Bought a Jet 20 inch 1.5HP Drill Press -Electrical Help Please.

Most electric motors last a long time providing they don’t get starved from voltage drop. Put a 15 amp electric tool at the end of a undersized 100 ft extension cord and you have a recipe for premature failure. Voltage drop kills electric motors.
I make every effort possible to wire most of my bench or freestanding shop tools to run at 240v whenever possible. You’re almost guaranteed longer life of the motor.
 
By the way.... I’ll add this little tidbit. When I went to look at the RF45 clone I purchased...as soon as I went into the sellers workshop I noticed a few things. He had the 1.5hp motor wired for 120v. This detached workshop was small... probably 12x12. He had a small 120v A/c running and it surely appeared to me that his workshop only had a single 20a circuit feeding everything. Could have been 2 120v circuits but I don’t think so and also he even mentioned that he wired the mill for 120v because he didn’t have 220v in his workshop.
I even noticed that the lights would dim if he turned on his little atlas lathe and also they’d dim when the ac compressor kicked on. I was paying attention to these details because the mill was advertised that the motor was bad.

Long story short....I was very inclined to think that the motor died due to insufficient wiring in the workshop and had most likely suffered Voltage drop. FWIW, when I got it home... I disassembled the motor and the windings were fine. No shorts. Checked the capacitor and I had a bad start capacitor. I changed bearings, the start capacitor.... changed motor to run on 230v..... and added a heavy duty manual push button on/off 2-pole 250v switch. Been working like a champ for almost 3 years now.
 
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