RF-31 I think my motor is wired incorrectly,take a look plz

zdiaz925

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I bought this mill recently and I've ran into some problems. PLEASE SKIP THE BACK STORY & PROCEED TO ADDENDUM BELOW IF YOU JUST WANT THE SPECIFIC CONCERN.Back story-the seller said this was wired to 120v. I got it set up at home(120v outlet) and started milling. I was using the 3rd fastest spindle speed belt set up.(around 1500 rpm) A couple hours into my project I heard a pop. unbeknownst to me my motor was REALLY hot and yep you guessed it I blew the motor start capacitor. I replaced the cap and started milling again,this time watching the motor temp. and in just a few minutes the motor felt like it was heating up again. Also I just noticed the motor wont start under the load of the two fastest belt configurations, (around 2000 and 2500 rpm. I just hums and pops the reset button. I tried giving it a boost by spinning the belt by hand to no avail. This launched an immediate investigation into the power supply in my garage. I know there's a chance the problem may lie in the motor but I have a gut feeling the 120v line from the main to my garage is under powered due to tweakers lived here before me and they weren't shy about messing with stuff. Just looks shotty. I been looking for a reason to run 240v outlet to my garage anyways. So it got dark before I finished the 240v outlet project, I need daylight to finish. So I decided to turn my attention to wiring the mill from 120v to 240v. I popped the cover on the motor and the wiring doesn't match either schematic 120v or 240v???Also when I took the motor to match up the capacitor the guy at the electric motor shop said that the wiring didn't look right,but at that time I was still under the impression the mill was running fine on 120v and it was just a bad capacitor. I told him that's how I got it and it seemed to work before the cap blew so he left it as is. what say ye? Is this wired wrong??? Should I move the wires to match the schematic for 240v or am I missing something regarding the schematic? Also do I need to change the wiring on the forward/reverse switch when moving over to 240v or is the forward/reverse switch wired the same for 120v and 240v? I'll attach pics of the mill,motor,plug it came with, motor wiring,motor cover schematic, switch and switch wiring. ADDENDUM -
Sorry about the biography. let me try to be more specific. I will list things from the perspective of if you standing next to the mill
looking at it straight forward just like the picture view I posted.In the diagram its listed as follows
240v:
top left post - 3,5,2 / top right post - black
middle left post - 1,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post- 6,white / bottom right post - 4,red

120v:
top left post - 3,1 / top right post - black
middle left post - 5,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post - 4,2,white / bottom right post - 6,red

its currently wired as follows on my machine and the picture i posted
top left post - 3,5,2 / top right post - black
middle left post - 1,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post - 4,red / bottom right post - 6,white
and the thermal reset button is the two blacks connected to the top left & top right posts

my concern is the motor wiring follows the schematic for 240v except the bottom left post & bottom right posts which are reversed
compared to what the diagram shows. again I apologize if i'm missing something or seeing it different than everyone. I will just leave it as is if you guys think its correct. im almost done with the new 240v line to my garage.

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According to the wiring diagram the motor appears to be wired for 240 volts. Why do you think that the wiring doesn't match the 240 volt diagram? Running it on only 120 volts would explain why the motor is overheating.

I would remove the reset switch. That isn't part of the wiring diagram and may also be causing problems.
 
I also think it’s wire for 240v.
@mickri what do you think about what looks like a jumper between the incoming black and the 2,3,5 wires. That doesn’t seem to be on the diagram.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I think that it is some kind of a reset switch and I would remove it because it is not shown on the wiring diagram.
 
The motor is wired for 220/240, that may explain the overheating. Probably the motor never reached a high enough speed to kick out the start capacitor and it eventually died. Not sure if the breaker is needed for 240, but for 120 volt looks it would connect between incoming black and 1,3
-M
 
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According to the wiring diagram the motor appears to be wired for 240 volts. Why do you think that the wiring doesn't match the 240 volt diagram? Running it on only 120 volts would explain why the motor is overheating.

