Weak torque on drill press motor.

GenericMonicker

GenericMonicker

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Bought a used drill press the other day, has a old GE singlephase ac 1/3 hp motor. I can grab the chuck with a gloved hand and stop the motor.
Is it just old, can it be improved (torque) or is 1/3 hp just that weak? I dont want to spend hundreds on a motor if I can swap out a part or something.
Sorry if this is a stupid or obvious question, but its all new to me. Thanks
 
If it's turning pretty fast then you may be able to stop the motor with your hand. If set on the lowest speed, then you may not be able to stop it. 1/3 hp is not a lot of power. The other possibility is that it is a dual voltage motor (120/240) and it's wired for 240, and you have it plugged into 120. You'll have to look at the motor data plate to determine the motor voltage requirements.
 
It may also have a burned winding, it can be determined by checking the resistance with a multi meter across each winding. On the wiring diagram there should be four wires that are not relevant to direction of spin or to the capacitor.
In the case of the motor linked, it is the Red, White, black and yellow that are pared across the motor main windings.
https://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/h5373_m.pdf
 
I remember a similar post(and same problem) on another site , the issue was the 110/220V motor that was wired for 220V but plugged to a 110v outlet. I would check and verify if your motor was wired correctly.
 
JimDawson said:
If it's turning pretty fast then you may be able to stop the motor with your hand. If set on the lowest speed, then you may not be able to stop it. 1/3 hp is not a lot of power. The other possibility is that it is a dual voltage motor (120/240) and it's wired for 240, and you have it plugged into 120. You'll have to look at the motor data plate to determine the motor voltage requirements.
Click to expand...
The plate says volts; 115/230 and amps; 4.6/2.3 . So If I wired it to a 240 outlet, would I get noticeable torque improvement? Thanks again.
Also, does it matter that we have different #s for power sources, as in; 220, 230, 240? Or are these just the common range? I've never know.
 
Ken from ontario said:
I remember a similar post(and same problem) on another site , the issue was the 110/220V motor that was wired for 220V but plugged to a 110v outlet. I would check and verify if your motor was wired correctly.
Click to expand...
The last owner said he had recently put this used motor on, for whatever reason. He seemed pretty knolageable , but maybe that's it. Would it run with more torque on 230?
 
To amplify what the others have said, a motor that is connected to 115 volts but wired for 230 will run slowly and with almost no torque.

It isn't hard to verify the wiring. There should be a wiring connection diagram either on the motor plate or inside the box with the wiring connections. For example, I was working on a Doer 1/2 horsepower motor recently and the following is the relevant bit from the motor plate:

motor_wiring_small.jpg

Note that only "P2" and "T2" need to be changed to reconfigure the motor from 115 to 230.

BTW, your motor still delivers the same horsepower as long as it is properly configured for either high or low voltage. It just draws double the amerage at the lower voltage. Given that you have a 1/3 HP motor, I can't see any reason to run it on 230 volts. It really only makes sense for considerably bigger motors (1.5 HP plus).

Craig
(A motor wired for 115 volts that is connected to a 230 volt supply is likely to smoke or burn! :eek:)
 
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