Shopsmith Forums

While planning a small board my planer just stopped. The GFI on the wall had tripped but the circuit breaker was fine. Reset the GFI and started the planer - could clearly hear the circuit breaker trip!

Pulled both motor plugs and tried again. Circuit breaker popped. Obviously the controller was the problem. On opening the control box I found that one lead on the bridge rectifier was off! Looking at all the solder joints, including the power connector to the feed motor every one of them was poorly soldered!

Did a quick resistance check on the bridge and the motor speed control. Both were shorted out.

Long story short, the lead coming loose caused both to fail. Not uncommon for bridges and the controller has a triac which is notorious for this kind of failure. Found replacements for both of them today and will test things out tomorrow.

So heads up everyone that has a planer - this is just plain shoddy construction and with this many poor connections on mine the odds are some of you out there are just sitting on a time bomb. Open your controller up and take a look at the bridge rectifier on the bottom right and the power connector right above it. The solder joints should be shinny and not dull. If they are either fix or get them repaired asap so don't fry the electronics and perhaps the motor.

BTW - I'm an electronic engineer and will be replacing the controller soon. It's archaic and I'm surprised there aren't more failures. There should be protection for the power input (at least a fuse and surge protection), and protection on the motor output so you don't fry the motor.

gpmark wrote:While planning a small board my planer just stopped. The GFI on the wall had tripped but the circuit breaker was fine. Reset the GFI and started the planer - could clearly hear the circuit breaker trip!

Pulled both motor plugs and tried again. Circuit breaker popped. Obviously the controller was the problem. On opening the control box I found that one lead on the bridge rectifier was off! Looking at all the solder joints, including the power connector to the feed motor every one of them was poorly soldered!

Did a quick resistance check on the bridge and the motor speed control. Both were shorted out.

Long story short, the lead coming loose caused both to fail. Not uncommon for bridges and the controller has a triac which is notorious for this kind of failure. Found replacements for both of them today and will test things out tomorrow.

So heads up everyone that has a planer - this is just plain shoddy construction and with this many poor connections on mine the odds are some of you out there are just sitting on a time bomb. Open your controller up and take a look at the bridge rectifier on the bottom right and the power connector right above it. The solder joints should be shinny and not dull. If they are either fix or get them repaired asap so don't fry the electronics and perhaps the motor.

BTW - I'm an electronic engineer and will be replacing the controller soon. It's archaic and I'm surprised there aren't more failures. There should be protection for the power input (at least a fuse and surge protection), and protection on the motor output so you don't fry the motor.

Sheez! Whadda ya want for $360+?;)

Re'design' long over due! What is there now is a diode bridge and a lamp dimmer!

gpmark wrote:While planning a small board my planer just stopped. The GFI on the wall had tripped but the circuit breaker was fine. Reset the GFI and started the planer - could clearly hear the circuit breaker trip!

Pulled both motor plugs and tried again. Circuit breaker popped. Obviously the controller was the problem. On opening the control box I found that one lead on the bridge rectifier was off! Looking at all the solder joints, including the power connector to the feed motor every one of them was poorly soldered!

Did a quick resistance check on the bridge and the motor speed control. Both were shorted out.

Long story short, the lead coming loose caused both to fail. Not uncommon for bridges and the controller has a triac which is notorious for this kind of failure. Found replacements for both of them today and will test things out tomorrow.

So heads up everyone that has a planer - this is just plain shoddy construction and with this many poor connections on mine the odds are some of you out there are just sitting on a time bomb. Open your controller up and take a look at the bridge rectifier on the bottom right and the power connector right above it. The solder joints should be shinny and not dull. If they are either fix or get them repaired asap so don't fry the electronics and perhaps the motor.

BTW - I'm an electronic engineer and will be replacing the controller soon. It's archaic and I'm surprised there aren't more failures. There should be protection for the power input (at least a fuse and surge protection), and protection on the motor output so you don't fry the motor.

I have a few bad planer controller boxes that I would like to fix. I have a bunch of 90 VDC and 180 VDC output controller boards but did not see where I could mount any of these boards. First, could you share the part numbers and where you got the parts for repairing the regular planer controller? Also I would be interested in any upgraded planer controller boards/boxes you may design and use. Thanks.

Bill

Yes this is basically a light controller, but it's a little heavier duty and little different design. I would hesitate to use a light controller because of this.

As to further feedback:
1) I will be posting pictures and parts details to repair this device as soon as everything is OK. I simply wanted to get the warning out since poor soldering can definitely kill the controller. For those of you out there that have one that died I would love to hear any feedback on whether there were poor solder joints in your controllers.
2) I am repairing the current controller because it fits in the box - in other words it's expedient. I will either be upgrading the current controller or replacing it with a box outside the controller using, probably, a KB controller which also has a lot of protection in it for the motor. Interestingly, the KB controller is a lot less expensive than Shopsmiths cheap controller. It means another box to bolt on, but probably well worth it considering the cost of the motors.

Stay tuned as this will likely be a rolling discussion.

gpmark, you might be interested in how another member of this forum repaired one of those speed controllers using a bridge rectifier and dimmer switch at a cost of about $7.50. See -- https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=2484 -- it's a long thread.

