mitch
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2007
- Messages
- 2,636
in recent months my old (30+ yrs) powerhone had developed an increasingly annoying and increasingly louder rattle (like 'can't hear the stereo' loud). the logical assumption was either a worn disc shaft (tho the diamond disc still ran smoothly) or, more likely, a failing motor bearing so i kept putting off troubleshooting it so as to put off the cost of a new motor or shaft & bushings. this morning i bit the bullet and started taking things apart.
shaft & bushings tight and smooth running. ok.
pull motor and it seems to spin fine. huh. plug the bare wires into a wall outlet (yes, you can do this without any drama. my grandfather was a master electrician- i saw him do much scarier stuff than that!) and it hums like new. well, dang. what next?
i start looking closely at the flimsy little aluminum cooling fan that mounts on the motor shaft above the belt sheave and notice it's just a tiny bit loose where it's crimped to its shaft fitting. took a punch & my chasing hammer (with the brand new beautiful beech handle i finally made a couple weeks ago) and tightened up the 'teeth' holding it together.
reassembled the whole shootin' match and it runs whisper quiet as the day i bought it. i guess that fan was resonating inside that sheet metal housing and creating a racket out of all proportion to the actual problem...
if you're experiencing a similar noise and want to check this, the fan can probably be slid up off the motor shaft (after loosening its set screw, of course) without taking out the motor. you might need to back off the motor mount nuts to lower the motor enough to gain the necessary clearance to extricate the fan.
shaft & bushings tight and smooth running. ok.
pull motor and it seems to spin fine. huh. plug the bare wires into a wall outlet (yes, you can do this without any drama. my grandfather was a master electrician- i saw him do much scarier stuff than that!) and it hums like new. well, dang. what next?
i start looking closely at the flimsy little aluminum cooling fan that mounts on the motor shaft above the belt sheave and notice it's just a tiny bit loose where it's crimped to its shaft fitting. took a punch & my chasing hammer (with the brand new beautiful beech handle i finally made a couple weeks ago) and tightened up the 'teeth' holding it together.
reassembled the whole shootin' match and it runs whisper quiet as the day i bought it. i guess that fan was resonating inside that sheet metal housing and creating a racket out of all proportion to the actual problem...
if you're experiencing a similar noise and want to check this, the fan can probably be slid up off the motor shaft (after loosening its set screw, of course) without taking out the motor. you might need to back off the motor mount nuts to lower the motor enough to gain the necessary clearance to extricate the fan.
