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Yesterday while I was working in the shop I turned my compressor on and was using it when it started making a lot of noise and wasn't spinning the pump very fast. I shut it down and noticed flames coming out of the motor. Took the motor off and pulled the end plate and saw the winding had caught on fire. Now this is not a cheap Chinese motor but a 5 HP Leeson that I have had since 1990. Just wanted everyone to keep an eye on their power tools
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Happens to all of them. Have seen more than a couple baldor three phase motors have their windings catch on fire. Especially compressor and other applications where the motor runs for long periods under full load getting hot.
One was a 5hp in the big powermatic bandsaw. Had a spare 2 hp motor and tried it and was a no go just not enough power to cut much anything.
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Robert Adams said:
Happens to all of them. Have seen more than a couple baldor three phase motors have their windings catch on fire. Especially compressor and other applications where the motor runs for long periods under full load getting hot.
One was a 5hp in the big powermatic bandsaw. Had a spare 2 hp motor and tried it and was a no go just not enough power to cut much anything.
The motor only ran once before it caught fire and not that long
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Eww that's bad. Could have been badly coated copper wire in the windings. Or I have also seen motors that aren't dipped have windings go bad due to vibration but still not that quick.
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Check your pump too as it may have made the motor run hard.
I worked in a shop that had two large compressors,one was running hot. We had a millwright on our payroll that checked the compressor out. He said the best thing to do is let him rebuild the compressor pump.Probably would take one day if he had all the parts on hand.
My boss told him to get the parts and come in on Saturday to rebuild the pump.This was a Tuesday.Motor caught fire Thursday afternoon.
Now the motor had to be sent out to be rewound and what ever wiring needed.
