My drill press stopped working without warning. No noise and no straining sound. It worked fine when I was drilling a pilot hole in pine. Went to drill another pilot a few minutes later, but it didn’t turn on. It was as though the drill press was unplugged (which it wasn’t; the work light was still on).
It is so heavy, I want to avoid lugging it to a repair center. Are there any likely solutions to try first, like a hidden reset switch or a fuse that can be replaced?
Janet
Replies
Things to check
Check the motor. Some have a small (often red) reset button. If this internal breaker kicked off, it likely means there is a heating problem with the motor, perhaps due to collected dust. Unplug the machine, and vacuum the vest ports if that is the problem. Depending on the type of motor, it might be a failed capacitor. If so, only the motor would need to be taken to the repair shop.
Also, check to make sure the spindle is still turning freely.
Motor Problem
Ralph -
Did you advise to check the spark plug boot cover - sometimes they can vibrate up and loose connection? Remember when yours did that some time back ?
SA
re: drill-press spark plugs
Hah! No spark plugs here. Mine runs on a long belt, connected to the steam engine outside. ;-)
Got Wrenches ? Keep at it.
Janet,
Keep us posted about how it goes; what you find etc. For example the red reset button and did you find much saw dust in it that could have caused heating.
For the easy way skip down to yellow box with green lettering bellow.
I am curious . . . does the motor have one lump or two ?
They are capacitors under the metal lumps.
If you are handy with wrenches. Basic open end wrench and an allen wrench or two you could remove the motor and take it to a motor shop and have it tested.
They used to have motor shops. Do they still have those ?
There are places called "Tool Doctor" etc where they could test it for you.
or
An appliance repair place could do it.
ALSO
you could remove the whole top assembly (called "The Head") from the big pole and take that in. This would be easiest. See the screen shot of the manual I posted bellow. Note there are only two screws holding the whole thing on. Yours may be similar.
Two people could easily lift that off of the pole. Pretty easy to un bolt it as a unit. See the "Set Screws" in the drawing. Then you wouldn't have to take off the pulley stack using the allen wrench or disturb the belt to motor alignment using the open end wrench.
Probably not something to get into if you don't feel comfortable with mechanical things but is no big deal if you have done other nutsy bolty things like put your lawn mower together from a box or replace a fan/serpentine belt on your car.
I do this sort of thing every day but I got to remember not everybody is "wired" the same way I am.
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