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3 hp. motor question

T

Tom Lewis

Joined
Jul 2, 2005
Messages
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Location
Carlsbad NM
I have a Vicmarc VL-300 from Craft tools with a 3 Hp. motor. This past week I have had the motor shut off twice when I had a catch. The second time the motor shut down the motor would not immeditaly re-start. I had to wait a minute or so before I could re-start the motor.
Has anyone ever had any experience with something like this?
 
Was the speed set very slow? That is one possible explanation. If the catch was significant enough to cause the motor current to spike up to near its LRC (locked rotor current) value that could have tripped the over current protectection. Also, the motor has thermal protection. If you are running the motor very slowly and putting a very heavy torque load on it, the motor will run hot. The thermal protection will keep the motor cut off until its temperature drops below the trip threshold.

Bill
 
I think this model has a solid state controller which could overheat on slow speed applications. You may try an auxillary cooling fan if that controller feels hot. Try one of the 120V models available at Radio Shack for computers. You can jump 120V on one side of the switched feed and it will run whenever the power is on. (not a job for a novice electrician.)
 
Thanks for the feedback. I don't think the motor got too hot because I only had the motor running for a few seconds before the catch shut the motor off. As far as the speed, I would say it was on the slow side.
 
There is apparently and anger management feature in that lathe. When you get a catch it makes you sit back and consider what happened and why instead of immediatly putting the tool to wood and getting another catch. They should also install a voice activated anger management sensor that shuts it off when you don't get a catch, but do something you wish you hadn't, and foul language is the result. This should probably shut the machine off long enough to allow you to get a fresh cup of coffee and evaluate the problem.
 
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