February 5Feb 5 Howdy: OK I need some advice on my little Grizzly bench top mill... I have power. .the digital readout lights up...but the motor is deader that Julius Caesar . I checked the fuse and that's OK..not burned out so,.. Spindle directional switch is also on.. doesn't work in either direction....Any ideas? It was working fine last week when I was slotting guards.. but today zippo... I dunno if this has any effect but it has been below freezing down here the last few nights.,..around 28F and the studio is not heated but I doubt if that would have anything to do with this...but ya never know... Any help is appreciated. Thank ya kindly JPH
February 6Feb 6 Can you push it back across the Rubicon? If you go to littlemachineshop and click on “Learning Center” at the top, there’s a link to “How to Guides” part way down on the right. On that page, there’s a link to an article called “Troubleshooting the Variable Speed Drive” that might be helpful. At least I promise it won’t be less helpful than my advice.
February 6Feb 6 Jim, do you have a multimeter? You may have already tried these things. I don't have any experience with the bench top mills, but from what you describe it would seem potentially reasonable to use the meter to see at what point the voltage stops flowing. I agree that the cold wouldn't seem to be the likely cause, but who knows? Are you able to rotate the spindle by hand? --Larry
February 6Feb 6 If Frosty were still here, he would point out that voltage doesn't flow and give us a lengthy electrical engineering lesson on how current appears to flow at the speed of light but electrons never actually leave their parent molecules.
February 6Feb 6 Author LH: Yes I can move the spindle...no problem..I dug out my multi-meter and now I gotta hunt up a schematic for this beast so I can get an idea as to what is inside this thing without causing any further problems.. and to figure out the proper way to disassemble it other than using a hammer...This just stopped outta the blue..worked fine a week or so ago... JPH
February 6Feb 6 Author FMM: it hit 28 degrees down here in Pasco County the last week..very cold for here..I am going to try to break into the box later this evening and see what I can figure out.. JPH
February 6Feb 6 I woke up to ice a few times this week. We are neighbors. I'm directly east of you on the treasure coast.
February 7Feb 7 Just in case the signal got lost in the noise, I was serious about Little Machine Shop. The little 7X10 lathes are pretty much identical between manufacturers, and the corresponding mills use the same electrical parts. (There are also some slightly larger machines that look like they might use a scaled-up version of the motor controls.) There are also very different drive systems, but if your mill has variable speed and a brushed motor, the troubleshooting guide on their website may well be helpful.
February 7Feb 7 Author Howdy!! Well after breaking into the circuit box and all..looks to me to be the switch. It's just kind of odd (well maybe not cause I am not an electrifical type) that it would just go kaput like that... So Monday I am calling to get a replacement..hopefully that will do it.. So it's back to slotting guards by hand till then.. More as things progress.. JPH
February 7Feb 7 Hi Jim, in the breaker box did you try turning the breaker switch off then back on? Sometimes they will trip but not look like it. I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~ USCG 1964-1970
February 25Feb 25 Author Update on the Mill from Hell... Ok It was suddenly working again..all was well and good..now it stopped.. I am trying to figure out what is going on..i got the schematic and all and so far everything seems to check out..I am at my wit's end here.. I gotta be missing something someplace..it works for a bit then stops...ten t works again and stops..then DRO lights up.and that's about it.. motor is as dead as Julius Caesar... short somewhere or? Any ideas?? All help is appreciated.. JPH
February 25Feb 25 This is a complete shot in the dark, but a couple times now I've had something start acting up intermittently, and eventually traced it to failed solder joints on a PC board. (In both cases, the behavior changed when I flexed the board, so that might be a give away.)
February 26Feb 26 Is there a thermal switch that trips? If i had to guess I would say you have a bad capacitor somewhere. I would inspect all the capacitors looking for signs of bloat or swollen aluminum housings on the ends. If you have a bad capacitor it won't keep the proper load.
February 26Feb 26 I have an old radial arm saw that has a thermal switch on the back of the motor that would trip and I couldn't reset it until it cooled off. I blew it out with compressed air and sprayed it with WD-40 and it started working as designed and didn't trip for no apparent reason. I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~ USCG 1964-1970
March 31Mar 31 Any luck with the Mill, Jim? That was a good tip on capacitors from Florida Metals Man. It just happened to me on an ultrasound cleaner. Of course, it didn't take a Sherlock Holmes to diagnose it -- the thing threw its jacket entirely. When I first pulled the cover, I thought there was a capacitor lying loose in the case.
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