drill press motor quit?

[johncedarhill]

I have a reconditioned Ryobi drill press. I used it about three weeks ago and all was fine. So I go to start it up last week and no go. Armed with my voltage sniffer today I determined that I have power to the motor. I had hoped the switch was bad. I believe it is an induction motor no apparent reset button. The only outside item is a big starting capacitor. Any thoughts on what could be wrong and how I go about fixing it. I would just junk the whole thing I am so ticked off in general (poliical and other things) but I bought it because it has a 3 in travel. So for that reason I want it to work. Any thoughts. I really don't know where to go for a replacement motor. BTW I am in St. Louis MO.

[Phil_B]

Try and find any numbers on it and contact Ryobi or go to ebay shouldnt be hard to find a replacement

[Truman]

Try changing the cap! Single phase motors are pretty rugged so that's where I'd start! Make sure you get the same size cap though!

[johncedarhill]

Upon further checking the motor is obsolete and not available. I do see a capacitor listed. By Cap you mean the capacitor right? Should I be able to discharge it? It appears to change it the case has to be removed or am I not seeing something obvious? Would be nice if the computer was also in the basement.

[billharmon2]

If it is like my Ryobi press a new one will cost about $110 at HD. The reason I say this is the new Capacitor or motor might cost as much as a new one. Check that out first and see what the cost is like. My Ryobi is a 10 inch bench model and has been a great press so far.

[Truman]

Normally the cap (capacitor) is placed in parallel with the motor, so if you can find the fly leads to the motor (the leads that come out of the motor) disconnect the cap there and put a new one in its place! Normally, motors are pretty standard eg shaft diameter, mounting holes or face plate mounting so you may well be able to get a different make of motor with the same spec and mounting method as the old one! As for de-energising the cap, the cap on your motor is very small and not worth worring about stored charge! If you are at all unsure about any of this, play it safe and get a sparkie to check it out, we don't want you getting hurt! It's easy on the net to give advice about electrics but without knowing your abilities, or if you truely understand what I'm getting at, it better to get a pro in!

[Truman]

If that's all it costs, I'd get a new one too! New motor, maybe $80, new cap, maybe $5, posibility of getting a shock if you duff it up? Get a new one!!

[johncedarhill]

How far is the quill travel? My ryobi is a 12 inch with 3 inch quill travel.

[airgunandy]

I had this happen on an old bench top drill press, right in the middle of a project. I found that if I turned it on and manually spun the chuck fast enough the motor would run. To finish the job at hand I wrapped some rope around the chuck and gave it a pull, like starting an old lawn mower. Got me through the project and as soon as I could I bought a new drill press.

[johncedarhill]

I can wire a new room if need be. There are areas where I prefer to research and study before I just start disconnecting etc. I had the cover off and I will have to look at it again when I get home. I was warned about the stored charge by another individual so I try to be careful. I did see a capacitor listed on the side that indicates the motor is obsolete and unavailable. I would prefer not to have to pull the pulleys and everything else with a new motor.

[johncedarhill]

I gave that a try but I did not spin it very fast just a couple of turns. The outboards with the rope pulls I gave up on years ago.

[SDale]

Get the shaft diameter, foot measurments, case length etc. off the motor and order a new one from Grainger. A Baldor or something similar should do you just fine. Probably cost you about 45-55 bucks and an hour or so swapping the sheave over to the new motor & mounting it up to the drill press.


If it was me, I'd show it to my wife & convince her that I need to buy a new floor unit hehehehe. I actually have to do that with my air compressor! LoL

[fnash]

If you can get to the capacitor terminals you can short it with a screwdriver to get rid of the charge. If it   arcs the cap is good. If it does not could be it has discharged itself already. If you turn the on switch on , without being plugged in you should be able to get a resistance reading with a ohm meter across the plug terminals, which would show that the motor windings are good, or bad if no reading.  If the motor has not burned up, you would smell that, there is a loose connection somewhere. I would think even if the cap was bad you would hear a hum in the motor but it would not start. It may be intermittent and that is the reason it was reconditioned and at the time of reconditioning it worked... Frank

[johncedarhill]

Yea I thought it was funny that there was no hum no nothing. Usually I can feel some sort of sign of life. Maybe it is still the switch. I will use my continuity tester tonight or tomorrow. Not sure where the voltage meter is--I know i have one a digital one. The good thing about a forum is that when I post my thinking about a problem changes and sometimes I just get sort of a third person view on a problem. Keyboarding (I called it typing) is good for the soul.

[kiwi]

Gee wizz....if yer want a new motor all yer need to know is...
Shaft size / Hp , Kw , Watts / frame size "thats mounting hole spaceings"
witch possably could be a  " E "  but don't quote me on that

It realy not a drama to fined a new motor