Delta Midi Smoking

[Dolphinjon]

Hi All,

Because of work, outside commitments, and a new baby, I had to stop turning for a while. I also stopped because the last day (around January) that I made pens, the motor on my Delta Midi started smoking. I try to keep it pretty clean, but I had been turning pens non-stop for probably 7 hours and figured I had just worked it too hard.

Well as I was moving my shop over to my parents garage, I decided to turn a couple of things, flip the lathe on, and the smoke starts again. And this leaves me in a quandary. My wife and I will be moving out of the country in a few months and the lathe and other tools can't go with us. I have quite a few pen kits, tons of blanks, and other projects I'd like to do as I have time (including a pen my wife asked me to make her nearly a year ago, and I haven't been able to). But with the new baby, and with moving, I can't really put much money into the lathe to try to fix it. On top of all of that, the dead center is seized in the headstock (a problem I've never encountered before).

Does anyone have any ideas on where to start to repair it? I've had the lathe for nearly 16 years, and it was used when I got it. It's served me well, and I'd like to fix it if possible, but I just can't put much into getting it back up and running.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[low_48]

The motor bearings may be dry and making the starting too difficult. The bearings might be shot. That would be the easy fix. Most likely there is a short in the motor. That's the not easy fix. 16 years is pretty good service, maybe time to put a little money back in it. I bet if you kept your car that long it might smoke too.

 

[jttheclockman]

Where is the smoke coming from??? What does it smell like?? Is there a control box for a electronic variable speed??? My first guess would be the capacitor, probably on the bottom of the motor. Maybe check the belt if coming from that area. It would smell more like burnt rubber. The belt could be slipping or it could have come off a pulley and is rubbing against the housing. If it smells electrical like a burnt transformer than I would look at the above mentioned. Is there any sounds like metal grinding???

Need to do a little detective work for us to help.

 

[Dolphinjon]

Thanks for the quick replies! I do agree that 16 years is a pretty good run, and I am certainly not complaining.

The smell and smoke is coming from near the bottom of the motor casing. It does sometimes take quite a bit longer to come up to speed, and the smell is that of burned or melting plastic. It's not the belt. I have run it a total of maybe 1-2 minutes because I didn't want to make things worse.

There is not a sounds of metal grinding, but it does sound like it's struggling to start up a bit. Only for a second or two though.

 

[jttheclockman]

Thanks for the quick replies! I do agree that 16 years is a pretty good run, and I am certainly not complaining.

The smell and smoke is coming from near the bottom of the motor casing. It does sometimes take quite a bit longer to come up to speed, and the smell is that of burned or melting plastic. It's not the belt. I have run it a total of maybe 1-2 minutes because I didn't want to make things worse.

There is not a sounds of metal grinding, but it does sound like it's struggling to start up a bit. Only for a second or two though.

Capacitor is where i would look first. should have an electrical smell to it. It is that extra hump on the motor.

 

[Dolphinjon]

Thanks for the quick replies! I do agree that 16 years is a pretty good run, and I am certainly not complaining.

The smell and smoke is coming from near the bottom of the motor casing. It does sometimes take quite a bit longer to come up to speed, and the smell is that of burned or melting plastic. It's not the belt. I have run it a total of maybe 1-2 minutes because I didn't want to make things worse.

There is not a sounds of metal grinding, but it does sound like it's struggling to start up a bit. Only for a second or two though.

Capacitor is where i would look first. should have an electrical smell to it. It is that extra hump on the motor.

Thank you! Unfortunately, it'll be more than a week until I can get back over there to take a look, but I will do that as soon as I can. I'm cheering for an inexpensive fix!

 

[jttheclockman]

Thanks for the quick replies! I do agree that 16 years is a pretty good run, and I am certainly not complaining.

The smell and smoke is coming from near the bottom of the motor casing. It does sometimes take quite a bit longer to come up to speed, and the smell is that of burned or melting plastic. It's not the belt. I have run it a total of maybe 1-2 minutes because I didn't want to make things worse.

There is not a sounds of metal grinding, but it does sound like it's struggling to start up a bit. Only for a second or two though.

Capacitor is where i would look first. should have an electrical smell to it. It is that extra hump on the motor.

Thank you! Unfortunately, it'll be more than a week until I can get back over there to take a look, but I will do that as soon as I can. I'm cheering for an inexpensive fix!

That is compared to many others. Good luck.