Shopsmith Forums

skoler33 wrote:Okay so i bought it!!! its in really good condition, minus the humming motor... ..

EDIT: did some more investigating and am lead to believe i need to get at the centrifugal contacts and file them down.... Question is how do i asccess them?? i have the motor detached and power switch is out of unit too... how do i get to next step of cleaning centrifugal contacts?

Are you able to rotate the motor shaft freely by hand?

FYI - The switch is mounted on the inside of the back cover. You can see it on my ER10's motor in the second pic of this post. To access it, you remove the 4 bolts that hold the motor sandwiched together, wrap on the shaft with a rubber mallet, and the back cover should pop off.

Question for the forum.....won't a bad capacitor also cause the motor to just hum??

mickyd wrote:Are you able to rotate the motor shaft freely by hand?

FYI - The switch is mounted on the inside of the back cover. You can see it on my ER10's motor in the second pic of this post. To access it, you remove the 4 bolts that hold the motor sandwiched together, wrap on the shaft with a rubber mallet, and the back cover should pop off.

Question for the forum.....won't a bad capacitor also cause the motor to just hum??

If it is 'open'. If it is 'shorted'. If one of its wire leads are loose/broken.

Switch much much much more likely if not used for long period of time.


If ya take motor apart, realize there are different versions.

A pix(looking into the wiring attachment area) would be helpful. If a recent(1 1/8hp) Emerson, the start switch can be checked without taking the end housing off.

Yes i can rotate shaft freely, the motor does spin with the belt off... but it seems really bogged down....

i do have the sanding disc on and have turned it while slowly getting speed dial back to slow... no luck there. i will post some pics later to show how "nice" everything looks, and lack of sawdust too.

When it starts to get into electricity, and testing the motor ect... i think i 'm just gonna take the motor to a service shop and have them test. seems cheap enough.

So as a recap its probably 1 of a couple things... either on/off switch, centrifugal contacts, capacitor or.... well thats all i can think of.

thanks again for addressing this problem, again!

some pics:

Just a quick note about an old standard practice when working on motors. You will find that you get to smile a lot more if you will just automatically mark the position of both end caps before you take anything apart. Common practice is to use a small cold chisel and tap it gently to mark both the center section and the end cap at the same time. Typically make one chisel mark on one end of the motor and two on the other. Then when going back together you never have any doubts if it is right and it can make putting the through bolts back in much easier as well.
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Never even think about your motor having a capacitor until after you are sure that the centrifugal starting switch is good. Starting with suspecting the capacitor is like pulling the engine out of your car without checking to see if there is gas in the tank first.
Always begin at the beginning...

There is no doubt that at $100 it is grand larceny. Even if you would have to buy a brand new motor, it is a steal AND it is very, very doubtful that you will have to buy a new motor.

You probable won't have to buy anything. If it has been sitting, unused, for an extended period of time, it will likely run once you get the motor turning.

There is a multitude of threads here about humming motors. Do a bit of searching and you find more advise than you can absorb.

Congratulatios, skoler33, on a terrific find.

robinson46176 wrote:Just a quick note about an old standard practice when working on motors. You will find that you get to smile a lot more if you will just automatically mark the position of both end caps before you take anything apart. Common practice is to use a small cold chisel and tap it gently to mark both the center section and the end cap at the same time. Typically make one chisel mark on one end of the motor and two on the other. Then when going back together you never have any doubts if it is right and it can make putting the through bolts back in much easier as well.
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Always begin at the beginning...

Excellant idea. I add the chisel marks where one of the top bolts that goes through the motor. Makes the chisel mark(s) easlier to find.

thanks for the tips. chisel marks will be done first thing! but i dont think im gonna open her up myself... motor shop 2 mins away and at the price i got this thing... paying a pro to pop it open and to check it out is fine with me... i check'd other threads and did everything recommended up until opening the motor and filing centrifugal contacts... again should be short change to pay this shop and test the voltage and electrical is just not something i want to experiment with on for the first time with this sweet of a tool! update tomorrow after motor shop.

guess that "motor shop" was more of an appliance repair place... good guys dont get me wrong, they tested electric, everything was spot on and looked great, he checked the centrifugal contacts, they looked great...capacitor checked out too... but he said too seemed like motor didn't want to get up to speed... (they didn't charge me cause they didn't tell me much.. other than looks good...)

long story short the shop smith approved service center is in the next town over, whittier... guy vince knows these things like the back of his hand... he too thinks its something very simple....should be a wrap after seeing him.