Old Woodfast M910 controller issue

[Louis Bonham]

Greetings:

I have a circa-1996 Woodfast M910 (from back when Craft Supply used to import bare WF lathes from Oz and install US made motors / controllers). It was originally owned by professional woodturner Steve Russell, who sold it after he upgraded to a big Oneway. I got it in about 2005 after the guy Steve sold it to upgraded to a Stubby.

It has a Leeson 1.5HP 180VDC motor (model 108092.00) with stepped pulleys, a Mirarik MM23001C controller board (which apparently was what Craft Supply was using back then), and the stock WF start / stop buttons and potentiometer speed control. The guy I bought it from also added a remote kill switch (which plugs into the "inhibitor" pins on the controller board). Lathe is wired for 220VAC and is on its own dedicated circuit.

Per a sticker inside the controller enclosure, the board was replaced in 2003. I had the brushes in the motor replaced and the motor cleaned up shortly after I bought it in 2005, but for various reasons hasn't had many hours for the past several years.

Problem is that when I push the start button, the motor runs for less than 1/10 sec and then quits. Pressing the start button again does nothing, unless you first press the stop button (which, from looking inside the controller / relay housing, resets the AC relay), in which case pressing the start button again just has the motor run for less than 1/10 sec and quit. I suspect that the inhibitor (remote kill switch) circuit on the board may be fried / stuck (I've tried disconnecting the remote kill switch from the board but that doesn't solve the problem).

Any ideas as what's going on? I'm hoping it's just the controller board and not the motor. I've found a place in Georgia that will diagnose the board for free and provide an estimate if it can be repaired. If the board is kaput, fortunately NIB Minarik MM23001C boards can be had from an online surplus liquidator for less than half the usual retail price.

LKB
Austin, Tx

 

[hockenbery]

I had what sounds like the same lathe from craft supplies circa 1995 until about 3 months ago.

Great machine. Not a ONEWAY but solid and reliable.

Try calling craft supplies. I had a problem with mine about 3 years ago. Called craft supplies.
One of their guys talked me through a little trouble shooting. Decided it needed a new potentiometer.
He gave me the specs to order it was working great when it left here.

Hopefully they can help.


Could try blowing dust out of the stop buttons

 

[Bob Brown]

Is Roger still at c s .He helped a seven years ago.

 

[Louis Bonham]

I had what sounds like the same lathe from craft supplies circa 1995 until about 3 months ago.

Great machine. Not a ONEWAY but solid and reliable.

Try calling craft supplies. I had a problem with mine about 3 years ago. Called craft supplies.
One of their guys talked me through a little trouble shooting. Decided it needed a new potentiometer.
He gave me the specs to order it was working great when it left here.

Hopefully they can help.


Could try blowing dust out of the stop buttons

Thanks. I'd written Craft Supplies, and got a couple of prompt and courteous responses from Roger Durst, but he indicated they didn't have any specific information beyond his recollection that they had used Minarik boards back in the day (I then pulled the board, and he was correct) and his indication that Minarik is still around.

I can't fault them for not having the info . . . it's been almost 20 years since CS sold Woodfast lathes.

Roger suggested replacing the board, and if that didn't work then look at the relays and switches, as well as to have the motor checked out by a repair shop because a fault in the motor can take out the circuit board. I was hoping someone with a similar Woodfast setup might have more information of what the specific issue might likely be.

I'll send the board to EIC Repair and see what they say after they test it. I don't think the problem is the stop button or the speed pot, but if the board turns out to be OK I'll unbolt the lathe from the base so I can access them and test with a multimeter.

 

[Louis Bonham]

FYI, the folks at EIC Repair tested the board and indicate that it does have a fault in the power sections. (They are very fast and responsive, BTW.) Repair quote is less than the cost of a NIB board at a surplus liquidator, so hopefully all will be well soon.

 

[Larry Komroff]

I would try disconnecting the power and checking the start and stop switches with an ohm meter.

 

[Chuck Engstrom]

I'd be interested in what you learn about all this -- I was inside the controller boxes of two Woodfast lathe of similar age yesterday, and both had stickers indicating their control boards had been replaced in early 2005. Same Leeson motors but no name on the controller board that I could see. Label on the outside of the controller boxes said "D/L Wood Sales" with a 206 area code phone number that "cannot be completed as dialed." There are five other similar lathes there (Maryland Hall, Annapolis MD) from the same 1990s era and I'm curious about the change of controller board change -- were all of them changed at the same time in 2005, and did original supplier Craft Supply have a hand in that?

