1933 South Bend 9 - Older Ge Motor Questions

ok... so I'm having a hard time finding that cap... granger has a 165v 161-193mfd... will that work?
 
My dad's old SBL had the same GE motor on it, just a little newer, 1949 model. It started doing the same thing over the years. We would always have to spin the motor a little as you turned the motor on. After a half century of doing that I removed the motor tossed it and put a newer DC operated motor on it with variable speed. The starting switch in the GE motor had pretty much worn into, never though to replace the old capacitor.
 
I'll have the new capacitor tomorrow so I'll let you know if that works... other then that the only think I can thing of is the contacts on the switch were pretty worn... if the cap doesn't fix it I'm going to try and solder a little bit of shim material there... I doubt they make the contact anymore... so it would be worth a shot...

Next question on the motor and wiring... the drum switch had been wired with three sections of two conductor lamp cord (one of the wires had had been split as only 5 are needed)... I'm thinking of changing this out with a 5 conductor wire... what gauge is required... Home Depot has 14 gauge 5 conductor wire in 100 foot rolls (i'm hoping they have it by the foot also)... would 14ga be enough? I probably use about 4 feet so I can relocate the switch to the front of my bench...

thanks
 
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I just went through a similar drill with two old GE motors. One never worked and the other shorted out with magic smoke when I plugged it in. Oh well.

One thing I did learn, was/is to check the 'groves' on the surface of the coil. If they are worn near to smooth the motor won't have any life left - better to throw away and replace. I guess you can take a file and deepen the grooves to extend service life, but it didn't work for me... Doesn't make any sense to,spend time and money if the core is at the end of its life span.

The other thing is, if you want to restore to original design, maybe pick up the two motors you mentioned and keep them on the shelf for when you might need them in the future.

Regards
Glenn
 
so I picked up the starter cap today and it was about half the physical size as the old one... I made up the space in the old spot with cardboard... after putting it back together I crossed my fingers and flipped the switch... and everything worked...

thanks again everyone...
 
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