 amp DPST light switch from Lowes and wired it in place. So far it has been working fine.

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Thanks a lot Lew, if this keeps up I may do the same thing. I wanted to note though that for the last 3 days now it has not given an issue whatsoever, so i will go ahead and try to get it cleaned out the best I can without taking it apart and see what happens.

Thanks all

Lewis Kauffman said:

Charles,

Sorry about just getting to this, been away for several days.

My lathe is not the same brand as yours but the switch looks like it might be similar. I've gone through at least 3 switches and repaired the switch a couple of times, also. Mostly, my lathe does the same as yours- either fails to start or delays about a second before it starts. In every case, for me, it has been the contact mechanism inside the switch that has jumped out of its' track. I finally got fed up and got a 20 amp DPST light switch from Lowes and wired it in place. So far it has been working fine.

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

I could usually tell when my switch was about to fail. It either sounded "different" when changing from on/off and/or it "felt" different when I flipped it.

Charles Nicholls said:

Thanks a lot Lew, if this keeps up I may do the same thing. I wanted to note though that for the last 3 days now it has not given an issue whatsoever, so i will go ahead and try to get it cleaned out the best I can without taking it apart and see what happens.

Thanks all

Lewis Kauffman said:

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Charles Nicholls
Site Host
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Speaking of that, before it started really acting up, The motor seemed to slow and speed up during turning,not just the piece that was being turned, but the motor itself, which I thought was rather strange, but like the stalling, it didn't happen very much so i ignored it until the lathe just refused to run at all.

Lewis Kauffman said:

I could usually tell when my switch was about to fail. It either sounded "different" when changing from on/off and/or it "felt" different when I flipped it.

Charles Nicholls said:

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Charles Nicholls
Site Host
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If it is still under warranty, I would go ahead and call them and at least get a call open on it. If you wait until the warranty is out then you are fully on your own. They may be able to tell you exactly what the problem is through their support and get you what you need to get it running. I might even check when I called and see if they sell and extended warranty. If it is not too much it could save you having spend a lot of time and effort on working on the switch or having to change out the lathe.

At best I would let them know I am having a problem so they have a record of it.

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Ok Thanks John

John Moody said:

If it is still under warranty, I would go ahead and call them and at least get a call open on it. If you wait until the warranty is out then you are fully on your own. They may be able to tell you exactly what the problem is through their support and get you what you need to get it running. I might even check when I called and see if they sell and extended warranty. If it is not too much it could save you having spend a lot of time and effort on working on the switch or having to change out the lathe.

At best I would let them know I am having a problem so they have a record of it.

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Got a call from Bob at PSI today (at 7:15 AM) asking me to take the switch box apart and report back to them what it looked like. I had to go to a doc appt today so I'll take the switch out tomorrow and see if I find anything.

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Charles Nicholls
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Finally got the switchbox out today, and other than some dust which I blew out, there doesn't seem to be anything else going on in there, although it's mighty crowded in there with all the wiring. I hope it doesn't quit again but we'll see.

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Charles Nicholls
Site Host
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Proud supporter of The Wounded Warrior Project, Homes For Our Troops and the NRA

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Went to turn the lathe on after plugging it all back in and it didn't turn on. ;/ I checked connections and made sure everything was plugged in good and still did not get a response, until the 3rd time I turned it on, at which point it came on just long enough to spin the bowl I have on it about 6 inches and went right back off again ( about a half second) turned it off and back on a fourth time and it finally decided to run. I'll be calling PSI !

Charles Nicholls said:

Finally got the switchbox out today, and other than some dust which I blew out, there doesn't seem to be anything else going on in there, although it's mighty crowded in there with all the wiring. I hope it doesn't quit again but we'll see.

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Charles Nicholls
Site Host
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Called PSI again and talked to Joe, He had me go through some steps but the same problem exists, so he is sending out a new switchbox, so I should have it by Tues/Wednesday of next week. They do not express mail parts that they are replacing under warranty.

Thanks all for the help on this

Charles Nicholls said:

Went to turn the lathe on after plugging it all back in and it didn't turn on. ;/ I checked connections and made sure everything was plugged in good and still did not get a response, until the 3rd time I turned it on, at which point it came on just long enough to spin the bowl I have on it about 6 inches and went right back off again ( about a half second) turned it off and back on a fourth time and it finally decided to run. I'll be calling PSI !

Charles Nicholls said:

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Charles Nicholls
Site Host
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http://www.etsy.com/shop/nichollswoodworks