03-02-2018, 07:50 PM
It's made to battleship standards so although heavy and a little awkward, it actually came apart relatively easily other than extracting the field windings/laminations which are a very exact fit in the circular motor casting.
Examining the field coils I could see no evidence of electrical stress or damage to the leads and they checked out in terms of continuity.
Turning to the armature, again I found no lifted or damaged solder connections to the commutator. I didn't count the number of segments but it looks like around 50. There was quite a bit of carbon in the separating slots so I cleaned all that debris away and gave the commutator a modest polish.
However what I did find was that some solder had clearly melted and found its way between the outer segments of the armature. (See photo) My question is could that account for the motor's malfunctioning (sparking out and tripping the RCD)?
I was pretty sure it shouldn't be there so I spent some time with the Weller clearing this away and ensuring there was no continuity between the segments.
The reassembling went fairly well apart from the reinsertion of the field assembly and the tucking away of wires away from the armature which was difficult and a bit nerve wracking.
Time to switch on...and it seems to be much healthier. The brushes spark a fair bit but it held a steady speed and power output is good.
The test will come when it's asked to do some serious planing but that is a few weeks away.
Grateful for any comment/observations.
Trevor
