Atlas bandsaw start capacitor replacement

[Nate0918]

I'm overhauling the electric motor on my old new-to-me atlas bandsaw. The motor was squealing so I purchased new bearings, and eventually started to just hum and not turn over. Assuming the start capacitor, I ordered one from a local electronics store. The capacitor is permanently wired however. No spade or ring terminals, the wires go straight from the capacitor, through the case, and soldered. Any best practice tips PM replacing these?

 

[The Cobbler]

just clip the wires off the old cap off and install new one . A.C. caps aren't polarity sensitive
if the wires are long enough you can crimp on connectors without adding to the existing wire

 

[Nate0918]

Understood. I'll have to add extensions to the wires and add connectors. Hopefully the new capacitor fits inside the existing cap, otherwise I'll have to come up with some type of custom cover to protect the exposed connections.

 

[The Cobbler]

you might find a capacitor housing on an old motor that you could reuse

 

[Nate0918]

As an update, I was able to replace the capacitor and it works great. I'm not sure if the original capacitor was just corroded into the housing cap or glued in place, but it was definitely hardwired. I had to destroy the old capacitor and chip it out. The new capacitor was a third the size of the original. I just built up several layers of electrical tape until it was a snug fit in the housing. FYI. Someone might have a better idea but it worked for me.

 

[kyrbz]

A short bandsaw capacitor story - Several years ago I was at the bandsaw when there was a huge bang of some kind. I had music headphones on at the time, but the noise was loud enough I jumped. Since nothing seemed different in the shop, I thought maybe something large had fallen on the floor above. I went running upstairs to look and everything seemed fine. When I went back to the floor below, the bandsaw was still running because I had run upstairs looking for the source of the bang without turning it off. I turned the bandsaw off and starting looking around the shop and then I saw it. The capacitor on the bandsaw was ripped open and there was black goopy tar stuff splattered all over. I was somewhat surprised the saw was still running fine with the capacitor blown. Guess it only needs it for start up. I picked up a compatible capacitor from a local HVAC supplier which was easy to replace, but cleaning up all the black goop off the back of the saw and nearby benches and tools was a PITA

 

[Maui]

FYI if the capacitor was original, that black tar-like goop likely contained pcbs.

 

[kyrbz]

FYI if the capacitor was original, that black tar-like goop likely contained pcbs.

Yes I was aware of that that and wore gloves and mask while cleaning. Don’t know if that provided enough protection, but better than nothing. The splatter was contained below an out feed table is why I didn’t notice it when it happened. While it was contained under the table, it did splatter all over routers and sanders I had on a shelf under the out feed table as well as the back of the saw