Problem with the PM

Vaughn McMillan

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
36,054
Location
ABQ NM
Well, the Mustard must have taken offense to the Mayo I put on it...towards the end of sanding the maple vase I'm working on, the lathe stopped working. :bang: It ran fine all night, then started not turning on sometimes when I'd hit the switch. At first it was intermittent, then it wouldn't spin up at all.

My first suspicion was the remote switch, so I opened up the control panel and bypassed it. It still didn't work. I monkeyed around with it a bit, and saw if I wiggled the main power switch a bit, it would start up. So I rewired things to bypass the main switch, and instead wired the remote switch as the main. Still didn't work. So I unhooked the remote switch, and completely bypassed both switches. Still no go. By now I'm worrying about the controller. As I started re-wiring things back to where I started (with both switches inline), I discovered that one of the three leads coming off the speed control potentiometer had broken off (and another was hanging on by a thread).

I went ahead and pulled out the potentiometer so I can replace it tomorrow. After looking at it a bit, I'd say it's got some of the wimpiest soldering leads I think I've seen on a pot. (And I'm including those inside some pretty cheap Asian guitars I've worked on.)

The manual doesn't say what value the pot is supposed to be, and the stamping on the case doesn't give any real indication, either. Here's what Google says based on the codes on the back. (Any of you guys know the value offhand?) I guess I'll dig out my ohmmeter and figure it out before I go to Radio Shack tomorrow. Two of the leads are broken off at the case, but I think I can get to enough metal to get a reading. I hope I can find something with a little beefier soldering leads. :rolleyes:

I figure I'll be calling PM Customer Service on Monday and getting a backup sent out to me. (And maybe a spare on-off switch, too. The working side of that doesn't seem real stout, either. A spare would be handy.)
 
Sorry you're having a condiment conflict. :rofl: Glad you have the resources to make a fix. That seems like an odd problem for PM to have. I thought their stuff was always a notch up from the ordinary. Hope you get it back running today! Jim
 
Vaughn sorry about the problem buddy. I have been in electronics for 43 yrs. A lot of the stuff coming out today even on high end high dollar stuff that componets are nothing but junk. I have seen switches and pots with the terminals on them are so thin any viberation will cause them to break off. Especially if they have heavy wires soldered on them. My dust collector had the same thing happen. Two of the terminals broke off so short you couldn't even resolder the leads on. I got a heavy duty one from Grainger. In fact after it broke I ordered two. It is really to bad. Hope you get it up and running.
 
Dang, Vaughn, that's *so* not cool. Hope it works out.

But you are the very soul of patience and moderation. If that happened to me, I'd be hopping mad, and many, many bad words would be said! Elizabeth Peters has a character whose nickname is "the father of all curses!" That would be me, if my gorgeous new lathe wouldn't spin! ;)

Good luck!

Thanks,

Bill
 
Bernie said:
HTML:
A lot of the stuff coming out today even on high end high dollar stuff that componets are nothing but junk.
I hear that! We have a Laguna LT16 at work. The switch on it just went out for the second time in a little over a year. As stated, the switches have very dinky components on the inside. Laguna paid for the first switch, but since the second failure was over a year, they would not, and charged $85 for a new one. Not cool. The bandsaw itself is pretty nice though:eek:
Cheers, Barry
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles, hope it works out.

I have a quick question about the remote if you don't mind too much.

Where do you wire in the remote?
Can you control the speed on the remote?

(Ok, it was two questions:) )
 
Sorry to hear about the failure Vaughn! As far as value for the pot - you should have a parts list in the back of the manual or even have the item listed on the schematic.

I would think that your lathe is under full warranty and the item would be replaced with just a phone call. Best of luck in getting this issue resolved with minimal hassle!
 
Ouch!

Sorry to hear that Vaughn.
I would be lost if I had anything like that to fix.
All I know about anything electric is to call someone to fix it. :huh:

DT
 
Bernie said:
HTML:
A lot of the stuff coming out today even on high end high dollar stuff that componets are nothing but junk.
I hear that! We have a Laguna LT16 at work. The switch on it just went out for the second time in a little over a year. As stated, the switches have very dinky components on the inside. Laguna paid for the first switch, but since the second failure was over a year, they would not, and charged $85 for a new one. Not cool. The bandsaw itself is pretty nice though:eek:
Cheers, Barry

And that's from the company owned by the guy with an unpronouncable last name who promises satisfaction. :rolleyes:
 
See Vaughn, Now you've done it You slagged your machine now the machine gods are not happy. :eek:I guess that you will have to sacrifice a couple of beers to appease the gods to get back in their good favour again.:rolleyes: How let this be a lesson to you. :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
OH Vaughn, you guys buy cheap tools and complain when they break.:rofl:

Since I don't read Asian writing, I asume you were pointing to the first entry. The 200K tells me it is a 200,000 ohm pot. But that is a guess as to which google entry you were referring.

Make sure your ohm meter batteries are good and that you have zeroed the meter before you start. IF you need to get into a really small space, you can tape a sewing straight pin the the test prods of the meter.

Take the pot with you to the Rat Shack and let them figure it out.:thumb:

That mustard has vinegar in it, and the vinegar has eaten up the connections:dunno:
 
I have a quick question about the remote if you don't mind too much.

Where do you wire in the remote?
Can you control the speed on the remote?...
Ron, the remote is wired into the main switch. You essentially break one of the connections going to the main switch and wire the remote into the break. They are both single-pole single-throw switches, so both of them have to be on for the lathe to spin. The PM manual shows the wiring diagram (although on my lathe the colors of the wires didn't match the manual exactly). I don't think there's a practical way to add the speed control to the remote switch. You'd need a lot fancier switches to do it, I'm afraid. (I think it'd be something like a 5-pole double-throw, off the top of my head.)

As far as value for the pot - you should have a parts list in the back of the manual or even have the item listed on the schematic.
That was my first thought, too. They list it as "Potentiometer". :bang:

Wiring Diagram.jpg

...Since I don't read Asian writing, I asume you were pointing to the first entry. The 200K tells me it is a 200,000 ohm pot. But that is a guess as to which google entry you were referring...
I waded through a few of the Asian websites, and the problem is they list that exact same case stamping at 100K, 200K, and I think a few other values. If all else fails, a 200K should do the trick, but I should be able to get it figured out.

Make sure your ohm meter batteries are good and that you have zeroed the meter before you start. IF you need to get into a really small space, you can tape a sewing straight pin the the test prods of the meter.

Take the pot with you to the Rat Shack and let them figure it out.:thumb:

Roger that on the batteries. Thanks for the straight pin idea. Even if I don't need it now, it could come in handy later.

I seriously doubt the folks at my local Radio Shack would know what a pot is, let alone how to determine its value. :rolleyes:

I'm not too worried about this whole thing, since everything is still under warranty, and PM has a reputation for taking care of stuff like this. I guess I'll know sooner or later.

Oh, and Stu...don't make me come over there and smack you. :rofl:
 
Top