Electric Motor Questions

[Firstram]

My shop had 4' of fresh water in it during Hurricane Florence. I was home for the storm and for 6 days afterwards dealing with the mess in our yard/house. Once the roads opened back up I had to go back to work in Atlanta without even thinking about the shop. I haven't gotten to spend much time at home due to work until now.

2 years later, I'm finally cleaning it out and have some questions about motor winding's. The 3hp TEFC motor on my planer (DC-380) held water for quite a while and rusted up pretty solid. Pulled it apart to replace the bearings and found what looks like dissolved varnish from the stator windings. There were flakes of varnish at the high water mark, is this stuff water soluble?

I'm going to junk the planer but, I'd like to re-purpose the motor. Should I just replace the bearings and run it or bring it in to be cleaned and dipped?

 

[kbs2244]

have it done
it will be low cost insurance

 

[matt_i]

Lol I think I would junk the motor and keep the planer....

Its all good if the varnish is still insulating everywhere, you can find that out simply by firing it up and you'll know its toast if the circuit breaker trips. Motor bearings are many times 6xxx or 620x bearings you can get nearly anywhere. The -ZZ double shield is good if running a 3450 rpm motor or the -2RS can be used if an 1750rpm motor. Many times they go cheap and have just a single shield or single rubber seal so a double-anything is a step up.

I think you'll be money ahead to replace the motor vs. trying to find a shop to rewind it. These days they probably wave you off unless you're bringing something 7.5hp or larger. But its good to research locally. Gems still exist in pockets.

 

[Firstram]

New zz bearings and winding spray have been ordered. None of the wiring is grounded out so I'll take a chance. The planer had a rough life and had a few problems before the flood. I gave the carbide knives to a buddy and the planer will join the 13" Dewalt in the scrap bin. If I need a planer in the future I'll buy another Dewalt!

 

[GG441]

Do you have any assemble experience before?
if not, then you need to contact a repairing point.

 

[gorilla]

The motor repair guys that I knew years ago had an incandescent light bulb wired in series on a set of powered test leads. When the leads were connected to the motor the bulb would glow dimly if the winding's were OK and at full brilliance if shorted.

 

[marinusdees]

A motor shop can megohm the windings, tell you if it's worth it, bake it (to dry it out), dip it in varnish. Beats speculating and taking amateur polls. If you want to replace the bearings yourself, you can. If the motor repair man is decent, he'll sell you bearings at cost or with a minimal markup. You'll basically start with a new motor. Or, throw it away and know you did the right thing. What I would do, and, no, I'm not a motor shop, just know one. The capacitor may be bad, he can tell you. The centrifugal switch may be suspect, he can tell you. And, no, it doesn't pay to have it rewound.

 

[Spareparts]

What you see is the varnish that is sprayed on to stabilize the winding's, the wire that they use has a coating on it that is more durable, heat is the enemy of it. Ohm it out if it checks out good then recoat with varnish.

 

[nadogail]

When Electrical equipment is being built, there is a secret process that the factory does; they inject and seal Smoke into the device.

Once the smoke leaks out, the device is doomed if not already dead.

 

[Firstram]

I finished going thru the table saw today, same scenario. New bearings in the motor and spindle new cords and magnetic switch. It as good as it ever was.

As far as the planer motor. While the caps did get wet they weren't sitting in water for an extended period of time, neither was the centrifugal switch it's fine. I will bake the now cleaner stator windings dry and respray.