The Ford Barn

russcc · 08-31-2020, 06:17 PM

For those of you who are fortunate to own machine shop equipment, this was a lesson learned. The other day I was outside the house on the rear deck and smelled smoke. It smelled like electrical, I traced it to the the basement where there was a drift of smoke up near the ceiling. I could hear a humming noise coming from the 220 drive motor for the lathe which was the source of the smoke. I flipped off the CB, and the noise stopped. Put my hand on the motor, and it was plenty hot. After disconnecting the wiring to the motor, I opened up the forward reverse switch to see If could spot a problem. The only thing I saw that was unusual was one of the 3 contacts in the switch was showed severe arcing. I went to electric motor shop that rebuilt the motor a year or so ago to see what they thought. What I was told is that as the the spring contacts in the drum type switch loose tension over years of use. What had happened was the 1 side of the 220 line, 120 volts was being fed to motor start winding, but was not enough current to run the motor so it was stalled. I have a disconnect switch for the forward reverse switch for the 220 line to the Bridgeport, but not one for the lathe. I will install a disconnect switch for the lathe and compressor. Dodged a bullet on that one.

08-31-2020, 06:17 PM	#1
russcc Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 2,871	Electrical Fire Hazard. For those of you who are fortunate to own machine shop equipment, this was a lesson learned. The other day I was outside the house on the rear deck and smelled smoke. It smelled like electrical, I traced it to the the basement where there was a drift of smoke up near the ceiling. I could hear a humming noise coming from the 220 drive motor for the lathe which was the source of the smoke. I flipped off the CB, and the noise stopped. Put my hand on the motor, and it was plenty hot. After disconnecting the wiring to the motor, I opened up the forward reverse switch to see If could spot a problem. The only thing I saw that was unusual was one of the 3 contacts in the switch was showed severe arcing. I went to electric motor shop that rebuilt the motor a year or so ago to see what they thought. What I was told is that as the the spring contacts in the drum type switch loose tension over years of use. What had happened was the 1 side of the 220 line, 120 volts was being fed to motor start winding, but was not enough current to run the motor so it was stalled. I have a disconnect switch for the forward reverse switch for the 220 line to the Bridgeport, but not one for the lathe. I will install a disconnect switch for the lathe and compressor. Dodged a bullet on that one. Last edited by russcc; 02-22-2021 at 01:17 PM.