Thanks pennview. That's certainly one approach, but like I said, I didn't want to modify anything unless I do an upgrade.

So I put the fixed controller in and everything is working fine. As soon as I put some more miles on it I will write up things in detail, but I will respond to the question about the fix.

Here's the disclaimer - this worked for me and I have electronics experience. Make sure you are comfortable that you can do this work. I take no responsibility for your use of this information - use it at your discretion.

1) My model of motor controller is the Ranco mbb.315102.003. Both the bridge rectifier and the controller showed a short.
2) I replaced the rectifier with an NTE 5314 bridge rectifier. Desolder each of the leads, put heatshrink on each lead and resolder. Do this all except for the lead going to the controller. Make sure you know where all the parts go before disassembly. A picture helps and stripping everything down that if affixed will help you to not lose parts.
3) Unsolder the controller lead to the bridge, remove the black wire to the switch, remove the fastener holding the pot on to the front cover, and then remove the controller in whole.
4) Remove the insulating cover.
5) You can now see the board and in particular the heatsink with the triac inside. Look for any burns on the traces or burned components. If you have these you have a bigger problem than I did. Let me know if this is the case and we can discuss.
6) Drill out the rivet holding the heatsink. It has solder on it but you can drill straight through if you're careful. You should know be able to lift it a bit and then slide it off.
7) Desolder the triac and replace with an NTE 56006 triac. Be careful to remove the solder ahead of time and then bend the leads to fit without the heatsink. Now put some thermal compound on the back of the triac - don't over do it. Put the heatsink in place, then the triac (this is not easy), and then put a screw and nut in place. You don't need to resolder this. Note that I didn't use a rivet since it's too easy to overtighten.
8) Put the controller back in place. Then solder the lead to the bridge rectifier and put the black wire back on the switch.
9) I didn't like the way the pot was attached to the front cover. I got a half nut and plastic washer that fit. Since the pot isn't threaded I simply used the metal nut to thread it onto the shaft. Much nicer.
10) Before putting the whole thing back together first make sure all of the solder leads to the power plug for the feed motor are well soldered. Mine were not - they should all be bright and the holes should be filled with solder.
11) Run a quick test to make sure that that there is high resistance on the controller leads and the ac cord. You don't want to trip a circuit breaker if you have done something wrong or another component is shot.
12) Reassemble everything and try it out!

Let me and others know how it goes. Having feedback is always helpful.

Good Job!!!!!!!

What is the age of the planer in question?
BPR

gpmark wrote:Thanks pennview. That's certainly one approach, but like I said, I didn't want to modify anything unless I do an upgrade.

So I put the fixed controller in and everything is working fine. As soon as I put some more miles on it I will write up things in detail, but I will respond to the question about the fix.

Here's the disclaimer - this worked for me and I have electronics experience. Make sure you are comfortable that you can do this work. I take no responsibility for your use of this information - use it at your discretion.

1) My model of motor controller is the Ranco mbb.315102.003. Both the bridge rectifier and the controller showed a short.
2) I replaced the rectifier with an NTE 5314 bridge rectifier. Desolder each of the leads, put heatshrink on each lead and resolder. Do this all except for the lead going to the controller. Make sure you know where all the parts go before disassembly. A picture helps and stripping everything down that if affixed will help you to not lose parts.
3) Unsolder the controller lead to the bridge, remove the black wire to the switch, remove the fastener holding the pot on to the front cover, and then remove the controller in whole.
4) Remove the insulating cover.
5) You can now see the board and in particular the heatsink with the triac inside. Look for any burns on the traces or burned components. If you have these you have a bigger problem than I did. Let me know if this is the case and we can discuss.
6) Drill out the rivet holding the heatsink. It has solder on it but you can drill straight through if you're careful. You should know be able to lift it a bit and then slide it off.
7) Desolder the triac and replace with an NTE 56006 triac. Be careful to remove the solder ahead of time and then bend the leads to fit without the heatsink. Now put some thermal compound on the back of the triac - don't over do it. Put the heatsink in place, then the triac (this is not easy), and then put a screw and nut in place. You don't need to resolder this. Note that I didn't use a rivet since it's too easy to overtighten.
8) Put the controller back in place. Then solder the lead to the bridge rectifier and put the black wire back on the switch.
9) I didn't like the way the pot was attached to the front cover. I got a half nut and plastic washer that fit. Since the pot isn't threaded I simply used the metal nut to thread it onto the shaft. Much nicer.
10) Before putting the whole thing back together first make sure all of the solder leads to the power plug for the feed motor are well soldered. Mine were not - they should all be bright and the holes should be filled with solder.
11) Run a quick test to make sure that that there is high resistance on the controller leads and the ac cord. You don't want to trip a circuit breaker if you have done something wrong or another component is shot.
12) Reassemble everything and try it out!

Let me and others know how it goes. Having feedback is always helpful.

Any photos would be great - I know my way around soldering irons and hot-air rework stations

Don't know the age of the router - bought it used because it was in great condition. I do know it's not the latest since it didn't have a few of the newer parts.

Will post picture when I open it up again to put in filtering and a circuit breaker.