Shopsmith Forums

How do I replace / repair the motor wires that run to the power switch on SS500 Yr 1983? I thought the switch went bad, but when I removed it the two wires from the motor (I think - they have the angled connectors to the switch) are cracked and missing quite a bit of the insulation. Will this require removing the motor?? Any help / advice is much appreciated.

It will require removing the motor and opening the motor to get to the attachment points on the windings. Also some of the cord that secures the leads to the winding coils will have to be undone. Then cut the switch wires about one inch away from the crimp that holds the switch wires to the winding wires. Use your fingers to flex the remaining wire to remove any remaining insulation.
Then get some stranded wire #12 and remove about one inch of the insulation and wrap the wires tightly together and solder them together. If you can, put some heat shrink over the splices. If you can't solder don't use wire nuts I don't think that there is enough room for them. The wires have to be laid back down in the original location and re secured to the windings with some waxed cord. If you are not confident going inside the motor it is a simple repair for a good electric motor shop.
Do your wires look like this?

[ATTACH]22227[/ATTACH]

Bill V

That really looks like the wiring on the older GE motors. Get some small heat shrink tubing first to go over any area where you solder the wires or the existing wire. You will find the wiring inside the motor will look the same as the switch leads. Disassembling the motor and replacing the wiring to the motor coils is the saftest method to fix this problem. A quick repair that has worked for me is to remove/cut the outside wiring cover down to the motor and pull any wiring cover out of the motor leaving the 2 motor wires. I then install the small heat shrink tubing on each wire and force the tubing inside the motor and heat the tubing down to the motor to shrink it. Then I check with an ohm meter to insure no short inside the motor. I use a larger heat shrink tube to cover both wires and shrink it. You could cut and solder new wires outside the motor but I never tried this. I either replace the entire wire using heat shrink tubing inside the motor to cover the solder joint and wire to the coil windings or shrink wrap the entire wire. I use shrink wrap tubing, not electrical tape for all motor wires. Any hair dryer will work to shrink the shrink wrap tubing. Do not distrube any of the motor coil windings or tie wraps if you do disassemble the motor. I use blue and white 14 ga stranded wires when needed. 12 ga wire is not needed. 16 ga wire (cheap extention cord) is too small and will overheat over time.

Thank your for your reply. Yes, my wires looked exactly like your picture. I did not want to have to remove the motor to re-wire if at all possible. I stripped back the heavy insulation from the motor that covers the two wires and found that the wires contained in the insulation were in good shape. I bought a larger diameter electric wire (only 12") and stripped off both the black and white insulation (only needed about 1 1/2" to 2 1/2"). I then cut off the connectors and slipped the larger insulation over the bare wires and used heat shrink tubing / electrical tape to join together and finish repair. Crimped on new connectors and added new switch and it fired right up. Also, before repair SS was tripping breaker when used for longer periods of time before the switch finally stopped working. Now seems to be okay.