I would remove the reset switch. That isn't part of the wiring diagram and may also be causing problems.
Sorry about the biography. let me try to be more specific. I will list things from the perspective of if you standing next to the mill
looking at it straight foward just like the picture view I posted.In the diagram its listed as follows
240v:
top left post - 3,5,2 / top right post - black
middle left post - 1,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post- 6,white / bottom right post - 4,red

120v:
top left post - 3,1 / top right post - black
middle left post - 5,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post - 4,2,white / bottom right post - 6,red

its currently wired as follows on my machine and the picture i posted
top left post - 3,5,2 / top right post - black
middle left post - 1,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post - 4,red / bottom right post - 6,white
and the thermal reset button is the two blacks connected to the top left & top right posts

my concern is the motor wiring follows the schematic for 240v except the bottom left post & bottom right posts which are reversed
compared to what the diagram shows. again I apologize if i'm missing something or seeing it different then everyone. I will just leave it as is if you guys think its correct. im almost done with the new 240v line to my garage.
 
Last edited:
I also think it’s wire for 240v.
@mickri what do you think about what looks like a jumper between the incoming black and the 2,3,5 wires. That doesn’t seem to be on the diagram.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sorry about the biography. let me try to be more specific. I will list things from the perspective of if you standing next to the mill
looking at it straight foward just like the picture view I posted.In the diagram its listed as follows
240v:
top left post - 3,5,2 / top right post - black
middle left post - 1,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post- 6,white / bottom right post - 4,red

120v:
top left post - 3,1 / top right post - black
middle left post - 5,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post - 4,2,white / bottom right post - 6,red

its currently wired as follows on my machine and the picture i posted
top left post - 3,5,2 / top right post - black
middle left post - 1,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post - 4,red / bottom right post - 6,white
and the thermal reset button is the two blacks connected to the top left & top right posts

my concern is the motor wiring follows the schematic for 240v except the bottom left post & bottom right posts which are reversed
compared to what the diagram shows. again I apologize if i'm missing something or seeing it different then everyone. I will just leave it as is if you guys think its correct. im almost done with the new 240v line to my garage.
 
Last edited:
The motor is wired for 220/240, that may explain the overheating. Probably the motor never reached a high enough speed to kick out the start capacitor and it eventually died. Not sure if the breaker is needed for 240, but for 120 volt looks it would connect between incoming black and 1,3
-M
Sorry about the biography. let me try to be more specific. I will list things from the perspective of if you standing next to the mill
looking at it straight foward just like the picture view I posted.In the diagram its listed as follows
240v:
top left post - 3,5,2 / top right post - black
middle left post - 1,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post- 6,white / bottom right post - 4,red

120v:
top left post - 3,1 / top right post - black
middle left post - 5,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post - 4,2,white / bottom right post - 6,red

its currently wired as follows on my machine and the picture i posted
top left post - 3,5,2 / top right post - black
middle left post - 1,yellow / middle right post - nothing
bottom left post - 4,red / bottom right post - 6,white
and the thermal reset button is the two blacks connected to the top left & top right posts

my concern is the motor wiring follows the schematic for 240v except the bottom left post & bottom right posts which are reversed
compared to what the diagram shows. again I apologize if i'm missing something or seeing it different then everyone. I will just leave it as is if you guys think its correct. im almost done with the new 240v line to my garage.
 
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I think, to get a true idea we need to see the other end at the reversing switch. I suspect there may be a wiring error but without seeing the switch I can't say for sure. To reverse the motor the factory is either swapping the red/yellow or the black/white
-Mark
The concern about the two bottom posts is unfounded- the posts are merely mounting points- the wire #s and colors match and that is all that matters.
So the motor is wired for 220/240. I believe the little breaker and incoming black wire are not used for 220/240 volt case and should be removed.
 
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First question is are the posts just posts or do they connect to something inside the motor? If they are just posts then I don't think that the reversing of the wires on the two bottom posts makes a difference. The red wire still goes to the #4 wire and the white wire still goes to the #6 wire. If the posts are connected to something inside the motor then you should change those two wires to conform to the diagram. You might want to do that anyway just to avoid confusion in the future.

And I agree with Mark that we need more info on the wiring of the reversing switch to know is something is amiss there.
 
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