 

[Louis Bonham]

I'd be interested in what you learn about all this -- I was inside the controller boxes of two Woodfast lathe of similar age yesterday, and both had stickers indicating their control boards had been replaced in early 2005. Same Leeson motors but no name on the controller board that I could see. Label on the outside of the controller boxes said "D/L Wood Sales" with a 206 area code phone number that "cannot be completed as dialed." There are five other similar lathes there (Maryland Hall, Annapolis MD) from the same 1990s era and I'm curious about the change of controller board change -- were all of them changed at the same time in 2005, and did original supplier Craft Supply have a hand in that?

Mine has the same "J/S Wood Sales" label on the outside of the controller box, with a sticker inside indicating the board was replaced in 2003. Per some online digging, it appears that "J&S Wood Sales" was a Washington state company (area code for the listed number is for the Washington area) that was defunct by 2001. Ergo, I suspect J/S Wood Sales may have been someone who assembled the original control boxes for Craft Supplies in the mid 90's, and for whatever reasons the board are just something that can fail after several years of use and were replaced by the end users.

As far as an ID of the board, the label with the model and serial number would be underneath. Take a picture of the board (or make a quick diagram) so that you'll have a reference of what color wires are supposed to go where, disconnect them (7 connections), and remove the four Phillips head screws that attach the board to the enclosure. Label should be underneath, and I'll betcha it'll be a Minarik MM32001C, which has apparently been around for quite a while (and is still being made).

New Minarik MM32001C's are available through Amazon for about $250. As I mentioned above, there's a legit surplus equipment liquidator (I've done business with them for years) that has several dozen new MM32001C's in stock for $135 each. And again, EIC Repair in Georgia specifically advertises that they can test and repair MM32001C's, and after testing mine say they can fix it for less than that.

 

[Chuck Engstrom]

Mine has the same "J/S Wood Sales" label on the outside of the controller box, with a sticker inside indicating the board was replaced in 2003. Per some online digging, it appears that "J&S Wood Sales" was a Washington state company (area code for the listed number is for the Washington area) that was defunct by 2001. Ergo, I suspect J/S Wood Sales may have been someone who assembled the original control boxes for Craft Supplies in the mid 90's, and for whatever reasons the board are just something that can fail after several years of use and were replaced by the end users.

As far as an ID of the board, the label with the model and serial number would be underneath. Take a picture of the board (or make a quick diagram) so that you'll have a reference of what color wires are supposed to go where, disconnect them (7 connections), and remove the four Phillips head screws that attach the board to the enclosure. Label should be underneath, and I'll betcha it'll be a Minarik MM32001C, which has apparently been around for quite a while (and is still being made).

New Minarik MM32001C's are available through Amazon for about $250. As I mentioned above, there's a legit surplus equipment liquidator (I've done business with them for years) that has several dozen new MM32001C's in stock for $135 each. And again, EIC Repair in Georgia specifically advertises that they can test and repair MM32001C's, and after testing mine say they can fix it for less than that.

Thanks very much for the further report and suggestions. Getting the control box out of the lathe chassis is awkward but probably worth doing again to get an ID off the board. We took controller out to reset a loose Romex connector, and should probably check all the rest of the seven that we haven't looked at for that issue; if we find that problem again, we can take that one off and open it up for a look under the board. And I mis-typed the name on the cover -- it is "D/J Wood Sales" on the ones we looked at.

I'd be grateful for any further information you come up with. Thanks for posting this!

 

[Louis Bonham]

Further update . . . .

EIC Repair did the job in one day, and the board is already on its way back to me. They report that two op amps on the board (LM324 and LM358) were fried. Those parts cost almost nothing, but having the equipment and knowledge to test and replace them (and to test the repaired board) is the trick.

They indicate that a power surge or fault in the motor is what probably fried the op amps. Thinking back, the last project I did before encountering this problem was using my Oneway Easy Core system to do some largish (12") bowl blanks from well-seasoned hunks of maple. That may have been pushing it with only a 1.5 HP motor. Any thoughts?