My motor died! help…

So I was getting ready to print a big order and my motor totally died. It wont turn over and you could even smell a burning smell. It has been a bit dodgy for a while but now the motor is dead.

I don’t know what to do. Is it worth trying to repair? I contacted a few electricians who didn’t seem to understand this type of a motor. Should I buy a new one? Can you even get new ones? I don’t know anything about this type of stuff and really just need someone to tell me what to fix this situation. Ugh. My head hurts just thinking about this.

The press is an 8x12 C&P. I am attaching a few quick pics of the controller and motor.

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

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Log in to reply   11 replies so far

I read an article where they had refurbished a C&P press and put a new Baldor Motor on it. I looked them up on the web at www.baldor.com I bet they could help you! Also, a good resource would be Alan at www.excelsiorpress.com they have restored and sold these presses as well.

Good Luck!

Dennis

thanks dennis! i will check those out.

i should also mention that i am in the nw. chicago burbs for anyone in the area that may know of an electrician if it comes to that.

kelly

dennis, i checked out the baldor site. do you happen to remember what motor/controller combo they used? everything on that site is greek to me.

As an alternative you could probably find a motor rebuilder in the phone book.

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

What kind of oil are you using in the motor? If you put anything but the lightest electrical motor oil into it, the oil will expand and bring the motor to a screeching halt. The motor should be a brush type motor and the contacts may have worn to the point of no longer contacting the windings. If I were you I would take it to a motor repair shop and get them to look at it. I could end up saving you a bunch of money in the long run.

Paul

The article did not mention what motor. I am sure if you called them and gave them the specs on the label they could help you marry up the proper motor.

There is also a couple of classifieds here on Briar that the seller is refurbishing C&P’s, located in Indiana. The one where the guy is steam cleaning a press, just listed recently! They might even have used motors!

Dennis

I looked up the company that restores these presses. They are in Mooresville, IN 317-834-2832, Brian Defelice.
www.defeliceengineering.com

Dennis

thanks everyone. i do have a few calls in to a local place the repairs motors so we shall see.

kelly

What you have there will be very expensive to fix/rewind. Can you tell the difference between a burning smell, and a winding insulation burning smell? I expect you have a wound rotor motor there. It may be that the slipring brushes have worn to the point where they are no longer making contact - that causes burning smell. But if that happens, the stator winding is next to go in a hurry.
The modern day replacement is to go with a 3 phase 3/4HP motor and a single phase to 3 phase VFD. I know your drive is rated at 1/2HP - but that was 50 years ago when ratings were conservative. Baldor is a good reference. Get them to quote you the motor RPM you need 3/4HP 3 phase “for inverter use”. And also a 3/4HP single phase 220V to 3 phase VFD. Then get all the printed info and hand it to a decent electrician. Bet it will be cheaper than a motor rewind/repair.
I will be doing the very same later this year on a C&P rebuild.
Besta luck,
Hugo

The motor in the picture looks like the one we used on our kluge’s. When they went slugish I always checked the brushes. The brushes ware and sometimes the brush holders stick not letting the brushes make contact with the armature. Cleaning the armature and making sure that the brush holders were letting the brushes make contect always worked for me. Just be sure you have the power off first, at the switch and the main braker/fuse. You should be able to get at the brushes by removing the screw on the nondrive side of the motor. There is a cover plate on each side held on by a screw and the brushes are under them. You can use emery cloth to clean the armature by turning it by hand and clean the surface of the brushes very litely too. You want to make sure that they seat and make good contact. The brush holders will need to be cleaned too so that they move freely. Just be careful and don’t pull on them to much because they will break and the spring might fly off and we all know where they fly is anyones guess.

Hope this works for you

Dana Warth

Hi, all—

FWIW, my daddy, who was an electrician, told me never to use emery cloth for cleaning the armature because emery dust is electrically conductive.

Best wishes, Brian