Table Saw runs in reverse

[Phil Tomlinson]

OK this is a new one for me.
I've got a 2-year-old Powermatic PM 2000, 3HP, wired for 220.

Today after running the saw for a while, I stopped, changed a blade, and when I went to start it back up, it ran backwards for a second and then tripped the breaker. Two more tries, including hand-spinning the blade in the proper direction, it did the same thing.

Switch? Motor? Capacitor?

Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks
Phil

[Mike Cruz]

Gremlins...

[David DeCristoforo]

??? I'd put that other blade back on.... Quick!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Phil,

I would bet it's the capacitor.

The starting capacitor's main use is to insure the motor starts and starts in the proper direction.

[Karl Brogger]

I've heard of that with three phase after a power loss. Never in a 1ph scenario.

No clue.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Phil,

I would bet it's the capacitor.

The starting capacitor's main use is to insure the motor starts and starts in the proper direction.

Ditto... STARTER cap, not run cap. They're different.
.

[Phil Tomlinson]

Ditto... STARTER cap, not run cap. They're different.
.

Thanks for the advice! Will check it out, and report back.

[Joe Wiliams]

What would be real freaky is if someone put the blade on backwards when that happened

[Harold Burrell]

I've got a 2-year-old Powermatic...

Yeah...it's that "Terrible Twos" thing. My kids did crazy stuff at that age too.

(Sorry...I'm being silly. Hope you get it figured out.)

[Tom Veatch]

One more vote for a defective start capacitor. A new one should be available locally for something in the neighborhood of ten bucks. Be sure the voltage and MFD specs on the new match the old. Also be sure the physical size of the new capacitor is compatible with the enclosure on the motor.

[ken gibbs]

Your problem can be fixed in five minutes at no cost. Disconnect your feed power. Hook up the red wire where the black wire is feed to the motor. Hook up the black wire where the red wire used to be attached. This will cause the motor to run in the opposite direction.

[Myk Rian]

Your problem can be fixed in five minutes at no cost. Disconnect your feed power. Hook up the red wire where the black wire is feed to the motor. Hook up the black wire where the red wire used to be attached. This will cause the motor to run in the opposite direction.

Ken;

That only works with 3 phase power.

[Rod Sheridan]

Your problem is that the starting winding isn't in the circuit for some reason.

The starting winding provides the direction control on a single phase motor, if it isn't working when the motor is energised, the motor won't have a directional bias, nor will it be able to start.

Your motor problem could be;

- a broken wire

- an open start winding

- an open centrifugal starting switch

- an open starting capacitor

I would check al of the above with an ohm meter/ mechanical inspection before I started replacing parts.

Regards, Rod.

[Phil Tomlinson]

Two things I confirmed with the Powermatic rep on the phone this AM.

One is that the original switch on the saw has insufficient overload capacity, so they are sending me a new switch [guess they figured that out after I bought mine], and

Two is that the starting capacitor is bad.

Will report back after installing the new parts just to close this thread.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Phil

[ken gibbs]

Ken;

That only works with 3 phase power.

Switching the red and black hot leads worked for me on 220 power that is not phased. No such as single phase power.