HELP!!!! New jointer shuts down after start up

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Russell,

I work in electronics. I service CT scanners, MR scanners, and x-ray equipment for a very large corporation. I started working in electronics in 1970. I'll give you some advice based on my 38 years of experience installing and servicing equiment from radar to medical systems. Get ahold of your buddy and recheck everything you've done so far.

I have found a lot of errors wired by electricians during an installation. I have found a lot of errors I did during an installation. When I'm installing a new piece of equipment and encounter problems, the very first thing I do is check everything I've done. If I don't find any thing wrong with what I've done, I then start checking everything the electrician did.

You are operating at 220.....you should be able to run on a 15 amp breaker and certainly a 20 amp breaker. There is no way you should have to run on a 30 amp breaker. Either the motor/ magnetic switch has a problem or something in the wiring is mis-wired.

I'll bet Grizzley will help you and probably offer to send you a new motor. But to keep from having egg on your face, I'd recheck everything while you are waiting.

This is coming from a guy who has had enough egg on his face over the years to make a couple omelets.

[Tom Veatch]

... Has anyone had to return something to Grizzly? Will they ship a new one out pronto or will they wait until they get this one back?

My experience with a little 4x6 metal cutting bandsaw from Grizzly indicates that they will bend over backwards to get you up and running. They were quite willing to ship me a replacement and included an RMA shipping label so I could return the original at their expense after I received the replacement.

If I wanted to go out on a limb, I'd guess that you've got a bad start capacitor in the motor. That's happened to me several times over the years and was one of things wrong with the aforementioned bandsaw. Every time, the symptoms were consistent with what you describe. Pop the cover off the capacitor before you talk to Grizzly. If it's leaking fluid, you've found the problem. Then it's up to you whether you want to wait for a shipment from Grizzly or spend a few bucks for a local replacement.

[Russell Tribby]

Thanks for the advice Ken. My buddy did recheck everything before we went to the 30amp breaker. Additionally he checked all the wiring on the machine to make sure it was kosher. As I mentioned previously, he checked the outlet to make sure it was putting out enough voltage and it was. He put in some 110V outlets not far from the 220V and they are working fine. It sounds to me like there is something wrong with the machine. I'll get on the phone first thing Monday and walk through all the wiring with Grizzly. If I made a mistake somewhere in the wiring process I don't mind wearing some egg, I just want my jointer up and running.

[Russell Tribby]

I know that the motor is supposed to come wired for 220 but did you check to see if it actually is??? It may have been set up for 110. Just a guress don't really know if it were wired for 110 and if it was plugge into 220 how it would react...

It came prewired for 220V. I'm with you, I don't know what would happen if it was wired for 110V and plugged into 220V.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Have you checked all the connections on the mag switch? I had the same problem with my Grizzly jointer and it turned out to just be a lose connection on the mag switch.

[Stephen Edwards]

Call Grizzly on Monday is my suggestion, too. No offense intended to your buddy, but you might want to have another electrician double check that all the wiring is correct.

In my experience with Grizzly their customer service is outstanding. I'd recommend having notes ready when you place the call and speak to a tech support person. They are likely to ask you specific questions about the wiring, voltage, etc. It will be helpful to you and to them to have specific answers to those questions.

[Russell Tribby]

I checked all the mag switch connections and they all seemed fine. If they do end up sending me a new motor how difficult a job is it to switch out? I haven't gone under there to look.

[Bob Wingard]

Got another 220 device you can plug into that same outlet to verify it's wired & working correctly ?? ?? That certainly would narrow it down.

If the motor is bad, Grizz will probably send you a new one, and ask you to replace it if you are capable and agree to it.

[Russell Tribby]

Got another 220 device you can plug into that same outlet to verify it's wired & working correctly ?? ?? That certainly would narrow it down.

If the motor is bad, Grizz will probably send you a new one, and ask you to replace it if you are capable and agree to it.

I thought about that, Bob. However, I don't have another 220 device that I could plug in there. My buddy checked with the ampmeter and everything was fine at the outlet.
How hard can it be to switch out the motor? I've replaced fuel pumps on cars, surely I can swap out a motor on a jointer.
By the way, my wife went to Lee for a year. We almost moved out to Cleveland last year. I interviewed for a teaching job at a highschool, can't remember which one, but they decided to go with a local candidate. You live in beautiful country.

[John Thompson]

Does it have a start capacitor on the motor housing? If so.. check the amp rating on the capacitor itself. Your 2 HP motor won't pull more than 11-13 amps on 220 V when running. But... on start up it will draw more iniatially for just a second.

If the start capacitor is 15 A or lower.. you probably need a 20 A. Or it may simply be faulty and just closing down with the initial surge. The symtoms are.. just afer start-up, it shuts down the motor.

But.. the more I think about it, there would most likely be a re-set and you would not be able to start the motor again until you did re-set that device. Definitely call Griz on Monday as I'm sure you will.

Sarge..

[J. Z. Guest]

Based on what I've read so far, I'm betting on a problem in the motor cap.

One other thing to check: When the belt's off the motor pulley, does the rotor turn freely by hand? If not, that's probably you're problem. (bad bearing or something) If so, it seems to all point to the cap.

It doesn't have to be leaking to be faulty either.

If you can change a fuel pump in a car, you can change the motor yourself. It is a much cleaner job too.

Grizzly may send you a new cap or a whole new motor. I wouldn't start to panic about Grizzly yet. I had one of their cheaper planers a while back and it was fine. Note that they are "Purveyors of Fine Machinery," not the actual makers. Some of the companies they "purvey" from may not have their quality in check.

Agree that this should take nowhere near 30 A to run at 220 V. It will probably draw over 30 A for a second or so right at start-up, from the inrush current, but when it settles in, it will be a good deal less than that, probably well under 10 A with no load.

[Casey Calouette]

One other thing I would check is to see if the centrifugal switch is stuck. See this wikipedia link. I had a similiar experience on a dayton dust collector, same thing, 220V. The operator would turn it on and it would kill the breaker after a second. Basically it has locked in the run capacitor and is not engaging the start capacitor.

To make a short story long... We locked out the power, opened the cover, and a small piece of grit had jammed up the operating assembly on the centrifugal switch. It was only in operation a few days so most likely a burr or some such left over from assembly.

Hope that helps, but make sure to lock it out before working on it!

[John Thompson]

For those of you that may be reading this.. if you happen to have an early Steel City 18" BS.. it came with a 10 A capacitor. Same problem occassionally as it would just stop after initial start up. Even though the BS pulls no more than about 10 A after start-up.. the surge would shut down the capacitor and you would have to mash the re-set button on the capacitor to re-start.

Fix.. the problem was idenified and all saws come with a 20 A capacitor at this point. For those that have the 10 A.. simply call SC tech and you get the 20 A replacement sent out pronto. And BTW.. simple installation as you pull the male and female leads off the old terminals and slide them on the new one. Screw the capacitor housing back on (two screws as the housing sits outside the motor) and the problem has gone "bye-bye".

Sarge..

[Mike Heidrick]

How long is the cord from the jointer to the receptical?
Are you using an extension of any kind?

[Ron Williams]

I have a 12" Grizz and had a similar problem it was resolved by adjusting 2 controls inside the switch housing