Grizzly G0544 Planer Wont Turn On

[Bob Vaughan]

One of the buttons was sticking out. I pushed it back in but it won't stay, immediately slides back out. Think this one is bad and needs replaced?

Many of the IEC Chinese overload units are not designed to survive an overload incident.  Sort of like a single use fuse.

[FrankAtl]

Bob has a good point. Some of the cheap IEC contactors can be junk. 

There are several of these overloads for sale on Ebay (link below). If you purchase a new one you need to check the cutterhead motor before trying to start it again. The overload is a protection device and shouldn't trip unless there is excessive current being drawn by the motor circuit (bad capacitor, shorted motor winding etc.). It might be a faulty overload but I wouldn't just assume that. 

Ebay link

[Cian]

I appreciate the contributors to this forum. Never had to service a magnetic starter, but I've learned a few things in this thread and also came across others I don't fully understand. Rather funny, but when I first started building my shop a couple decades back, I realized that to become a woodworker you first had to be a competent electrician. 

[FrankAtl]

I appreciate the contributors to this forum. Never had to service a magnetic starter, but I've learned a few things in this thread and also came across others I don't fully understand. Rather funny, but when I first started building my shop a couple decades back, I realized that to become a woodworker you first had to be a competent electrician. 

And a competent mechanic! I've got the electrical covered but tearing into a planer or jointer is a bit intimidating.

[Cian]

And a competent mechanic! I've got the electrical covered but tearing into a planer or jointer is a bit intimidating.

And also at minimum obtain a Masters level working knowledge of fluid dynamics given the much heated dust collection debates herein, but I digress.  

   

[FrankAtl]

And also at minimum obtain a working knowledge of fluid dynamics given the much heated dust collection debates herein, but I digress.  

No kidding! Three topics I never comment on, dust collection, clamping pressure, and Norm Abrams!!!

All three seem to be fighting words for some people!

[Bob Vaughan]

One of the buttons was sticking out. I pushed it back in but it won't stay, immediately slides back out. Think this one is bad and needs replaced?

There's always the option of wiring around the starter and direct to the motor.  Plug it in and see if the motor runs.  That way, you'll know whether or not the problem is in the starter.

[R12C]

I've been emailing Grizzly tech support over the last week and they've had me check voltage at the magnetic switch, voltage going in the contactor and measuring voltage coming out when the contactor is pushed in, continuity at the switches, voltage on the overload relay and pulling both start capacitors and checking them. It appears the capacitors are bad, neither one is going to infinity, the numbers climb but then stop and stay there, never going all the way to infinity. 

Anyone have a good source for capacitors? The ones I'm replacing are 400 MFD but searching online all I see are ones that have a range. Do I pick a range with 400 MFD at the low end or the high end? And I'll need to add the resistor. I'm considering replacing the compacitor for the feed motor too, depending on the cost.

I gotta give high kudos to Grizzly tech support.

[R12C]

My planer is back up and running. Might as well detail what it took so nobody is left hanging when/if they read this thread.

So after installing new capacitors in the cutterhead motor, it still wouldn't come on. Even when manually pressing the contactor, the motor wouldn't fire up. WTH? I decided to check the centrifugal switch and contact points on the motor. The contact points looked a little rough so I took some sandpaper and cleaned each point. I reinstalled the centrifugal switch and put the motor back together. I was then able to get the feed motor to come on by manually pressing the contactor in. Finally something positive, the new capacitors fixed the cutterhead motor. But the machine wouldn't fire up by using the buttons.

So I decided to pull the E-stop button out and check for continuity. No luck, the E-stop button was bad on the NC (normally closed) side but had continuity on the NO (normally open) side. So now I know I need a new E-stop button. I decided to wire it up on the NO side, which ment the button would work in reverse. Instead of pulling it out to fire it up, I have to push the button in. Once the button was rewired, I thought for sure it would fire up. Nope. WTH? So I took the volt meter and measured the voltage coming into the E-stop switch, meter read 100 volts. Okay, problem further up the line. Using the wiring diagram I followed all the wires that were coming to the E-stop button and checked them. One wire going into the power indicator light and voltage there was 100 volts. There was a second wire connected to the same terminal on the power indicator light and this second wire went to the ACG fuse. The fuse looked fine, voltage coming into the fuse was 125 volts, on the other side it was 100 volts. Bingo! So I pulled the fuse and when I finally got it out, the filament was gone and there was nothing but dust inside the glass. Kinda weird I thought. Carefully installed a new fuse, voltage checked out and I was relieved when pressing the starter and feed motor buttons and both motors fired up. 

Once I get a new E-switch installed I can button this thing up. Pretty happy I got this all done by myself with email help from Grizzly Tech Support. It took a little while but wasn't too bad on the purse, about $50. Now I'm hoping for many more years of trouble free use. And it's just in time because my new table saw arrives next week.

[Stwood_]

Persistence pays off.